Rock and Trail Tales

Grab a hold of your chair. This walk is one of the most beautiful day walks around. We take a boat from Elgol to Loch Curoisk, circle the lake, climb over a pass, descend past Loch na Creithelagh and head back to Elgol on a 3 mile sea-clifftop walk. Wow.

Wow. I hope you've got a google machine handy. You do? Good; look for images of the Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye. Then realize that those pictures fail entirely to convey how awesome these little swimming holes and waterfalls are. You might just have to go.

Wow. Sandwood Bay is awesome. Google an image of it or stalk me on Facebook (Will Levandowski, in Colorado) to see some pictures. Text won't do it justice. Nor will my descriptions, but you should listen to this episode anyway

Scotland! Yay! Today's show is a dayhike in Cairngorm National Park over three peaks: Cairngorm, Stob Coire an t-Sneachda, and Cairn Lochan.

A quick trip to the Garden State this episode.Come along for two afternoon walks: the Watchung Reservation and Schooley's Mountain

A half-assed show today about a short walk that I'd forgotten about when giving the coming attractions. Come along for an afternoon in and around Shadow Canyon.More coming soon. Maybe.

One today's show, it's all about beautiful Bear Canyon, in Boulder, Colorado's Flatirons. Mid-may brings flowers, shade from the leafy trees, and a creek full of snowmelt (finally!). Two walks in the same weekend visit the canyon three times. First, an out-and-back is a great way to stretch the legs after work and to work up just enough of a sweat to make beer and BBQ sound great! Then, with Shadow Canyon and South Boulder Peak closed from the Flagstaff fire a year previous, I modify the classic Tour de Flat route to walk up Gregory Canyon to Green Mountain, down Bear Canyon, up Fern Canyon to Bear Peak, down Bear Canyon again and on back to the trailhead.

Mid-May is the time for the ~15 mile Lumpy Ridge loop in Rocky Mountain National Park. The waterfalls--Bridalveil and MacGregor--are up, the creeks are high, and the pasqueflowers are just blooming.

On three consecutive days in early May, I carved out an hour or two for a walk around the city parks in Boulder, CO. The streams were up and the wildflowers just blooming.

My old friend Jeff (of Haute Route and other Swiss Rock and Trail Tales fame), his wife and his 16 month old daughter, Grace came to visit for about a week in April. We got out for three good walks: Matthew Winter Park, The Pool in Rocky Mountain National Park, and a snowshoe to Bear, Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes in Rocky.

It has been a long, long while. I lost a voice recored chock-full of early winter peakbagging, I skied my ass off, and I sustained (and recovered from --touch wood--) a knee injury. BUT, I also had my first snowshoe hut trip and two of my friends kicked some ass in a gnarly ski traverse. Today's show will be the first of the spring crop, featuring the squeak of snowshoes, the swish of skis, and the giggles of friends.

A short conclusion to the last overnight of the season goes from Crater Lake, past Pawnee Lake, over snowy, windy Pawnee Pass, and past Lake Isabelle, Long Lake, and Brainard Lake. Happy new year!

Ah, the last backpack of the season.  The days are cool; the streams are low; the nights are long and cold. No excuses! It's going to snow soon! In late October, I spent 23 hours walking around Indian Peaks Wilderness. Today's show goes from the slopes of Mt. Audubon, over a divide and then up the Middle St. Vrain to Buchanan Pass, to the top of Sawtooth Peak, downhill along a creek, and then up beautiful Cascade Creek to the (perhaps) unrivaled Crater Lake.

Waking up on a frosty morning above Geneva Lake, I head over Trail Rider Pass, past the gorgeous Snowmass Lake, over Buckskin Pass (again), over rugged Willow Pass.  After a sit at Willow Lake, I get a lovely trio of surprises: I am out of iodine, I've got one more pass to cross, and I've got a sweet sunburn on my forearms and triceps! A pretty spring comes to the rescue, and I wrap up a fun weekend!

Finally! Weather and opportunity coincided in mid-September for me to get out and walk the Four Pass Loop in the Elk Mountains. I added on the West and East Snowmass Creek trails to make a ~50 mile figure 8 out of the weekend.