Backpacking the Chelan Lakeshore Trail

Have you ever hiked 22 miles for a famous cinnamon roll? This Memorial Day weekend I did exactly that!

Nestled on the northern shore of Lake Chelan lies the town Stehekin. Unreachable by car, the only way to reach it is either by a four hour ferry ride or float plane. A fun third option? Take the Lady of the Lake ferry to the Prince Creek stop and backpack 17 miles on the Chelan Lakeshore Trail into town!

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Adventuring in California’s Alabama Hills

While you may not know about the Alabama Hills by name chances are you have seen it in a TV show or movie, it’s an extremely popular Hollywood filming location. The road your drive down to reach the campsites is even called, “Movie Road” Before white settlers and eventually Hollywood stumbled across this location the Paiute Tribe called this land home and you can even find pictographs in the rock formations. Now Alabama Hills is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which means there is free dispersed camping. There are some rules in place surrounding this so double check the BLM site before planning your trip!


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Snow Camping at Mount Rainier National Park

When my friend Doris asked me if I would want to sign up for the snow camping event with her, I must admit, I was super on the fence. We had car camped in the North Cascades in October and I spent a miserable night freezing in my car in 19-degree temps. My initial thoughts were, why would I willingly sign up to cry in a sleeping bag again…? Doris assured me she would help me figure out a better sleeping system and that it would be fun so we reserved our spots (these events fill up super quickly!) and I anxiously awaited the arrival of this weekend.

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How to Prepare for Winter Hikes

A little while ago I wrote a post about being prepared when you go on hikes, and I follow my own advice from that post for every hike I go on. I recently learned the important lesson that being prepared for an outdoor adventures is also highly dependent on the season. Generally I avoid snowy roads in the winter because I know I am not the best driver, even if my car has AWD, and for that reason I never thought to keep chains, a shovel, tow straps, etc in my car. I was never going to drive down a snowy road so why would I need it right? WRONG. You always think it can’t happen to you until it happens to you. 

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Ten Things to know Before Traveling to Costa Rica

When it comes to traveling I am either an extreme over planner, or more of a laid back, “we will figure it out when we get there” type of person. When I found out I would be visiting Costa Rica with family I decided to opt for option B. Not everyone enjoys my tight schedules going from location to location so I decided not to drive my family insane and try to go with the flow a little more for this trip. I basically did no research other than finding a couple of spots I wanted to visit. 

I love how our trip turned out, but there were definitely some things I wish I had known before I traveled down there!

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Whidbey Island Weekend Getaway

After spending more weekends than I can count running around in the snow and mountains I found myself exhausted and needing some rest. Brian wanted to get our condo painted which meant we needed to spend a weekend elsewhere. The stars all aligned and we were able to get away to Whidbey Island with our pup and some close friends for some much needed relaxation.

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Getting Started with Photography: How to Expose your Photos

When I got my first DSLR I was TERRIFIED to take it off automatic mode. I had no idea what settings would get me the kind of photos I wanted, so I put it on auto and let the camera decide for me.

If you are in a rush to get a usable photo and don’t have time to experiment, sure, shoot on automatic. But trust me when I tell you that you will never be as happy with a photo where the camera decided all the settings for you over a photo you properly exposed on your own.

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2017 Year in Review

I have written one of these every year since starting this blog and it's one of my favorite posts to put together (you can read 2015's here and 2016's here)  2017 was another great year of of adventuring and growth for me. I made a couple of major life changes I would have been too scared to make in previous years and was able to travel to a few amazing places!

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Am I Selfish for Hiking so Much?

My dad is an avid fisherman, has been for all of his life. His version of REI was a local fly shop where he would spend hours discussing the merits of the little bug shaped things in various bins. We would often drive down random roads near his favorite rivers where he would look for new spots to wade in and fish...and I was always his annoyed daughter feeling drug along for all of this.

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