For your reading pleasure (?!?!), I imported and tweaked the bulk of my trip reports from late 2006 to the present. The ones that tend to be missing are local 'shoulder' season hikes that, while nice, don't have many photos and/or text.
I was not going to import the old trips originally because I thought it would be nice to start with a clean slate. But, I'd often want to make reference to an old trip, and it was not on my website. 🙂
Through the magic of web archives and accidentally spamming everyone via Twitter (Doh! Sorry about that! ) when importing my old Blogger entries, I was able to have the trip archive on the current version of my website.
As mentioned, I did not post all my trips, just the longer ones and/or more interesting ones. Naturally, all the photos (8000+ !) from the trips can be seen, too. (You have to be REALLY bored. 😉 )
So read about cool hut trips involving pork roast, unique off-trail day hikes, backpacks off the beaten path, slightly nutty local hikes, forays into Utah, and even some lovely ski tours. Throw in the occasional car camping weekend and my attempts at becoming a climber, too.
These mainly day, weekend, or about a week-length trips may not be as watershed points in my life as my thru-hikes… but they are important part of the fabric that makes up my my life.
A backpack only once every two years (even if it is for few months) means I would have missed out on too many good memories, experiences and (most importantly) friendships.
There would have been no alpen glow when winter camping, no seeing what is around the next bend of the canyon, or revisiting where I first fell in love with the outdoors.
The shorter trips may not have the sheer scale of a multi-month hike…but they are just as important to the life I've lived up to this point.
"The true harvest of my life is intangible..a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched"..
And what I have harvested in this life of mine would be a bit less if it wasn't for for the many trips I've done. Be it skiing for a day or hiking the length of the Divide.
I love it all…
(OK…after all that waxing of the poetic, maybe it is better to just look at the photos after all???? :D)