Chasing Advntr

Happy Birthday Dave - I got you a solar eclipse.

Highlights from our week of skiing in Breckenridge, CO.

We spent 6 days skiing and visited 4 mountains: Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek. This trip has been a long time coming and we were waiting until our kids were old enough to enjoy the full days of skiing.

They loved the scale of the mountains and it was so fun to watch them improve over the week. Breckenridge has changed a lot since Dave and I lived there 20 years ago!

After 18 years Dave and I are back skiing in Breck. After a ski season living here and a year in Boulder we’ve been on the east coast mostly for the last 18 years.

It’s so fun to bring the kids back to places you love and spend the week with friends in the mountains.

This mountain has some of the best ski views in NH!

Happy to be on skis for the first time this year. The views of Mt Adams, Jefferson, Washington and Madison from were an added bonus.

Hiking to the La Trapa Ruins on Mallorca.

Mid flight …

El Castellet, Mallorca Spain.

Archdukes Trail, Mallorca.

The incredible Tramuntana Mountain across the northwest part of the island offer incredible views down to the coast. With a wide variety of hiking trails.

We were blown away by the mountains here and had amazing weather in the 70s for hiking.

So grateful to have days like this with cool temperatures and autumn leaves.

Happy 12th bday Freja!

Happy 12th bday Freja!

Jumping into Voyageurs National Park!

Did you know that Voyageurs has:

-over 30 lakes
- 900 miles of shoreline
- a dark sky designation for amazing stars
- wildlife and pictographs

Exploring Amnicon State Park,WI

Isle Royale is beautiful and challenging to visit. Most people spend a few days backpacking but it’s also possible to visit for just a night. Here’s what we did.

Took an 8 am ferry from Copper Harbor that arrived in Rock Harbor around 11:30.

Got a backpacking permit but stayed in the campground right in Rock Harbor in one of the first come first served shelters.

We packed our own gear but you can also stay in the lodge and eat at the restaurant on site.

Spent that day and the next day hiking and swimming. You can also rent boats or take a tour.

The next day we took a ferry back to the mainland at 2:45.

Top tip for visiting:

Make sure to book a ferry 4-6 months in advance as this is the biggest challenge to visiting.

Seaweed and mud for miles in the Maine coast.

When you make it to a place you’ve been dreaming about ❤️❤️❤️

According to NASA earth observatory - there are 25 ice bodies in Glacier National Park today, down from 150 glaciers in 1850. Standing on the edge of Iceberg Lake, it’s hard to imagine the changes that have taken place here and sad to think of the changes to come.

The hike to this lake is just under 10 miles and about 1500 feet of elevation gain.

Many Glacier, Glacier National park

Ink Pots, Banff, Canada

📍Glacier NP

The Summerland Trail to Panhandle Gap is an incredible hike in Mount Rainier National Park that has a little of everything. You'll start in the forest, walk through wildflowers and alpine meadows, cross streams, and climb up onto the snowfields of Mount Rainier.

This challenging hike is 12 miles out and back with just over 3,000 feet of elevation.

We explored a new US National Park today - Indiana Dunes!

Here are our take always!

Plan to spend a few hours to a full day at the park.

Highlights include:
Beaches
Short hiking trails - our favorites are:
- Paul H Douglas trail
- Dunes Succession trail
- Cowles Bog Trail
Portage lake walk and Riverwalk
Bailey homestead

While not the most dramatic park - it was a lovely place to spend the day.

Happy Birthday to these two! Fifteen and fabulous!

I remember clearly hiking with these two kids in France 13 years ago when we were living there for a short time. Dave and I set out on an ambitious hike with them (maybe 4 miles). We made it less then a mile over several hours. We tried to carry them in packs, they refused. We tried to walk, they sat down. We tried to hold their hands, they went backwards. While there is so much value in wandering with little kids I remember clearly thinking - will we ever hike again?

And now - we are on the other side with kids who are not only strong enough to out-hike me, but happy to spend a day on the trail. I heard things today like "This is a hard hike but I'm so glad I did it" and "thanks for driving us up here to hike".

So if you are in that early stage of parenting where it all feels never-ending - there is another side.

While every kid needs different motivation and not every kid will grow to love hiking - these are the things we did that I think led to kids who love to hike:

- Let the kids help pick the hike sometimes (even when they are little)
- Make it super fun - 90% of the time - offer breaks, find cool things, let them wander a bit, give them candy!
- Pair hiking with some other fun activity - like ice cream!
- Go hiking without your kids and share how much fun you had - make this a part of their life and something to strive for
- Let them hike with friends
- As the kids get a bit older - be honest that this is important to you - my kids are happy to hike with me when they know it's important to me

Any other tips to raising strong hikers?

The incredible Haleakala National Park in Maui. Walking through the crater shrouded in clouds was magical and this was the perfect hike to see the crater.

To do this hike, hike the Sliding Sands Trail to the Halemau’u Trail. This point to point trail is about 11.5 miles long with roughly 2000 feet of elevation gain all at the end as you hike out of the crater.

The photos barely do it justice!

Hiking the Pipiwai Trail trail in Maui - this trail takes you past a huge banyan tree, through a bamboo forest to an incredible waterfall.

Located on the road to Hana - it’s a commitment to get here but 100% worth it!

The road to Hana.

We had heard such great things about this scenic drive in Maui and a few comments saying it wasn’t worth it - ultimately we decided to do the drive as a loop. The highlights were visiting the Waianapanapa State Park, hiking the Pipiwai Trail, stopping for snacks and fruit, seeing all the waterfalls, and the epic views along the southern coast.

Massive Banyan Tree.

We saw a few of these massive trees in Maui - it’s truly amazing to stand under them and look up and see the way they spread.

Maui, Hawaii