Few people come to the Hawaiian Islands to camp or hike, but we do both. Beyond the excellent outdoor opportunities, we were married at Secret Cove in Maui and come back each year to get married again by our friend, Pastor Dennis De Rego. What started as a romantic ‘mission’ has become one of friendship […]

Barely a month after hiking the Haleakala Crater to Paliku Campsite, we were back in Maui to hike the remainder of the trail that goes from Paliku Campsite down to the Kaupo Ranch Trailhead. The remaining distance was less than 12 km (7 mi) but a whopping 1800 m (5800 ft) elevation change over that […]

The following is a continuation of Hiking the Halemau’u Trail to the Paliku Campsite at Haleakala National Park. One of the best parts of camping is sleeping when the sun sets and waking when it rises. We were awake a little after 5am with the pleasure of enormous slugs crawling on the tent’s screen. It […]

You can have no doubt by now that we love the Hawaiian Islands. While they are just one of fifty states, they are in every other way almost nothing like the Mainland. The palm trees, warm breezes and gorgeous tropical flowers can be found elsewhere, but in no other American state can you find the […]

This is a continuation of Two days in Death Valley in February 2012. Morning in the Panamint Valley was cold and very clear. After an unbelievably starry night, the dawn was gradual and brilliant. The best reason for going to sleep soon after dark is to be able to enjoy a very gradual dawn. The […]

Part 1 of Two Days in Death Valley in February 2012 Sometimes places are so close and accessible they become a less urgent destination. Death Valley has been that way for me. Jeanne has been in the US for eight years and has been there five times, where I’ve lived here all of my life, […]

It’s too bad that most of the beaches that allow camping in Southern California put the tents so closely together. If you’re not careful, you can be in a tent a few feet away from an RV’s generator in the middle of the night. Leo Carillo is not one of those beaches. We made our […]

Getting ready for our trek in Nepal meant having some great practice hikes in the local Los Angeles area. We chose Ice House Canyon, just south of Mount Baldy, only an hour from Pasadena.  Ice House Canyon is a very popular hike in this area, but is typically a late Spring or Fall hike, when […]