Climbing the world famous Ancient Art Spire + Mountain Biking the 33-mile world famous Whole Enchilada trail + Hiking the two tallest peaks in the La Sal Mountain range + capturing a stunning sunrise from under Mesa Arch

We then hooked to the East and got to the third and final big drop of the day which begins at Thunder Falls! A huge waterfall that shoots right out of the canyon wall. And it is loud, hence the fitting name.

We went to do a short hike to check out the Prismas Basálticos formations near the town of Comondú. We knew where the rocks were but did not know where the trailhead started or where to park my car. Luckily, we saw some ranchers nearby and stopped to ask for directions. After a short hike, we got to the base of the hill and then galloped up to take a closer look and crawl around.

I arrived at the summit just in time for a glorious sunset and more mountain goats showed up to watch the lightshow with me. They were also a curious bunch and sniffed my tripod as well as my backpack and my person. It was also one of the first times I got to witness a stark triangular shadow caused from the peak I was currently standing on. It was an absolutely magical evening and, yet again, I had the summit all to myself!

I had to wait out some nasty thunder and lightning and HAIL in an old mine shaft entryway. I had already tackled most of the elevation so I was going to be stubborn and wait out the weather. The skies remained cloudy but the dangerous bits passed and I was able to continue my 14er-4-Pack.

But eventually we got to Playa El Resurgidero and ran into the water to celebrate the end of our epic journey across the Baja Peninsula. Five days of hiking to cover 65.5 miles (105 km) from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of California.

We had a quick breakfast and then hiked down the rest of the big descent to Poza de Pepe, an excellent swimming hole with a cliff jump, a waterfall, and a kitchen area set up with a campfire grate and pots and pans. We cooked a delicious mac-n-cheese with extra fresh cheese and salsa and then made a couple of cliff jumps into the water.

We went right into the jaws of the impassable stretch. The topo map showed this as a very shallow incline, but was very incorrect. After scrambling up three wall features, we got to a fourth that was at least 10m tall and only had one very difficult looking crack climb. Without shoes or a rope, or an assurance that this was the final obstacle

When I got to another climb over a mini-peak, even more thunder rolled in so I decided to hole up in between some boulders and wait it out. I concluded that my fastest route off the mountain was to go over the 14,000 foot summit first and then down instead of backtracking around 5 miles of the exposed Halo Ridge.

The greenery yielded to the craggy volcanic wasteland as I got higher up and then you could see the two glaciers flanking in from the sides. At the far end of the tabletop was a skinny strip of land, known as Heljarkambur (Hell’s Ridge) connecting it to the saddle. There were chains bolted into the wall to aid hikers in the scramble up the south side. It was sketchy. I loved it

the wind vortex always form at the top of the glaciers and get sucked down to the saddle between them, where they combine power, and which is right where the trail goes through. Damn, that makes sense. But I decided to try for it.

There were tons of collapsed snow bridges and some had footprints leading up to the edge of the collapse, and then a new trail went further upstream where the snow was thicker, but how long will that new path last?

I dropped my pack behind a boulder and made a quick zip up to the summit of Mount Bláhnjúkur. The surrounding mountains had streaks of white snow still melting which created an amazing contrast to the underlying red rocks. Another hiker at the top asked if I was a thru-hiker… maybe I permanently smell like hiker trash?

The top scrambles became more ridiculous the higher up you went and the exposure was mind-boggling. The hardest scramble / rope-climb was the final, and had two ropes dangle down slightly different routes. YOLO! I went for it. Who cares what two random Germans think.

I cowboy camped in the (partially restored) ruins of a viking village, Beruvíkurbæir, which is below the Snæfellsjökull glacier. What a fantastic ending to a fantastic day!

Even the first chapter of Iceland was packed full of fantastic adventures: watrefalls, puffins, basalt columns, glaciers, 24-hour sunlight, Big Lebowski bars, fancy spas in lagoons,

Winds picked up and blew snow all around which created a total white-out with next to no visibility. We could tell the sun was beginning rise and bring daylight as the whiteness grew brighter. Vincente seemed to stop more frequently and look around for this huge rock that serves as a landmark, but we could not see more than 20-30 meters. Luckily, he had hiked this route so many times that he kept us on track without being able to see the crucial waypoint.

When I hiked the Continental Divide Trail, I bagged my first three 14ers; San Luis Peak, Greys Peak, and Torreys Peak and since I lived in the state now I wanted to bag a few more. Nah, I’m all in, eventually I will summit all 54 of them! Mount Bierstadt was my first since making this goal.

my zoom lens slipped out of my pocket and tumbled 30 feet down a rocky cliff. I was pissed. I knew it was dead. But I did not want to litter so I made the long scramble down to retrieve my piece of camera gear, expecting shattered glass to pour out of it when I picked it up

Gusty 62MPG winds on top of Mount Humphreys, exploring an underground Lava Tube, and some neat rocks were all part of my road trip back “home” to Colorado.