No. I haven’t actually figured out what the trail is exactly, Wildland are a little secretive about it sometimes because people copy their itineraries otherwise, but this is the trip:
Boobalicious.
1 Like
I submitted a passport renewal application online at MyTravelGov. Apparently this is a new service that they just started offering this month.
2 Likes
Do you still have to mail a photo or can you submit a digital one?
It has to be digital for the online application. Took the picture at home with my phone.
That’s a massive step up in convenience. I wish they had that when I did last year.
Welp. My flight from Jackson to Denver got cancelled, so I have rejigged my affairs and am now going to drive from Jackson to… Well, maybe Denver and maybe Estes Park. I could drive the whole way tomorrow and save my hotel booking in Denver, but it’s 8 hours and then I’d have more driving ahead the next day. Or I could stay in Bumfuck Wyoming and break the drive up. I’m expecting it to be very boring. Pics from trek (which was great) when I get back to hotel.
Warning: Low-definition shirtless man ahead.
Four days, 53 km/33 mi through some wild country in the back blocks of Wyoming. This was a fantastic trek. Day one didn’t kick off so well as I had 3 hours sleep, the hiking was just a slog through the woods to get to the good stuff, I had some altitude sickness in the evening (our camp was at 9,975 feet) and the day closed out with a thunderstorm bringing hail and then several hours of rain. But day two and especially day three were awesome. The final few pics are taken straight off the edge of our campsite at the end of day three. The best place I’ve ever camped by quite some margin.
15 Likes
Awesome, super cool photo set
we took the eurostar to Paris last month, it wasn’t a bad experience. pretty uninteresting, though.
it was much more comfortable than flying, the ticketing process at St Pancras isn’t great though
I’ve since learned that this storm killed someone about 100 miles away at Enos Lake, WY. Lightning struck someone’s tent at an outdoor training thing. Pretty brutal.
I’m in Colorado now, specifically Nederland. I didn’t really get to see any of Denver due to my flight cancellation (ended up on an evening flight after an insane amount of hassle) but drove through Boulder on the way out here and that looked like a place I wouldn’t mind living.
I love Nederland. Are you at the campground there?
Crosscut Pizzeria. I’m just stopping for lunch. Destination is Estes Park.
1 Like
Estes is beautiful. I’ve rock climbed at the crags above the town several times. (It’s called Lumpy Ridge by climbers, not sure if that is the real name.)
Last time I was there, about 10 years ago, the brewpub in town had terrible food, and even worse beer. Like every beer was infected. There are probably at least several brewpubs now though, if I had to guess. If you hike up to the base of Lumpy Ridge, you get some really nice views into RMNP.
Edit: Estes Park Brewery is the one to avoid. Recent reviews suggest that it hasn’t improved much.
1 Like
Oh btw story from a guide I went trekking with. A family booked a private trip with one of the guides in Utah. It was a loop trail so the vehicle was left at the trailhead. The guide became extremely sick, like unable to walk, and called the company for help. Another guide was enroute to the trailhead and driving down a narrow road, encountered… the family, driving the company vehicle out, sans guide. She asked them what was going on and they gave her some bullshit story, she is like ok wait here I’m just going to hike up this hill to get a phone signal. As soon as she leaves they just drive off!
It turns out that when the guide had fallen very ill they had been like “yeah well thing is we have a flight to catch”, taken the keys to the vehicle, just left this guy in the desert and hiked themselves out, stole the vehicle and drove it all the way to Vegas, where they dumped the vehicle and hopped on their flight. When I say this was a family booking, I mean there were kids along for this whole ride.
Surely there have to be some sort of criminal charges involved for that? Auto theft?
If you’re still there and like beer, try Knotted Root. The owner, Chris, is a great guy and he brews some fantastic IPAs and sours.
1 Like
To the best of the knowledge of the guy telling me the story they were not prosecuted, which is pretty insane. From the company’s point of view they got the vehicle back and the guide was ok and I guess they weren’t keen to publicise an incident which involved one of their guides becoming incapacitated in the middle of a trip. If I was the guide who was left in the desert I’d be pissed if they didn’t prosecute though.
How large of hush payment would get you unpissed?
Tough to trust a guy named Chris imo
1 Like