(That’s Mexican lingo for “How cool!”) Chasing the sun, we opted to drive south from Austin to Padre Island National Seashore (not on our original list of parks) instead of heading north to Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma in…
Needing a few city days after our trip to Big Bend, we arrived in San Antonio at our motel on the non-touristy side of I-35 (meaning cheap room rates but kind of sketchy with a lot of vagrants milling about)…
We survived our first national park foray of Project 100 with four days in Texas’ Big Bend National Park, which had cold-weather forecasts making us nervous before we left Phoenix (more on that at the end of this post). We spent most of…
After a final few days of frantic packing and preparations, Project 100 has officially launched! We loaded up the car this morning (can you believe all this stuff fit neatly into the Prius?) and headed east from Phoenix. It wasn’t until…
As soon as we turned around I was relieved to be heading back downhill, even though the descent was almost as challenging as going uphill. I kept repeating to myself, “Safety first.” At the base of the glacier we could…
One-thirty a.m. came around too soon, but other climbers in the hut were up and about getting their own breakfasts out of the way and starting their ascents. At 2 a.m. it was a cold, hard slog up the first…
In November 2010 Hector and I attempted a summit of Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltepetl, which is Nahuatl for “starry mountain.” At 5,747 meters, it ranks as North America’s third-highest peak and Mexico’s tallest mountain. When I first…
…to the national parks we go! Project 100 launch time, when we set sail on our 2016 exploration in celebration of the National Park Service‘s 100th anniversary, is getting closer. We invite you to follow along as we hike, paddle,…
We arrived at our final Aussie destination — Sydney, a visually interesting city filled with spectacular high-rises, wonderful historic buildings, harbor views and fashionable locals. The central business district is laid out very conveniently for getting around, with ferries, buses and trains leaving from…
As impressed and refreshed as Kangaroo Island left me, I found Tasmania even more captivating. We flew into the Tasmania capital, Hobart, to meet our bird guide, Ruth Brozek. Hobart is like a smaller, cleaner version of San Francisco with a nice…