Day one of my solo trip in New Zealand began with touching down at 8am on Christchurch. I’d found a climbing partner on Mountain Project before I left but the weather wasn’t quite cooperating. My new friend picked me up from the airport and we headed to Godley Head to a hike a little loop he’d found in a guidebook somewhere. We hoped that it would clear up enough for us to head to a crag and get some routes in.
A few years ago I stumbled across something called Twitter chats, specifically #hikerchat. From there, numerous adventure friend relationships spawned across the country. I’m so lucky to call Lee, the founder of the illustrious Washington Hikers & Climbers Facebook group, one of my good friends. He knows the best spots in Washington and is always happy to hike with the biggest smile on his face. This time around we headed out to Mt. Baker to check out one of his favorite spectacular spots, just off the beaten path.
My little brother just got back from a brief stint of backpacking through Europe. With his heart still full of adventure, he asked me to take him out somewhere, anywhere. He didn’t give me any criteria and said he was down for whatever, but the first time someone goes backpacking will obviously make or break their experience. After much hemming and hawing, Meiss Lake in Mokelumne Wilderness was my pick.
Three day weekends are for adventures and Memorial Day Weekend was no exception. My best friend and I loaded up our packs and headed out to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen is one of my favorite parks because it’s just so dang beautiful and it doesn’t have the crowds that Yosemite gets. Our plan was to backpack the Clusters Lake loop, but things changed a bit and we had the option of extending it. Day one was taking our time lake hopping from Summit Lake to Snag Lake.
Avdalen Gard was the last outdoorsy stop on our Norway stop, and it was great. We saved the best for last. Trolltunga was great and Vettisfossen was cool, but Avdalen? Words can’t even describe how magical it was to me, and photos don’t do it justice. It was stunning!
