Adventure travel
NH White Mountains – N. & S. Kinsman & Cannon
Saturday, August 1, 2026 John and I are ticking off 4,000-footers for our second GRID. Since I don’t need any for August, it was his choice. He decided on North and South Kinsman and Cannon by going over the Cannonballs. We easily got a spot in the southbound parking lot for the Basin at 8:45AM;…
Keep readingNH White Mountains: Adams and Madison via Great Gully
Saturday, July 25, 2026 This was John and my first hike in the whites since returning from Colorado’s 14-ers, and we were curious to see how we’d do with more oxygen. The weather forecast was ideal for a hike in the northern presidentials: mostly sunny and light winds. Deciding on Adams and Madison was simple.…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Mt. Bierstadt & Mt. Blue Sky
Saturday, July 18, 2026 We knew this was going to be a hard day. It started with getting up at 3:15am. Since we stayed in Georgetown, the drive to the trailhead at the Guanella Pass was about 30 minutes. We went straight to the upper parking lot, not even looking to see if we could…
Keep readingColorado 13-ers: Father Dyer Peak- Crystal Peak -Peak 10
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 Background: John and I are planning to hike as many of the 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado as we feel comfortable doing, knowing that we probably won’t be hiking Little Bear Peak, Pyramid Peak, and Capitol Peak – each of them class 4 – based on beta gleaned from books, blogs,…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Grays Peak & Torreys Peak-
Monday, July 13, 2026 John and I had read enough about the road conditions up to the Grays Peak Trailhead that we knew would be parking in the lower lot and walking the 3 miles up the 4×4 road. We woke up at 3:45am, and were out the door by 4:20, at the lower lot…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – DeCaLiBron
14,ooo-footers: Mt. Bross, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Cameron, Mt. Democrat Saturday, July 11, 2026 John and I awoke at 4AM and were out of the condo by 4:30. From Breckenridge, the drive to the Kite Lake Trailhead for the DeCaLiBron hike is about 40 minutes. We had a full week to get acclimatized to the altitude…
Keep readingHalloween Horror Nights 34
October 2025 John and I had a 2+ hour delay on our flight to Orlando for the last weekend of HHN34. It turned out that it was a staffing shortage at the control tower and not the remnants of Hurricane Melissa (how ironic if our trip had been ruined by a storm with my name).…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – La Plata Peak
Northwest Ridge Tuesday, July 8, 2025 La Plata Peak is the fifth tallest mountain in Colorado and is located in the Sawatch Range, not too far from Mt. Elbert. The weather forecast was ideal: no chance of rain/thunderstorms; in fact, there were no clouds in the sky, and it was a bluebird day. I thought…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Huron Peak
Northwest Slope Sunday, July 6, 2025 Oh my goodness, this was one of the prettiest hikes I’ve ever done. The forecast was perfect, so we slept in; no 4 AM wake-up for us! Actually, we went to bed not knowing if we were going to hike at all on this day because it would be…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Mt. Elbert
Northeast Ridge Saturday, July 5, 2025 Mt. Elbert is the highest mountain in Colorado at 14,438′. We hiked this with friends on a gorgeous Saturday with an ideal weather forecast. They stayed at Mt. Elbert campground; we had an hour-an-a-half drive, so we left at 4:30 AM to meet them at 6:00 AM. It was…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Mt. Sherman
Southwest Ridge July 4, 2025 This was a type-2 fun day… Mt. Sherman is part of the Mosquito Range in central-ish Colorado about 10 miles west of Fairplay. We decided on this mountain because we needed something relatively short and easy to get us acclimated to the altitude. Plus, we were hiking Mt. Elbert the…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Owl’s Head
Owl’s Head- via Black Pond “bushwhack,” up the slide and down Brutus bushwhack Owl’s Head is number 43/48 of the 4,000 footers in the white mountains of NH. It’s not a favorite of many; I can’t think of a single person. But, for those working on a list, ya gotta do it. Here’s one option…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Wildcat D, Wildcat, Carter Dome, South Carter & Middle Carter
Saturday, June 21, 2025 Finally, a nice Saturday in New Hampshire! John and I wanted these five mountains but didn’t want to take two cars to spot, ride our bikes on Route 16, try to hitchhike, or do a 3-mile road walk. Instead, I dropped him off at the Imp trailhead, and I parked at…
Keep readingAdirondack Mountains – Phelps Mountain and Table Top Mountain
When John and I booked our accommodations for a trip to the Adirondacks (staying in Lake Placid) for Memorial Day weekend 2025, it was abnormally hot in New Hampshire. Turns out that for our 3-day weekend, we’d be dealing with a nor’easter bringing needed rain, but annoying hiking conditions. Saturday, May 24th The original plan…
Keep readingColorado 14-ers – Long’s Peak
Keyhole Route – Rocky Mountain National Park When John and I started our day, we did not yet realize that Long’s Peak would replace Middle Teton as our most challenging and dangerous hike. We were camping at Glacier Basin Campground, so we accessed Long’s Peak via the Storm Pass Trailhead, making the already difficult day…
Keep readingHalloween Horror 32
September 2023 It had been on John’s bucket list to go to Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios way before I even knew this was a thing, and this was the first opportunity to be able to do this together. Houses We melted in the sun as we waited in the holding area to access…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Moriah
Friday, December 30, 2022 Moriah is one of my favorite mountains in New Hampshire, especially when going over Surprise. I like it because it’s tricky: you think the next knob is the summit, but it turns out you still have 1.1 miles to go and at least two more knobs to go up and over…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Moosilauke – North & Middle Tripyramids & Waumbek (and others)
Up until a couple days ago, before the official start of winter 2022, John and I have been ticking away at “tracing” – hiking every mile of the white-mountain trail system. Honestly, that hasn’t been too sexy, so I haven’t bothered with writing about it. Now John and I taking a break from hiking more…
Keep readingA wedding
After my divorce I told myself that I would never remarry. Eleven years later, I’ve tied the knot again. The biggest difference is me. When my ex and I were first engaged and married, my prefrontal cortex was not fully developed. I knew before he even moved to Texas to be with me that it…
Keep readingGlacier National Park 5
Fish Creek Campground – Apgar – Lake McDonald Wednesday, August 11, 2021 My alarm went off at 6 a.m., but I was so cold and not interested in leaving the warm cocoon of our quilt that I promptly silenced it. We didn’t end up leaving the tent until 8:30. One option for the day that…
Keep readingGlacier National Park 4
Logan Pass, Highline Trail & the Garden Wall Tuesday, August 10, 2021 When we were planning our trip to Glacier National Park we learned that some people who wanted to drive Going to the Sun Road but did not have a reservation to have access would go through the entrances before they were staffed. This…
Keep readingGlacier National Park 3
Mt. Brown Lookout Monday, August 9, 2021 I awoke to my phone’s alarm and promptly silenced it and closed my eyes again. Once we finally got up, it didn’t take long to get ready, and we started our day with a trip to West Glacier for groceries and a breakfast sandwich. As soon as we…
Keep readingGlacier National Park 2
Many Glacier Campground to Fish Creek Campground via Going to the Sun Road Sunday, August 8, 2021 We were so glad that we had slept in the car because it was raining heavily when we awoke. We didn’t start moving until about 10 a.m. The rain paused, and we contemplated hiking to Grinnell Glacier, but…
Keep readingGlacier National Park 1
Swiftcurrent Pass and Lookout We arrived at the Many Glacier Campground late in the afternoon on Friday, August 6, 2021 after a full day of driving. A ranger stopped each vehicle at the entrance to the campground to go over bear-safety instructions. They were around; I wouldn’t be going anywhere without my bear spray. We…
Keep readingNew England 100 Highest – Baldpate Mountain
Friday, August 12, 2022 #100 of 100! We chose Baldpate Mountain to be our final mountain of the New England Hundred Highest list. We lucked out with a beautiful day. I wore my hiking pants and a light jacket to start; very different than the hot and humid weather we had earlier in the week.…
Keep readingNew England 100 Highest – Boundary Peak
Thursday, August 11, 2022 There was some confusion in how to get to this mountain (much like getting to Snow Cupsuptic yesterday – seems to be a theme with the mountains in the area!). Google Maps had us go up Route 27 in Maine and cross the border into Canada at Coburn Gore (passport, vaccination…
Keep readingNew England 100 Highest – Whitecap & Kennebago Divide
Wednesday, August 10, 2022 Continuing our glorious day, we drove down more dirt roads from Cupsuptic Snow to as far as we could make it for Whitecap and Kennebago Divide. Luckily this trailhead was not too far from Snow, and we would definitely recommend doing both of these hikes in the same trip to avoid…
Keep readingNew England 100 Highest – Snow Mountain – Cupsuptic
Wednesday, August 10, 2022 This was the start of a less-than-enjoyable day. The first issue was getting there. We were driving from Gorham, NH, and using the All Trails location for the trailhead (45.176520, -70.844560). Google Maps told us to take Wilson Mills Road off of Route 16 before Rangeley. It didn’t take long before…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Arrow Slide & the Hancocks
August 6, 2022 We have hiked the Hancocks many times while working on the GRID and had always noticed the large rockslide on the left of Hancock Loop. After talking about it for years, today was the day we were finally going to climb Arrow Slide. We met our friends Dave, Erik and Jenni at…
Keep readingNorth Cascades National Park 2
Hikes: River Loop — Pyramid Lake — Thunder Knob Perhaps it was because we were in an actual room and not a tent, but John slept in while I listened to podcasts and read in bed. Soon we were up and at ’em. Our first stop was for ice, and a nice man asked us…
Keep readingNorth Cascades National Park 3
Hidden Lake We woke up from our site in Newhalem Campground (see North Cascades 2) before our alarms and were packed and out of there by 6:02 AM. By the time we got coffee and Gatorade in Marblemount and drove up the ridiculously horrible Hidden Lake Road, it was 7:54 AM when we hit the…
Keep readingNorth Cascades National Park 1
Sahale Glacier After an emotional morning of saying goodbye to Aspen at the airport, John and I spent a couple hours at the Museum of Pop Culture (see Seattle) before heading north to find a campsite in the Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It had rained in the area earlier in the day, and when we arrived…
Keep readingOlympic National Park 4
Hurricane Ridge Aspen, John and I woke up at 4:20AM, so we could drive from the Sol Duc Campground (see Olympic National Park 3) to where there was cell coverage by 5:25AM, so we could check Aspen into his Southwest Airline flight for the next day. What a hassle! But it worked; he was able…
Keep readingOlympic National Park 3
Sol Duc Sol Duc – Day 1 We had a leisurely morning packing up at the Mora Campground (see Olympic National Park 1 and 2). We got ice, gas and coffee in Forks (Vampire-Danger level was still high), then it was off to the Sol-Duc area of Olympic National Park. There were informative signs at…
Keep readingOlympic National Park 2
Hoh Rainforest Despite hitting snooze on the alarm and not getting out of the campground at 7AM, like originally planned, we each were able to get a parking spot in the Hoh Rainforest. The five of us first took a peek in the visitors’ center before heading out for the Hall of the Mosses .8-mile…
Keep readingOlympic National Park 1
Coastal Region Our adventure in the coastal region of Olympic National Park started at Mora Campground. John, Aspen and I awoke and ran the two miles to Rialto Beach. Our first views of the rock formations in the water were through fog. We spent awhile on the beach climbing drift logs of enormous trees; so…
Keep readingSeattle, Washington
From its location on the water, to the view of Mt. Rainier on a clear day, to the cultural activities and progressiveness, I fell in love with Seattle. If it wasn’t for the climate in the winter, I would move there in a second. We rented a condominium right on 1st Avenue in the Belltown…
Keep readingRainier National Park 3
July 23, 2021 We broke down camp early and drove to the Sunrise (northeast) area of Rainier National Park. Along with the Paradise, this is another popular area and parking was a concern; we arrived early enough that it wasn’t an issue for us. When we started we were the only ones on Sunrise Rim…
Keep readingRainier National Park 2
July 21, 2021 It was a breath-taking drive from the Paradise area of Rainier National Park to the Ohanapecosh Campground. We pulled off at a scenic point, and two women, Sara and Mindy, from Seattle commented on our Yeti. We talked with them for at least 30 minutes and had a lot in common. We…
Keep readingRainier National Park 1
July 19, 2021 After a busy day of hiking up Mount St. Helens as much as we could without having a permit (note-to-self: get a permit!!) and then lots of driving, we finally arrived at Rainier National Park and found our spot at the Cougar Rock Campground, our home for the next two nights. John’s…
Keep readingBook
The Good, The Bad, and The Backstory A Unique Story that Presents a Timeline of Events in the Day of the Life of Five Middle-School Students. -Boys Town Press Melissa’s goal is to help youth develop skills in empathy and perspective-taking through fictional writing. 5-Star Reviews 1/11/2022 As a school counselor, I struggle to find…
Keep readingNelson Rocks: Via Ferrata
April 11, 2019—West Virginia Nelson Rocks is a rock formation owned and operated by NROCKS Outdoor Adventures. John and I chose to do the Via Ferrata adventure; neither of us had done anything like this before. For the nerds out there: (1) Via Ferrata is Italian for “iron path.” They were created in the Dolomites…
Keep readingMaine 4,000-footers- Mount Katahdin
July 4, 2019 This would at once be one of the best and one of the worst hikes of my life up to this point for one simple reason: no-see-ums, a family of flies that gets right in your face and can literally make you want to jump off the mountain. John and I stayed…
Keep readingNH White Mountains – Six Husbands & Sphinx
July 16, 2022 To finish the Terrifying 25 list, John and I decided to backpack into the Great Gulf Wilderness to camp, ascend Six Husbands trail, summit Mt. Jefferson, and descend the Sphinx trail. The designated site we chose was about three miles into the Great Gulf Wilderness. I was very happy to drop my…
Keep readingMiddle Teton – Grand Teton National Park
Saturday, July 10, 2021 I woke John up at 6:15 AM with, “What are you doing? We’re supposed to be hiking!” We quickly got ready and drove to the Lupine Meadows trail head. We were both nervous: this was the hardest and highest peak that we’ve ever hiked/climbed in our lives. The first mile was…
Keep readingNE 100 Highest – Jay Peak & Big Jay
Vermont 4 Thursday, July 7, 2022: We did indeed leave before anyone else was up and hit the road for Jay Peak and Big Jay, our final Vermont 100 Highest mountains. We drove through beautiful rolling hills of farmland. I can appreciate it without ever wanting to live here, which was different than I how…
Keep readingBurlington, Vermont
Tuesday, July 5, 2022: First full day in Burlington. John and I ran four miles on the Island Line Trail starting at Waterfront Park, then combined our runners’ high with caffeine at #KruCoffeeCollective; John got a (so-so) nitro cold brew and I got a (meh) latte made with soy milk (only because they didn’t have…
Keep readingNE 100 Highest – Mt. Equinox, Bread Loaf Mountain & Mt. Wilson
Vermont 2 Sunday, July 3, 2022: Mt. Equinox. It was the perfect summer day for this challenging hike. I led the way in my typical style: non-stop. There wasn’t many people on this particular path to the summit, but we passed all we came upon. It was a steep and steady hike to the top;…
Keep readingNE 100 Highest – Mt. Stratton & Dorset Mountain
Vermont 1 John took a week off from work so we could finish the 100 Highest mountains that we needed in Vermont. We spent three nights at Emerald Lake State Park located near Dorset. It’s a mixed bag when spending more than a night in one place: I love stringing up the lights in the…
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Adventuring with Mel and John 