There are some people who delicately peel off adhesive first-aid bandages to minimize pain; some who gingerly wade into the ocean to get used to the temperature before swimming; some who sip and savor Scotch. Then there are DCUL backpackers. We rip off Band-Aids, even from sensitive areas; we jump into the icy ocean without... Continue Reading →

July 8th, 2023. That was the day. It was forecasted to be hot. Oh so very hot. 90 degrees. Plus humidity. It would feel more like 95 degrees. I would make them suffer. I would give them 5000 feet of elevation gain...and 28 miles. Oh yes. It would be fun. I rubbed my hands together... Continue Reading →

This trip was damned from the start. Chandler (Willy Wonka) posted this trip for June 9, copying the trip I last posted for and completed September 17-19, 2021. I called that trip “Redemption” because when I first attempted this challenging loop four years prior, I could not complete it. The September trip, four years later,... Continue Reading →

This was my first trip I've led for DCUL since joining in the summer of 2021. Close to two years later and a few thousand miles of backpacking (thanks to my thru hike), I decided that it was time for me to start leading trips on trails that I've seen many times. One trail that... Continue Reading →

“Next year can we hike the ‘Thousand Step Escalator?’” — Anonymous hiker. I don’t curse. However a vulgar word rhyming with “duck” expelled from my frustrated throat with such force that people all the way in California stopped what they were doing to look up curiously. Walking on an excessively rocky ridge overlooking serene, green... Continue Reading →