Twig Adventures

Category: Short Hikes

Uintah Highline Trail

Short Hikes

Uinta Highline Trail, Leidy Peak to Hayden Pass, Aug 25th-29th. 80 miles. This was the 5th mountain range and 3rd state in my impromptu short hike summer tour (Tetons, Gros Ventre, Wind River Range, Sawtooths, Uintas). I actually planned this hike for my 2023 season finale, but ended up going back to the Grand Canyon to finish the Hayduke instead. So I was really excited for the chance to finally do this hike, as it had been on my list for quite some time. The logistics in getting to the start fell into place perfectly. I utilized the very awesome and affordable Salt Lake Express shuttle to get from Logan to Vernal. Both shuttle segments were on time and had[…]

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Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho

Continental Divide Trail, Short Hikes

The Sawtooth Mountains were the 4th mountain range of my 5 range / 3 state impromptu summer tour, after I pivoted from the GDT due to the wildfires. This 30 mile hike came about because Woody wanted to do a short trip right before he started teaching again. Recall that he was one of my hiking buddies that I met up with at the beginning of July, to begin the GDT. When the fires shut us down, he flew back to Utah and I started working my way south to keep on hiking. He was hankering for some more hiking before the summer’s end, but unfortunately wasn’t able to join Strider and I for the Wind River High Route. On[…]

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Wind River High Route, Part 2

Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

WRHR NOBO Day 1, Saturday, Aug 10th, 2024, Big Sandy trailhead to Big Sandy Lake west end, 5 miles, Elevation 9700′. I felt a bit defeated after our first attempt at the High Route, but better about our chances on our second go around. Approaching the the route from the south allowed for more bailout points at the beginning. At first we were just going to do the Cirque of Towers circuit, but then we decided to go for the rest, wx forecast be damned. We brought about 6 days of food and hoped for the best. The biggest challenge was getting to the Big Sandy trailhead, which was almost a 2 hour drive one way. Incredibly, a Florida friend[…]

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Wind River High Route, Part 1

Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

We managed a quick turn-around in Pinedale, gathering enough food for about 6 days, as we planned to do the Alan Dixon version of the high route. We briefly considered the Andrew Skurka version, but it looked like a more difficult route than we wanted to take on. Plus, we were already in Pinedale, so our options were limited to the two trailheads on the western side of the range: Green River and Big Sandy. These are the 2 start/end points of the AD route. Getting to either trailhead is a daunting task, as I already knew from hitching to and from Green River while on the the CDT. But we figured we could swing it. We also had our[…]

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Jackson Hole & the Gros Ventre Wilderness

Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

We spent a day in Jackson Hole hanging out with other hikers and getting a taste of the town. First we made a visit to REI and Safeway for some provisions. My shoes were pretty shot, but instead of getting new ones (which I couldn’t anyway because no store carries Altra Superiors), I got Superfeet inserts. These actually did the trick in giving me a little more support and cushioning for the remainder of the summer. We met several CDT hikers at the Safeway, then got a ride over to the rec center. We’d determined the cheapest way to enjoy quality time in town was to buy a day pass for $15. So we spent the afternoon taking showers, hanging[…]

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After the GDT: Back to the US, Past Glacier, Yellowstone, and onto the Teton Crest Trail

Continental Divide Trail, Great Divide Trail, Short Hikes

The following couple of posts will be more of a summary, combining multiple days in an effort to document some spontaneous section hikes over the 2024 summer. I spent about a week trying to figure out what to do after the GDT, then making my way back onto a trail. Roughly, my plan was to complete some alternate stretches along the CDT, which I missed in favor of sticking to the main route during my 2019 thru-hike. My strategy pretty much was to wing-it and see what happened. The first goal was getting back to the US. My post on the GDT FB page got the attention of an incredibly kind lady, Lisa, who offered to drive us from Calgary[…]

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PNT Bonus Days: Kulshan

Pacific Northwest Trail, Short Hikes

Tuesday-Saturday, August 29th-Sept 3rd, 2022Port Angeles to Port Townsend to Whidbey Island to Sedro-Woolley to Mt. Baker to Mt. Vernon to Seattle12 miles hiked, Gain/loss: 7412′ Thanks for sharing in my adventures on the PNT. If you want more, then here it is… a LOT more. Fair warning, this is an exceptionally long-winded post about my bonus peak bagging adventure, plus the days before and after. I recognize that all my later posts from the PNT were overly long, mainly because I wrote them much later off-trail, with access to a real keyboard. But I also had such a fun and exciting time at the very end, I wanted to capture as many of the details as I could, for[…]

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#20 of 20: Longs Peak 14,255′

14ers, Short Hikes

05:00-15:00, Wednesday, 8-19-20CO 14ers: 25 of 53Distance RT: 15 milesElevation gain/loss: 5,100′Starting Elevation: 9,400′Summit: 14,255′Rank: 15 of 53Location: Front Range, NW of BoulderRoute: Keyhole, Class 3 My final 14er of 2020 was a fitting one. I started the season with one of the biggest challenges, in terms of distance and elevation gain: Pikes Peak. I finished on an equally challenging peak, which was also probably my favorite hike the whole season…that’s saying a lot. Interestingly, Longs and Pikes Peak share a connection in that they both sit on the front range, rising over 9,000 feet above the Great Plains. It’s this similarity that resulted in the naming of Longs Peak. In 1820, Major Stephen Long, an Army officer and explorer,[…]

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#19 of 20: Quandary Peak 14,265′

14ers, Short Hikes

06:30-11:30, Tuesday, 8-18-20CO 14ers: 24 of 53Distance RT: 6.75 milesElevation gain/loss: 3,450′Starting Elevation: 10,850′Summit: 14,265′Rank: 13 of 53Location: Tenmile Range, south of BreckenridgeRoute: East Ridge, Class 1 This will be a short post, since so too was the hike. After regrouping briefly in Buena Vista, we decided to go for an easy hike the next morning. Yes, easy as 14ers can get, that is. We also had to be cognizant of the wildfires that were starting to blaze throughout the state.  Several 14ers were inaccessible due to road closures on I-70 and 82. We considered Mt. Sherman in the nearby Mosquito Range but it didn’t sound like much fun…too much mining activity and a long dirt road approach. So we[…]

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#17 & #18 of 20: Mt Columbia 14,073′ & Mt Harvard 14,420′

14ers, Short Hikes

06:30-15:30, Monday, 8-17-20CO 14ers: 22 & 23 of 53Distance RT: 15 milesElevation gain/loss: 6,100′Starting Elevation: 9,900′Summits: 14,073′ & 14,420′Rank: 35 & 3 of 53Location: Sawatch Range, Collegiate Peaks, west of Buena VistaRoute: N. Cottonwood Creek Trail to west slopes of Columbia, north and east on ridge to Harvard, back down the south slopes, counterclockwise, Class 2 After a week away from 14ers, I was ready for some more. I joined Sandy the day before, where we did some tubing on the Arkansas River park rapids. We’d found the tube on a hike down Grape Creek, outside of Canon City, a few days prior. We’d taken it to the the river park there, where we had a little too much fun[…]

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