The North Trail

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The "trail".

Here's a few photos from a short hike I took yesterday along the North Trail. It's a cool trail, and hopefully I'll hike the whole thing before I leave town. Best of all, the trail head is literally behind my house.

Conditions ranged from hard pack with slushy surface (it was relatively warm yesterday), to thigh deep post holing, and even a few short stretches of trail with no snow at all.

Additionally, I'll admit, this is all one big ol' test. All photos were taken with my fancy future phone and uploaded directly to the site. Worked well. And, the photos aint bad either. I would, however, like an in phone editing app. As always, click 'em to see 'em at full size.

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Locked and loaded with a full pack. Oh wait, it doesn't tower over my head?! I must be doing something wrong!

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The Gore Range.... The Continental Divide.

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Lovely birch trees! Also, a partial view of Vail Mountain.

The New Style

It's pretty darn safe to say it -- www.hikernation.net is a superior platform for my writing and photography.

Anybody who's been following my hikes for the past few years will tell you that. Hell, things are just downright pretty now. And let me tell ya, it aint easy to make a website full of photos of me look good!

A few things worth highlighting:

• Comments: I've got a great comment system in place. At the bottom of each post is either a comment box ready to go, or a button that will open that box up for you. Click it! Use it! It works really well and I will do my best to read and address these.
• Likes: Next to that good ol' comment button is a heart button. If you like what's been posted, click it! It takes no time to do, but from my editing interface I see how many likes a post has gathered mega easily.
• That Third Button: That's my social media connectivity button. Clicking it opens up a small menu where you can link/repost what I've got on the site to tumblr, google+, reddit, stumbleupon, facebook, or twitter. All in a single click. You've never shared media so easily -- until now!
• Tags and Categories: Each post allows me to add "categories" and "tags" to them. Then, these get posted along the right side of my entry. As I blog I'll re-use a lot of tags, people and locations, mainly. But! By clicking on a tag on the right of each post you will be directed to every post with that tag listed.
• Additionally: The website actually looks good and is easily used from mobile platforms (aka, your space-age phones). I also recently just got myself one such device and while writing full blog posts may be tiresome on a cell phone, I can easily add pictures straight from my phone to my website to either update instantly, or save privately so I can later (like when I'm in town using a real computer) add them to fully formed blog posts.

Got a few comments or questions? Ask away!

Gearing Up

Just over a month until I leave good ol' Colorado and head down to the Mexican border!

Somehow, with every big trip, I find it is absolutely "necessary" to purchase some new gear. Functional, lightweight, and good looking!

Camp Nanotech Ice Axe.

This bad boy pictured up above has one job and one job only. In the event that I slip on an exposed snow covered ridge, the pointy end gets slammed into the ground and (hopefully) stops me from plummeting into the unknown.

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As you can see, chrome red is my new color. Black pack - red gear.

Why?

It's the Ferrari Theory. If I look fast, I'll be fast. I've been researching this little gem for years now, and let me tell ya, it is sure is true.

Anyways! More on gear soon (as in, I may actually have all of my stuff together sometime soon, and I'll let you know what I'll be carrying as soon as I know what I'll be carrying)!

Also! Maybe some info as to what the "plan" really is.

Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork Trekking Poles.

These poles are tried and true work horses. Having accompanied me on both the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail, plus a few trail crews and other outings, without any mechanical failures they are an absolute go-to set of poles! *

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.... speaking of "functional, lightweight, and good looking"....

* Final Note: While my original Black Diamond Ergo Cork Trail poles served me well, they do (like all inanimate objects)  suffer from their own Achilles heel. It turns out pill bugs (Latin name: Armadillidiidae), also known as wood louse or rolly pollys, love eating salt. The experienced outdoorsman may overlook this fact and simply ponder the curious coating of pill bugs on his/her trekking pole grips. Let it be said, they are slowly, but surely devouring your poles. You've been warned.