Thanksgiving Leftovers

Mount Osceola

Miles and Miles to Go.

Seek The Peak 2014!

 

Random Hikes from 2013

The Best Place I've Ever Camped

The Sunrise, and Hallett Peak

Hit the Ground Running

Hey Bear! You're a Bear!

Glacier National Park - Iceberg Lake

Buffaloes and Pronghorn and Wolf! Oh Shit!

Seek The Peak 2013

Mt. Washburn and the Geysers

Cascade Canyon

Stabbing Westward

Built to Roam

I wish I could explain to you the sheer ridiculous amount of travel ideas and plans that pop into my head every day. It easily breaks the single digits, in fact just today I decided I was going to Quebec City, Utah, Colorado, and San Francisco, and that was just before lunch. I can't stop thinking about going new places, I feel as though every day I'm missing out on something, like there is somewhere I'm suppose to be, some plan I have forgot about. It drives me crazy sometimes, and watching 2 hours of GoPro videos doesn't help much. How do those people do it?! How do three dudes with rockin' beards buy a van for $800 and run that shit into the ground traveling cross country doing every single awesome activity you could possibly imagine?! My sensible side thinks, did they register that van and make sure it had the proper insurances and did they plan this trip out first? But my Wanderlust side is like, fuck yeah! I want that van, and a goddamn beard just like that, lets go to New Mexico TONIGHT! WHOOO! So why can't we? Oh yeah that's right, life. Bills, and Cleaning the bathroom, and fiscal years and shit. Bummer. But there is hope for us. While we can't just gallivant around the country 24/7 like our parents own Google, we can go on vacations. That word just brings all the thoughts of Utah and Colorado and Quebec and San Fransisco back into my head, and I'm excited all over again. I can do all these things, and have a permanent address AND my hair won't smell like old fish sticks from living out of a van. So I guess what I'm getting at is, vacations are the key, they are completely, totally, and utterly awesome. So don't waste them. Seriously. Work is always going to be busy, and you're always going to owe money to something. Just plan ahead, and go, wherever it is you wanna go. Wanna see the largest ball of twine and the biggest bouncy ball? GO! Wanna go to Denali National Park and sleep next to huge grizzly bears and glaciers? Go dammit! Because I guarantee in 40 years you're not going to remember what project you worked on or who you had to make a sales call to in 2013, but you will remember when you watched a solar eclipse in Zion National Park or climbed a cliff face in a rain storm. So this year go wherever it is you've been thinking about going, book the plane tickets, cause then you have to go. And oh yeah, take me with you. I know stuff and I'll probably do something stupid at one point and you'll laugh, it will be worth it.
Also, I have gone on a few trips lately and there has been some mileage. I went up to the White Mountains a few weeks ago with my Dad and Brother for some male bonding. We went cross country skiing and explored the Kangamangus highway a bit. It was a lot of fun. I also got a chance to go on a hike on Super Bowl Sunday to Agassiz Rock. It was relatively short but absolutely worth checking out if you have a bit of free time one day. The loop is only roughly one mile but has a few glacial erratics and a semi-view of Gloucester to see. It was during this hike that I thought of attaching the GoPro a tree and then tipping it over.....needs perfecting but footage is sure to follow. Also it was snowing which made this place even better, usually the truth for hiking in New England in the winter.
Don't forget to send me your mileage when you guys go hiking! I really do have a free pair of boots to give out and I want to know where you all have hiked.  Do it!
Finally, there is going to be some changes here at Wanderlust in the next few months, adding some new features so stay tuned. Cheers!

Mileage: 1.5 miles

Fish Eye Guys.

Cross country Skiing.

Not all of it was this flat. It's fun, seriously.

Human Dead Fall trap.

Mt. Liberty

This past Columbus Day weekend I headed up to the White Mountains with a few good friends for a weekend of camping and hiking, during arguably the best weekend for fall foliage. Unfortunately the weather wasn't exactly the best, but that didn't stop us from doing everything we set out to do. As a precursor to this post, I'm moving and I've had very little free time in the past couple of weeks, and while I know I need to write some posts before the memory of the trips start to fade, I'm lazy and this post will prob suffer due to that. While we hiked a few short side trips along the Kancamagus highway, the main event was Mount Liberty, part of the Franconia ridge, which I've been somewhat obsessed with this past year as I've done Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, and now Liberty, along this ridge. The hike up wasn't too bad in my opinion (although a few members of the group might beg to differ a bit) we took the Liberty Springs trail up, not too steep and the rain held up for the most part as we made our way to the summit. While the main allure of hiking a mountain is for the incredible views at the top, there is still something to be said about a summit surrounded by fog, which is good because since it was in the clouds we couldn't see jack shit. After eating some heavily processed, loosely deemed chicken products and 3 pounds of golden grahams the rain picked up quite a bit and we were forced to make our way down the mountain. Now a hike in the rain sounds awful, but with the proper gear it isn't all that bad, but if your rocking some homemade jorts, a band tee shirt, and Wal-Mart brand boots it can be the worst experience ever, just ask Patrick. Although the jorts could have been replaced with a open-assed kilt, it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference, and needless to say by the time we made it back to the car, people were ready to go. After getting back we booked it to Oktoberfest at Loon Mountain, pounded some beers on empty stomachs that had just hiked 9 miles and swerved our way over to the Woodstock Inn for some dinner and further drinks, the best end to a day of hiking in the rain you could possibly ask for. The Woodstock Inn is perhaps the best restaurant I have even eaten at, and I've done so every time I've been hiking up there for this blog. I may or may not have already spoken about this place, but I don't care. Go there. Eat some damn meatloaf. Smile. Pass out. Thank me later. And if you don't like meatloaf, well then, get the hell out of here. I'm sure they make good Apple-tini spiced baby sauce that you might enjoy better. All and all awesome weekend with some good friends. Camping is just awesome, and it is possible and enjoyable to do so after Labor day, just as long as you don't wear white. Cheers!

Mileage: 9 Miles

Victors.

Gothic Peak.

Fall Awesomeness.

Strike a pose.

Fall is good.

"That's water"