“Be careful as you get out,” I mumbled at Dustin as he left the tent at 5:30am to use the toilet. “The tent is wet.” I’d learned this the hard way at 3am when I’d done the same. I’d backed out of the tent and wound up with water all down the back of my … More Quest for Kilimanjaro, Day 3: The Beauty of Being the Slowest
“There’s not a lot of shade out there. You’re welcome to stay with us tonight if you don’t want to fight the heat.”
A sparkle of doubt crept into my exuberant plan. The hike to our camp site would cover about four miles. We’d have to wear our big packs. It would be hot. Relentlessly hot.
But… but… I wanted to be one of less than a hundred people! Also, there were volcanos back there I wanted to collect.
“We don’t have to go right away,” Dustin said. “Why don’t we go do some of the frontcountry trails, see some of the caves, then we can start out for the wilderness when it starts to cool off?”
This plan sounded eminently sensible, so I sent a note to his highness confirming my enthusiasm for hiking in three-digit temperatures, and we set off for the loop road. … More Craters of the Moon: extreme hot, extreme cold, extreme solitude, and extreme awesome
Lava Beds National Monument: lava as far as the eye can see! Well, not hot lava. This lava hasn’t been hot for at least a thousand years. It’s cool. Really cool. (See what I did there?) So. Cool lava. Miles and miles of black, broken landscape standing testament to the power of the earth. When … More A tale of two unsolicited pieces of advice
How can I have gone so long without any idea how volcanic the Southwest is? I suppose it isn’t newsworthy since none of the volcanoes is active (at least not within the last thousand years), but just about all the geology down here is volcanic, and as a volcano enthusiast, I feel indignant that no one thought to tell me. 😋 … More Laura’s Journal: Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
Thither & Yon 