As we near the end of the month and our border crossing into Baja California, Mexico, we’ve been busier than ever trying to finalise packing in the van, attend to some small but important maintenance, and organise paperwork for our travels through Mexico. As excited as I am to finally transition to international vanlife, it honestly feels like we've been drowning in our ever-growing to do list. What we[...]
Holding the undesirable title of hottest place on earth (and with a name that conjures up, well... death), Death Valley seems an unlikely place to find natural beauty in the California desert— and yet, it's one of the most striking landscapes in the country, a wild place of extremes whose sun-scorched sand dunes and pearly salt flats provide an unlikely contrast to high elevation pine forests and snow-capped[...]
Something of a rising star in central California thanks to burgeoning online popularity amongst photographers and instagrammers, Alabama Hills National Scenic Area is an unlikely meeting point between the sunburnt desert and the High Sierras, a spot where orange granite warps into long arches that offer a perfect frame of Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous US. And truthfully, the hype doesn't even begin[...]
With its characteristic grippy monzogranite and heaping rockpiles stretched in every direction, there’s no doubt that Joshua Tree National Park is a climber’s paradise— but there’s so much more to see of this 800,000 acre protected area just from the side of the trail. Thick orange rocks eroded into faces or arches, cholla cactus that seem to glow in the early light, jackrabbits hopping through the brush, bl[...]
After leaving our beloved Joshua Tree behind and journeying even farther into the scorching California desert, we spent the week exploring Alabama Hills and Death Valley before finally crossing into Nevada. Despite having visited both of these spots previously, every hike brought new scenery to the forefront and left us wide-eyed in amazement at the diversity of places we thought we knew— queue that familiar[...]
Largely popularised by the 1987 U2 album of the same name, Joshua Tree straddles the Mojave and Colorado Deserts in southern California, making it an incredibly popular destination for LA locals and travellers alike. If you've yet to experience it for yourself, you might be forgiven for thinking J Tree is just an overhyped, insta-famous desert with heaps of strange trees— in reality, though, this is one of th[...]
This week was a little different than our other weeks on the road, namely because we stayed in the same spot the entire time— that's how incredible Joshua Tree is! Dan and I actually met on one of the hiking trails here (Cholla Cactus Garden, to be exact) last November and spent several magical days scrambling and trekking around the park together, but we always knew this was an area that warranted more time[...]
Following the last two weeks of rather intense driving, we were ready for cruisier days and fewer long afternoons spent in the car— we covered a small fraction of the distance we were imagining this week, but we had a bloody good time doing it. And best of all, we made it to Joshua Tree by Saturday, leaving us the better part of 7 days to explore one of our favourite places. What we've been up to this week[...]
With the first week of vanlife under our belts, Dan and I launched full-steam-ahead this week into more adventures in Southern Oregon, through the Redwoods, and all the way down the coast to central California, where we met up with mum for a whirlwind weekend of wine tasting and excellent food (that most certainly exceeded our budget, but oh well). What we've been up to this week On Monday, we woke u[...]
Situated in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains and sculpted by glaciers over millions of years, Yosemite is one of America's most distinct national parks, its granite domes and towering sequoia unlike anything else in central California (or the country, for that matter). It's no wonder, then, that Yosemite played a critical role in the expansive national park network we enjoy today— when Lincoln signed[...]
Continuing the Four Lakes Loop past another 3 sparkling lakes in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, the next two days on the trail bring more smoke-free, sunny days and only further cement the impression that this is one of California's best hidden gems. From our summit of Siligo Peak to a refreshing dip in Lake Luella, this is truly a wonderful start to my long autumn adventure down south. Trail stats: Summit Lake to[...]
After getting smoked out of Mt Whitney and frantically scrambling to plan an alternative backpacking adventure for the start of our Mountain West/SW road trip, Dad, Eileen, and I ended up driving north from Sacramento this week to explore the Trinity Alps, a subrange of the Klamath Mountains and the second largest wilderness area in all of California. One of the most popular overnighters in the area is the Four[...]