Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Driving up Hewitt Canyon Road with three anxious kids was an exercise in patience. First there was the traffic to deal with along the first few miles, the ORVs and timid explorers, who clogged up the trail with parked vehicles; then the bumpy travel over exposed rocks on the bottom of Hewitt Canyon…
Snaking along the base of Picketpost Mountain, Arnett Creek has dug out a little canyon that holds onto a semi-reliable trickle of water and lush riparian environment. The creek pulls from the southern end of Apache Leap, picking up leftover tributaries that Queen Creek missed, before itself meeting…
Looming on the horizon, a bulking shadow against dark sky, Weaver's Needle beckoned to me from Fremont Saddle. I shivered in the cold air and pulled my worn cotton sweater, damp with sweat, around me in protection, as if the thin, torn fabric would keep me safe from the imagined dangers hiding…
It is a long drive to Quartzite. I was heading there, early one weekend morning, to visit some of our extended family, with all three kids and a thermos full of coffee. We decided to make the drive a little longer. Instead of the more direct route on I-10 we headed northwest on the 60 towards…
Located in the eastern Goldfields, a few miles from where that range succumbs to the Salt River and Canyon Lake, the Horns of Dilemma are a scenic pair of spires perched on a ridge that are relatively easy to reach. Well, relatively easy, as they eluded us a year ago when I tried to visit them with…
Every time a winter storm rolls through the mountains outside of Phoenix, I think about taking the kids out to experience what winter is really like. They loved the few snowy adventures we've had, trudging through the white stuff and making angels and stuffing frozen handfuls of water into their…
A brisk wind whipped around the Lost Goldmine parking lot, whistling through the saguaros and shaking the creosote bushes and snatching one of my gloves from the car seat. Grumbling, I reached down and picked it up, stuffing my hand into the stiff folds before the wind took it again. I was stiff…
Near the end of September, when the school year had started for Noah and the Arizona temperatures were still unbearably hot, we decided to go for another camping trip in the higher elevations. As usual, it was just me and the kids, as Katie's work schedule has her busy on the weekends. I decided to…
For the third camping trip with the kids I decided to take things easy. We drove up towards Payson for the familiar Mogollon Rim and found a small campsite along Forest Road 139, which is a stone's throw from U-Bar Trail. There we met Chris and Kirsty and we all set up our gear. Having three adults…
This summer I haven't had much free time to pursue my usual passion of solo hiking and backpacking. Instead, my weekends have been full of Mountain Rescue and parenting. Sure, the kids and I go hiking together, it's just not the same as the epic twenty-plus mile death marches that I prefer. Anyways,…