Phoenix so far August 2023- January 2024

We made our move to the valley of the sun on August 3rd, 2023 it was a high of 115 °F sweltering heat that welcomed us to the state of Arizona. Our move here was so Noelle could complete a 12 month accelerated Nursing Program at Creighton University. I would work for REI in Chandler and we would spend our time enjoying the new area while we make the next steps in our lives.

Along the way we have been able to see some amazing Southwestern scenes. Noey and I have been able to travel and see many more National Parks and beautiful areas.

Since moving here I have been more active on the trails, running a lot and enjoying the access to the mountains and the fair weather. I also have been training for races. I competed in the Thrasher 20k Night Run and placed second! I look forward to the Elephant Mountain 35k on February 3rd.


We have also met tons of new friends and have been able to be a part of a great community.

But most importantly we have made a home away from home. We enjoyed our first Christmas with my folks, Thanksgiving with hers. I look forward to the next couple of months as things could be changing for the better.

Crystal Range Traverse 07/21/23

Dan just made this great video to recap our adventure!

I have the joy working all summer with guides from all over the country and from many different backgrounds. I often get close with my co guide for the trip and then we have to go to work on another trip and we struggle to meet back up. Like ships passing we see one another heading out for a trip or on our way back, we share our stories and keep moving forward. Rarely do you get to befriend another guide who you could see as a friend you will have for the rest of your life.

This summer I met Dan, a guide from upstate New York who is starting his career in the outdoor industry as his first season as a guide. While it is his first season guiding he is far from being new to the trail.

Dan is a PCT and CDT hiker, completing both hikes traversing the country for more than 5,600 miles. He also has completed an amazing route in the Sierra Nevada that he called the Super Sierra High Route. That high route is actually where I first saw Dan in his element as he posted an amazing documentary on Youtube, and I was a huge fan of his channel before I met him this season. Maybe the most niche star stuck you could get but I was so stoked when I realized that Dan was that guy who made such an inspirational film my friends and I had seen so many times.

So Dan and I hit it off great this season with our first trip together being a scouting trip in Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite, we would later lead a trip out there with customers later in the season. On the trail we shared our hiking stories our favorite areas to visit and of course our shared appreciation for the delirium that sets in when you are with good friends on the trail and have been in the wilderness for a while. We eventually landed on how there is a wild creature in the Yosemite National Park that goes by the name Yerba Santa… there is more to that but lets just say this cryptid was a bit unhinged. We also shared ideas of link ups and hikes we wanted to complete in the near future. My favorite dumb idea that I have had for a few years is to link up all 4 types of volcanoes in Lassen National Park in one day. We decided we would try for that this season. 40+ miles 11k vert, What a great idea.

Well due to reasons we didn’t foresee at the time such as my move to Arizona we would have to put the Lassen Challenge on the back burner for now. As if we were in any condition to complete that hike. We opted to go on one of my last weekends in California to hit Tahoe. Dan had texted me simply “Crystal Range Traverse?” and I was in. With the excitement and eagerness of someone who didn’t fully understand what I signed up, I said “that sounds insane. kinda down.”

The Crystal Range is a mountain range that towers over the alpine lakes of Desolation Wilderness just west of Lake Tahoe. The range towers into the sky reaching almost to 10,000 ft above sea level with Pyramid peak topping out at 9985ft. I have had my eyes on the 2 mile stretch of Ridgeline since our hike of the TRT last year. It is such a beautiful skyline from Lake Aloha and was such a striking view from the top of Dick’s pass I swore that I would do it sooner rather than later. So Dan and I decided two days before going on the trail to attempt the traverse in one day.

Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

A 4am wake up alarm hit the day of the hike, We had spent the night before wandering the local Walmart for snacks for the trail and lost track of time. We hit the bed probably at 12:30… that did not set us up for success.


We hit the trail after a drive up HW 50 at around 7am, still a bit groggy from the late night but we were eager to get above the tree line.

The trailhead was a heart racer in that it shot straight up the side of the canyon, zig zagging up the steepest sections it warmed us and thawed the chill of the morning. We made our way out to find the view of Pyramid Peak still looming above us.

The hike up had us cross through multiple bands or widths of ecosystems, from dense ponderosa pines with wolf lichen covering them bright green to shrubby willows along the stream to the edge of the forest where those same trees became small bonsai clinging to the rocky surface.

We made it up to the talus scramble, just about 150-200ft from the summit where we climbed up large refrigerator to small car sized boulders to reach our first peak on the traverse.

From the summit of Pyramid peak and we got our first view of desolation wilderness as a whole. The wilderness that I hiked through years ago that inspired such wonder and awe, now below me in an almost a patchwork of white blue and silver with a border of deeper green. Dan and I made it to the benchmark, notched our names in the book and took some pictures. We were joined on the summit by butterflies that floated above us, welcoming us to this higher realm. A marmot chirped at us as well, a friend who watched us later down the trail. We enjoyed the views that swept below us from right to left, ending on the rest of the crystal range that was ahead.

Jagged peaks and snow covering the slopes below that could hold on, this was a perfect adventure.

We made our way down the talus of the north side of Pyramid and hit our most difficult section of scrambling. Dan said that it was the only time we would see class 3 terrain. Class 3 terrain requires you to hold on to the rock to get yourself up and over, this includes a bit more risk and exposure as well. Some real type 2 fun. It was also not the only class 3 we would see.


On our way through we communicated and scouted and made our way up this section. Hoisting myself over the hump thinking okay that’s the easy part done…

Picking through the talus to find the cleanest line was not easy, it took a lot of time and we still had Mount Price lingering in the distance. It took us longer than we expected.

finding the line up mount price was challenging and we did some more climbing to make our way up and over, for all the cursing and frustration we enjoyed our view of Pyramid and the ridgeline we had just completed.

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Trinity Alps Weekend 6/9-6/11

There I was sitting on the bed probably scrolling through some brain dead memes on TikTok or watching a YouTube video. I just got back from a scouting trip to Hetch Hetchy and was feeling ready for the rest of the backpacking season. My phone started blowing up with a group chat from my friends who I had hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail with the year prior. Navigator and Prophet Sticks had plans to hit up the Stuart Fork Trail for a chill weekend trip.

I was game for it. I would have just gotten back from my first REI trip of the season so It would be a busy week of backpacking but I was ready. Unfortunately our best bud Mr. Lost was being sent to Korea for work and was not available to join us.

We set out from Elk Grove and made our way up to Trinity, stopping in Redding to get some fixings for a dinner at the campsite. Bell peppers, onions, potatoes and sausage, all were going to go on the fire so we could have a mixed roast at the trailhead. We arrived in the early evening and while it looked like a threatening storm was rolling in we were able to set up camp.

Prophet and Navigator made their tents, I thought it would be good to throw up my tarp over the picnic table… Just as it was pitched it started to come down on us. Hard. The site was all hard packed soils so the water just stayed on the surface and pooled around our feet. We moved the tents to a better more elevated ground, and huddled under the tarp. Now slightly soggy we enjoyed our brews and started prepping dinner. It would be about an hour of hard rain and serious thunderstorms before we could make our attempt at a fire. We dug trenches and tried to get the water to flow down to the creek below but our attempts were pointless as it just would fill up the channels again. Once the relentless rain subsided, we made our way to the fire pit.

With some serious effort we were able to get a fire going with wet materials and camp stoves. some needles would catch and we would be on our hands and knees blowing to get it to catch further twigs. Only once we used our backpacking stoves as a torch did we have success. We were starving but the fire would warm us up and feed us. We spent that evening eating the best tasting tin foil wrapped roast I can imagine.

We decided to get a later start the next day. Why? Because at this point late starts were this groups tradition. The entire TRT we would say “lets get up at 5:30 or 6” only to be leaving camp by 10am. So we followed our traditions, taking in the morning bird songs in a half asleep state peering out of our sleeping bags.

The trail to Morris meadow is a 8.5ish mile climb of about 2000ft crossing many creeks. We made our way up the trail making great time. Enjoying each others company and catching up on each others lives. No matter how long it is since we have been apart these guys are my brothers and it is great to be with them on the trail.

We made it to Morris Meadow in the afternoon. Our destination for this trip. The Stuart Fork creek flattened out and made space for a beautiful vista of the Trinity Alps. We would set up camp on the outside of some woods. Cool off and ice our aching muscles in the creek. We were home.

Our dinner spot put us about 100 feet off trail but with an amazing view of the surrounding meadow and vistas. We opted to make a charcuterie board of cheese and crackers. I made a dehydrated shakshuka soup which I ended up tossing in hunks of gouda. It was divine.

We made some new friends out there and shared with them the beautiful sunset and my latest product idea, the bear chair. We enjoyed some good laughs at their description of the unfazed deer in the meadow who had swallowed one of their socks whole. One gulp and the whole darn tough was down the deers throat. It made us all take inventory of our gear that was out of sight and potentially in the reach of one of the wild deer.

As I stood in the meadow, surrounded by the green grasses, We witnessed an unforgettable sunset that would forever be etched in my memory. The sky blazed with hues of fiery oranges and purples, as the sun slowly descended towards west. The clouds danced in the golden light, forming and moving over the peaks. The stream whispered from behind the trees reminded us of the flow of water coming from the snow capped peaks. We felt humbled by the display we witnessed together.

The next morning we cruised out of the camp and made it back to the trailhead by noon. Flying down the hill we gave each other space to enjoy it on our own. We sometimes moved like that and allow ourselves some alone time on the trail, something just as important as our time to catch up with one another.

Back into civilization we went with burritos in Redding. I drove us to Elk Grove and we departed. It is sad to think that It may be some time before I get to go on another trip with these guys due to my move to PHX. But I know that time nor distance will make our bond any weaker and we will have more adventures in the future.

Day 17 -20 Jackson to Park City to Nevada City to Home

From Noelle’s polar steps: Left the Tetons this morning after a lovely sleep in a real bed. We grabbed some coffee and hit the road for Utah. We drove through southern Wyoming which was filled with a lot of farms and fields. From there we went I to Idaho for a little while where we saw the start of the insane real estate that would continue into northern Utah. We entered Utah and stopped at a grocery store along the road, used the restroom and then the whole store went black. Jake and I hurried out of the store and back into the car, looked at one another just to make sure the power outage wasn’t just a figment of our imagination. From there we continued up the hill, looking at the massively beautiful houses that stood with a gorgeous view of Bear Lake, the Mormons are lucky. We descended down the hill and found the other side of the mountain covered in snow, whereas the first side was warm and sunny. Past the snow the hills turned into massive rocky mountains with Aspens lining both sides of the road. We soon entered Logan, UT and started realizing how many churches there really were. That number only increased as we reached Salt Lake, this number increasing exponentially alongside the number of idiotic soda-addicted and caffeine-deprived drivers. It felt almost like driving through LA at rush hour, only 10 times the amount of pickup trucks. We got a recommendation for a cultural experience to stop at Swig, which is a soda stand. Here they simply add flavored sugar syrup into sugary sodas, quite an experience. Jake says he’ll just stick to regular soda. We checked into our hotel for the night and relaxed a little before walking over to get some dinner. We decided to bring it back to the room and watch some playoff basketball and relax. One more super long drive (almost 9 hours) tomorrow, and one more stay in Nevada City, CA before our trip is sadly over and we’re back to the normal insanity.

After our day in Park city we made the long and boring drive through the Nevada desert. we were so happy to be in our Sierra Nevada Mountains again and we settled into our Cabin in Nevada city. While there we hit the small town for dinner and got another amazing pizza and enjoyed the eclectic local scene. Cool looking enough to make you want to know more we listened into the chatter at the pub, but as soon as they started taking crypto tokens and their current pot harvest we decided to focus back on the food we had ordered. It was a beautiful evening in the California foothills and it was great to be back home.

The next morning we went down the hill to Davis. That morning was Noelle’s waterpolo banquet. There we were welcomed back and she was honored with being the MVP for the team. It was a great way to be welcomed back home.

Day 16 Yellowstone Hotsprings to Jackson

Made it from Montana back to Wyoming! One last sunset in the Tetons with a little roadside fried rice dinner. We got a small sunset with some cloud cover and a surprise moose visit at the end of our dinner. Instead of sleeping on the ground we get a fancy motel for the night with a heater and a shower, really living large. Both parks have a lot to offer, and we are for sure planning to come back to the Tetons some day.

Day 15 Yellowstone Hotsprings to Bozeman and Back

Took a day to explore the surrounding valley and cities and drove from our camp to Bozeman, MT.

While there we visited the REI of course and then had some lunch at Sidewall pizza where we had the most delicious mushroom pizza. From there we drove through Big Sky and all the way down to West Yellowstone so that we could drive back through the park.

We stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin for a little walk through the stinky steam and forbidden swimming pools.

We continued the drive back to camp and then headed to the on site hot springs full with cold, warm and hot pools. We spent about 2 hours there while it rained for half of that time. We participated in a hot/cold bath walk lined with cobblestones and jumped into the ice bath and then into the hot bath, which is supposed to help with circulation. We grabbed some dinner in town, as it was raining too much to cook anything outside. I suffered through eating the spiciest of spicy chicken sandwiches, I had to flag down a waitress to give me a few more glasses of water. We edited some photos in the tent when we got back and listened to the rain hit the nylon as we fell asleep. One more night in a tent and then the slow journey back to reality.

Day 14 Maddison to Yellowstone Hotsprings

Woke up and packed up camp at Madison Campground. We ate some yoghurts and headed u to Lamar Valley again. The valley visit started with the closest bear encounter we had the entire time. We spotted a black bear along the road, down a little from the road. We watched it walk to a nearby pond and plop down in the water before we headed further down the valley again.

From there we were driving up a straight we part of the valley with an overlook of a meadow with a river, some brush and willows in the distance and a bunch of buffalo and pronghorn deer. Little did we know that in the distance and cover of the willows were 6 grizzly bears.

The first bear we spotted off the to left, walking around a patch of snow near the deer. We spotted a sow and a cub on the opposite side of the space. Mom and cub were wrestling and snoozing in the afternoon sun along yu the river. Soon enough a women we were watching the scene with said “hey I think I see another bear maybe?”. We all looked for a little while and came to the conclusion that it was indeed another bear. To our surprise however, it wasn’t 1 bear, but it was rather 3. Another sow with 2 adolescent cubs were nearing the first mom with 1 cub. A little while later we were watching the second sow send her 2 cubs towards the other 2 bears, mom one and 2 cubs engaging in a face off. We were lucky but also not lucky enough to see a bear fight so it remained peaceful while we were there. All the bears went separate ways within the same area, not engaging with one another anymore, but also not fighting over territory. Shortly after, the first lone bear started making it’s way over towards the right where the 5 bears were located.

We all eagerly watched, speculating over what would happen. We then saw the lone bear stare over towards the 5, and then dart away, back the other way, the pronghorn deer moving quickly with the bear. We all watched for a little longer but all bears had disappeared back into the brush so we headed up the valley a little more before heading back down and out towards our spot for the night.

We made it to the Yellowstone Hot Springs and set up camp with our tent about 10 feet away from the Gibbon River. I made a camp fire, Noey made some tofu stir fry and we enjoyed the fire and a few games of Yahtzee. We planned to enjoy the hot springs the next day after a good nights rest.

Day 13 Maddison to The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Got up early this morning and headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Unfortunately because of the amount of snow and ice still on the ground we weren’t able to hike around much, but we scurried over some of the muddy trails along the road and got a good view of the lower falls.

We stopped to take some more photos and then headed to camp to make lunch and play some rounds of Yahtzee. Where I won the series 2-1!

We went out for another walk along the river and road (one of the few non-snowy paths) and spotted a coyote running along the hill, across the road and towards our campground. We plopped down under the shade of a tree, a mile or so away from the campground and coyote, and watched some baby buffalo sleep and wake up in the fields around the Madison River.

We then decided to head back and into West Yellowstone for some service and to watch Celeste’s NCAA final game. We’re now inside a McDonalds, which was one of the only casual places open besides a gun range, but excited for the rest of the night!

Day 12 Old Faithful to Maddison Camp

Today we left our heated cabin with running water and headed to Lamar Valley for the afternoon. The valley is often called the “American Serengeti” because of its abundance of wild life interacting with one another. We started our drive over there with a 30 minute traffic stop because of some buffalo and then continued our drive to the Northeast corner of the park. We entered the valley and first stopped to see some pronghorn deer along with some buffalo in the rolling hills.

Our drive continued with more buffalo, some excited ladies having seen a “grizzly” (which we were pretty sure was still just a buffalo), and finally a wolf. As I was driving i took a small glance over to my left and spotted a gray colored wolf running through the brush, over the grassy green patch on a hill. I yelled “WOLF!” at Noëlle and pulled over to the side of the road. Noëy sprung into action with her camera and managed to get some photos of it running across the hill. We helped some other people spot it as well before it disappeared to the other side of the greenery.

After leaving the valley we were almost immediately stopped for nothing other than another buffalo crossing the road which cost us another 15 minutes. We finally made it to camp and set up, grabbed some more fire wood. I made a fire and Noey made Mac and Cheese. Noëlle learned how much I love making campfires and stoking it with sticks and moving around the logs with my fire gloves. The fire kept us warm and the s’mores kept us happy and we headed to bed soon after.

Day 11 Grand Tetons to Old Faithful, Yellowstone

We made it to Yellowstone around noon and started with a tour of the lower, middle and upper basins before getting to our cabin just outside the Old Faithful Gyser .

We toured the upper basin geysers and pools along the boardwalk and came up with this list of what the hydro geothermal bacteria look like: velveeta cheese, caramel macchiato, rust rivers, melted peanut butter, leaking orange hilighter, sun-dried tomato oil and instant eggs

Before dinner we managed to watch the eruption of the tallest geyser, Grand Geyser, which could get up to 200 ft tall and erupted for about 10 minutes.

We ate dinner in the beautiful Old Faithful Inn and then walked back to our cabin and watched Old Faithful erupt one more time.

Day 10 Grand Teton Final Night

Last day in the park and we needed to visit our little sheep buddies again. We slept past our sunrise alarm, ate some yoghurt and bananas for breakfast and headed back to the Elk Reserve. We hung out with our little buddies for a little while and made our way to town for a little resupply before starting our drive to Yellowstone the next day.

Later in the evening, we mapped out our plan for the next day, made some jambalaya for dinner to go, and headed out back to Oxbow bend for sunset and dinner. We were pleasantly surprised with clear skys and beavers swimming across the river. Noëlle channeled her inner Laurence Kincaid and spotted a bald eagle and managed to capture some photos of it, She is already a pro.

Enjoying sunset we made friends with Xin. They took the most amazing photo of us and told us about their cross country journey to med school residency on the east coast and all the cool stops they were making on the way. We warmed up and ate dinner in the car, which was delicious, and drove back to camp. Our heads hit the pillow and we both crashed immediately, excited for Yellowstone tomorrow.

Day 9 Gros Venture to Grand Tetons

We dragged ourselves out of our tent around 5:30. Cold and clouds hung low over our camp. We hopped in the car with the jetboil , hot chocolate and cameras ready to go. We drove north for about 20 minutes and stopped at the iconic Mormon Row barn to capture the sunrise.

We then drove south and across to the other side of the park to Jenny Lake and stopped to make some roadside hot chocolate. I decided that this camping trip wasn’t complete without a roasted marshmallow, so I slightly toasted and slightly burned the mallow on Jakes Jetboil under the Grand Teton for a nice morning breakfast of hot chocolate and pure sugar.

We took a drive towards town and then took a sharp left all the way down towards the Elk Refuge. There we were told we would be able to see Big Horned Sheep. We were not disappointed. We spent about an hour and a half amazed at the pure agility of the animals hopping alongside the seemingly sheer cliffs, running left, right, up and down. The juveniles came down towards the road and all of a sudden the big males started appearing from the other side of the rock, one by one, as if they were being introduced individually at an awards show. The two dozen sheep crossed the road, making sure to be super in the way of all the cars trying to pass.

Watching all the jumping around made us tired, or maybe it was the early roll call… We said goodbye for now and headed to camp for a much needed nap.

We departed camp again as the rain was starting, hopped in the car, this time with some cheese and crackers and headed north towards Oxbow Bend. On the way we were stopped by about 12 Buffalo running over a knocked down wooden fence to the other side of the road. With them was a little baby that was simply too cute not to take a dozen photos of.

We continued the drive with another stop near the bend where numerous cars were stopped and NPS Wildlife Rangers were showing everyone where the grizzlies were. This time a mamma Grizzly with 2 babies were running around the sage brush meadow along the river. We snapped some more pictures and went back to the car for some cheese and dry cover from the outside rain.

We drove back to camp, watched the sunset at Glacier Point, and made a quick warm soup before heading to bed.

It’s been decided that Noey is good at manifesting wildlife!

Day 8 Gros Venture to Tetons

Leaving camp a bit late, for our first full day in the park we filled it with seeing as much as we could. We decided the best way to view everything would be to drive the big park loop.

The first stop we made was at the Moran Mountain overlook where a bunch of cars were stopped alongside the road and everyone with a camera or binoculars were enthusiastically watching a momma Grizzly bear with her 3 cubs. We managed to snap some photos (from a far distance) and continued on.

We cruised to Jenny Lake, which was where we were originally supposed to camp, and we’re baffled to see the big piles of snow and then the frozen over lake. Glad to say that we were a lot less cold where we were camping instead! We checked out Oxbow bend and saw some bear tracks and quickly got out of there.

Later in the evening we decided to make dinner to go, packed up everything in our Target bag, and headed back to the famous Ansel Adams Snake River photo spot for a sunset dinner. Chili and cornbread warmed us up, and the sunset left us in awe. I’ll just let the photos do the talking for this one.

Day 7 Jackson to Gros Ventre

We woke up this morning and grabbed some coffee (yes we know, were addicts) from the Anvil’s lobby. It’s a very curated storefront full of Anvil branded merch and other cool looking pieces of clothing and jewelry. We decided to make one more store run before we ended up setting up camp. Of course we made a stop at the worlds smallest REI, then we hit Target and Whole Foods for our last few needs and then headed to Gros Ventre Campground. We saw a Moose and some herds of what we think were Elk on the roads into camp. We set up camp that afternoon with beautiful blue skys and a clear view of the Tetons. Our camp spot had probably the one of the best views of the whole 400 spot campground so, lucky us!

Unlucky for us though at about 6:20pm we were just about to cook a nice stir fry veggie dinner but moved our party to the car because of some aggressive thunder and lightning. We watched the storm map as we sat and watch the clouds roll and the thunder impact overhead. It was all the sudden on top of us then the next it was miles away but still didn’t want to risk anything.

So cheers to a Coconut Curry dehydrated meal in the car on the first night!

With more rain coming through the night and no more thunder we fell asleep in our tent with the patter of drops on top of us. It was a great first night in camp.

Day 6 Boise to Jackson

With the late arrival in Boise we slept in that next morning. When we finally decided to grab some breakfast, as we were hungry from the long drive and lack of an actual dinner the day before. We got some breakfast sandwiches on the most amazing homemade english muffins, some iced coffee. Boise was interesting to say the least, nice downtown with of course a Trader Joe’s for Noey to geek out over. Then we were driving again, another 6 hours of driving to Jackson, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. On the way we saw dark hills streaked with patches of snow as we drove through the windy roads of Idaho.

A quick pitstop at the Craters of the Moon for some sightseeing and a PB&J to get us to Jackson. The park was covered in gnarly black rock and twisted trees taking up the cracks. The wind blew through the lava fields pushing away the grey clouds and giving us a beautiful view of the snow-topped mountain backdrop to the black field before us.

We scarfed down the PB&J and were back on the road.

We arrived in Jackson just before the sun was about to set. Before going over the mountains we were gifted a bunch of rainbows, full and part, came out of the sunny-rainy weather to greet us. We then made our way over the snowy pass driving about 19 mph in a 55 mph zone behind someone who refused to go any faster, lift their foot off the brake, or pull off to the side for the entire 8 miles, We luckily made over the mountains in one piece, only mildly frustrated. We made our way to our motel and we’re greeted with a cute gold and blue accented room with a cozy bed. From there we went and got some dinner and then drove out to the mountains to see if the night would clear up some of the clouds enough for us to see the Tetons. We got some photos of the mountains that were clear enough, but the weather forced us to save the main event for the next morning.

We got tucked in back at our room and took one last shower for the next 5 days and dreamed of the sights we were about to see the next few days in the great wilderness of the Grand Tetons.

Day 5 Portland to Smith Rock to Boise

Earlier in the trip while visiting Bend for a morning coffee before heading to Portland, we had taunted ourselves with stopping by Smith Rock. We ended up saving the park to visit with my college best friend and his partner. Justin “Baby J” DiRuscio and Sophia “Sofa” Lepore met up with us in the lot that had the large looming red rock as the backdrop. It was just as amazing as we had hoped it to be. It had been probably 4 years since I last saw the two and we kicked it off like no time had passed. Baby J rolled out the pickup in one of his classic big flannels and scruffy stubble and Sofia was as sweet and kind as she always. After some much needed hugs we kicked off the reunion tour with a 950 feet straight up climb to the top of misery ridge. The big rock. We got a stunning view of the river and the rest the park had to offer. Sofia and Justin made their best pitch for No and I to move to Bend when she wraps up nursing school, but I don’t think we need much convincing. With world class climbing, hiking, kayaking and friends this area seems like the place to me.

We made our way back down and cruised along the river, watching a bunch of people climbing up all of the surrounding sheer-faced rocks.

We had to say goodbye to Justin and Sophia. While bittersweet I know that we will have opportunity to be together again this summer in a potential river trip. No and I headed to Bend for a quick, well deserved lunch before hitting the road again.

We drove through the John Day Fossil Beds national monument after the advice from Sofia and we were treated to some spectacular desert scenes. We were met with yet again more rain and lightning while leaving Bend, but managed to draw up some sunshine for our quick detour. It was nothing like either of us had seen before, red and tan colored, rounded hills and smooth grooves and straight multi-colored lines. Definitely a place I would love to visit again.

We arrived in Boise after our long drive through eastern Oregon. After a untimely stop by one of Oregon’s finest… we made it to into town at about 11:30 local time. We hit the bed and our eyes were closed on impact with the pillow. Rest. After that long drive we needed it.

Day 3-4 Portland and Mt. St Helens

Portland welcomed us with a slightly gloomy and rainy day. We left our place and headed to the city to walk around and immerse ourselves in all of the touristy attractions. First stop, Powell’s Book Store. We grabbed a coffee and did some work while watching the rain fall to the city streets. After managing to escape the store with only 3 books, we put our rain jackets on, stuffed our laptops and books into my backpack and began our walk through downtown.




We stopped into the Patagonia and Danner stores, Noelle allowed me to nerd out about gear. We then went to Voodoo donuts to check that off of the tourist checklist. The store was cute and the donuts were pretty average but overall a cool walk downtown. We went back to the house for a little nap and then left for the city again to meet up with Monet and Ryan for tacos at Tacovore (food 7.5/10, company 10/10). Monet convinced us we needed to get ice cream so we went to Salt & Straw and boy was she right. Before you even saw the store you were greeted with the warm smell of fresh waffle cones. I got the Mango Habanero IPA and Vanilla scoop (9/10) and Noelle got a Rhubarb Crumble and Cinnamon scoop (9.5/10). We walked around town with our desserts before saying bye and heading home for some much rest.

We absolutely love our stay on the west side of Portland. It’s in a nice quiet and charming neighborhood that feels like you are in a forest one moment then at a community garden in another. Our hosts were so kind and sweet, they shared with us some spots on our roadtrip such as the Chico hot springs up in northern Yellowstone, We will definitely be hitting that on our way up there.




Our next day we headed north to Washington! Our goal was to see Mt. Saint Helens! The drive took us through Woodland Washington which also had a Taqueria Guadalajara….. eerie.

The drive up Spirit Lake highway was amazing, amazing views of the river and the valley that was devastated with water and mud and ash from the eruption in 1980. Now summer camps and small towns are back in the same warpath the volcano claimed 40 years ago.

We ended up on the snowy top of Johnston ridge and drove out to the observation deck. Turns out we were not suppose to do that… oops no one else was there, and a ranger was kind and understood the mistake and told us to just park in the lot adjacent.

At the observatory we were lucky to see just the bottom of the mountain. No majestic peak here either, absorbed by the dense fog the crater was not visible. We enjoyed some light snow, followed the water and valley freshly carved into the earth. We spent that morning enjoying the peace before heading back to Oregon.

A quick stop at the PDX REI and then a restful afternoon spent at the AirBnB. We were ready to hit the road again and we had Smith Rock in our sights.

Day 2 Chemult to Portland J&N Road Trip

This is a daily write up for a Road Trip that Noelle and I will be going on that will tour the PNW and Big Sky Country. I will try to post them every night or the next morning here on this page. I look forward to writing about the trip here.

Not a motel, not a campsite, somewhere in between. More specifically it felt like a bed in the middle of the highway. All night we were pleasantly awoken to the shaking of our bed as trucks whizzed by, we were given multiple chances at waking up to blaring horns from the oncoming traffic. GET OUT AWAY FROM THE ROAD is what imagined the truck drivers were yelling when they flew past us, its our fault for booking a motel room 10 steps away from the highway.

At 7:30 we were already loaded up and on our way to Bend. Coffee, mountains, rivers, and REI await us there.

We were only in Bend for the morning but it captured our imagination. We parked at the looney bean coffee shop, downtown, and we strolled in to get a pick me up after that rough night of sleep. One dirty chai and a candied maple mocha. We were revived.

Down in the backyard they had a lawn stretched to the banks of the Deschutes river. Joining us in the beautiful morning mountain air was an energetic dog named Nillie and their owner Ryan. Nillie was a ragtag looking fluff ball that shedded about as much hair on us as it did happiness. Running to grab any stick that moved but an inch and jumping in circles when you tempted to throw one. Ryan was a carefree individual who happened to be living out of his car. He had just returned from a trip to Sacramento, not to different then us. He was a good guy who loved his dog and I could tell was looking for that next opportunity to share a good moment with any stranger he happened upon.

A cute downtown, and beautiful weather down by the city park and thats where we started to see if there was a hospital Noëy could work at. The town seemed right up out alley. We hit our first REI and boy did it make me jealous it was a beautiful store. Noëlle and I looked at each other as we left the store, “Yeahhh that will do, Uh yeah I think that’ll work”

After a unsuccessful snowpant search for Noëy we decided to hit the road for Portland. We will be back Bend!

Infinite hills and landscapes dominated by the looming Cascades.

Mount Jefferson

The Columbia River Gorge invited us back into civilization after we drove through so much of the rangelands. We decided to stop for lunch at a cute grocery store in Hood River. A Italian sandwich and a Tempeh bacon BLAT for us and a view of Mt. Adams to welcome us to Northern Oregon.

We then did the very tourist stop at Multnomah Falls. Noelle spotted another forbidden swimming pool at the base of the falls. I had to drag her from climbing over the fencing and jumping in. She was on a mission to get in but I made sure to keep her safe outside the waterfalls landing zone. While very touristy and a bit crowded the water showered us, rinsed us of the sins of drinking like 3 Dr. Peppers/ Celsius on the road. Then we headed back to the car for our final drive to the Air BNB.

I lied. Well you should have expected it with Noëlle and I, we had to stop at Trader Joe’s first. We got some groceries then got to the airbnb. Noelle made us a beautiful salmon dinner, my contribution was a DIY ceasar salad. We ate well and watched the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The night was a 100x better than our first night. I look forward to more days like this.

Day 1 Davis to Crater Lake J&N Roadtrip

This is a daily write up for a Road Trip that Noelle and I will be going on that will tour the PNW and Big Sky Country. I will try to post them every night or the next morning here on this page. I look forward to writing about the trip here.

6:30 am and Noelle is telling me its time to go, a big day is ahead. We finish packing the last of our food into our cooler and get it into the car. On the road we pass by familiar sights up through Northern California. We made it up to Castle Crags for our first stop. Unfortunately we only got a small glimpse of the ancient volcano. This foreshadowed our morning’s mountain visibility.

We continued undeterred on I5 up to Mt Shasta. Where we were again socked in from our views of the mountain. We will have to come back so Noey can see the peak for the first time. This did not stop us from enjoying another special part of Mt. Shasta. At the top of the Sacramento River watershed is a spring that comes from the earth, out of Mount Shasta itself. A city park is open to all to come and see the start of the Sacramento River, of course we also filled our water bottles. We can now tell everyone that we drank Sacramento River water and didn’t die! Unfiltered clear and cold water perfect.

We also decided to grab some lunch in town. We cruised to the local sand which joint called Yak. The people working there were so kind but they should have warned us about what a massive lunch we were about to order. We decided to both get their garlic asiago chicken sandwich. That sandwich was staaaaaacked with this creamy cheesy bbq combo with some shoestring onions it was delicious. It also was enough food for the two of us for the rest of the week it felt like. Which was great because we were able to snack the rest of the day! Off to Crater Lake next!

Rain then sleet then fog then snow. Not the combo we were looking for to get visibility of the lake. We arrived at the ranger station where the attendant delivered the unfortunate news that we would have no shot seeing the lake and we also not be able to swim in the lake either. “Forbidden swimming pool” said Noelle. We struck out at Castle Crags, Mt Shasta but we kept on swinging so we made the final drive up the mountain to the vista.

White out fog. Again.

We decided “hey we had all day, why not just go inside the cafe and try to give it some time.” We found ourselves in our first national park gift shop of the trip. Every time I step inside one I get overwhelmed by the absolute enormous amount of stuff they can brand for the park. We found our trinkets that we would take home to commemorate the visit and received some hope from the cashier. They told us “By 5 it should clear up”. It turned out to be a lot sooner than that. 3pm on my watch and Noëlle and I walked out to the car blasted by a snow flurry, not a good look, but we saw some folks run down from the snow embankment and were shouting for us to come see the lake!

Oh yeah the lake showed up all right. It was clear, the skies were open and we were so happy that we made it.

A perfect first day. It was peaceful there at Crater lake and it gave us beautiful vistas and hope for the rest of the trip. We drove another hour down the road to the small town of Chemult. While it is small and not a beautiful campsite or hotel it is a place to sleep for the night so we can make our way to Portland in the morning. We will finish up one last episode of Iron Chef before we hit the hay.

-Jake