hiking - The Random Adventure That Is Life (RATIL)

The Random Adventure That Is Life (RATIL)

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hiking

A collection of 17 posts

Kids' and Wife's First Backpacking Trip

Kids' and Wife's First Backpacking Trip

If you know me or have read this blog, then you know that I like backpacking. Last year I tried to plan a backpacking trip for the kids into Rocky Mountain National Park but we got rained out by a storm that ended up being a Derecho Storm [https://en.

Family Road Trip 2021

Family Road Trip 2021

I had to be in Las Vegas for work for a few weeks. Since I was planning to drive anyways, we decided to make a road trip out of it and visit several National Parks along the way and finishing the trip off with a couple of nights in Vegas.

Lost Creek Wilderness Loop

Lost Creek Wilderness Loop

I was getting the itch to do a backpacking trip. Given the pandemic situation I decided to stick close to home and went with the Lost Creek Wilderness Loop. Coming from Denver, the Wigwam Trailhead was the closest entry point. However, that trailhead has about a 3.7 mile spur

Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout

Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout

I am not sure where I first heard about them (probably some click-baity Facebook ad), but for the last few months I have been obsessing over renting a US Forest Service fire lookout tower. In their heyday, there were a couple thousand lookout towers. With the advent of modern technology,

Five Fourteener Frenzy Weekend

Five Fourteener Frenzy Weekend

After planning a Sunday trip to climb Longs Peak with some folks from 14ers.com [https://14ers.com] I decided to fill my Saturday with the DeCaLiBron route. After the Sunday Longs trip fell through, I ended up doing Torreys Peak on Sunday. Altogether I hit 5 fourteener peaks this

Mount Evans - 14,264'

Mount Evans - 14,264'

Mount Evans is Colorado's 14th highest peak and also one of the most accessible as it has a road to the top. I tried to summit this mountain a few weeks ago with my 2-year-old on my back. We ended up turning back because he was ready to go home

Pit Stop At Arches National Park

Pit Stop At Arches National Park

The drive from Las Vegas to Denver is a long one. Somewhere in the 11-12 hour range. This length of trip necessitates at least one major pitstop (on top of regular gas and snacks). Luckily Arches National Park is almost exactly half way and made for a perfect opportunity to

Olive Ridge Campground - With A 2-Year-Old

Olive Ridge Campground - With A 2-Year-Old

With the weather being so outstanding, we decided to pack up the fam and head up into the mountains to get a weekend camping trip under our belts. We had previously taken the little guy camping [https://ratil.life/camping-with-a-1-year-old/] back in Texas for one night. This trip was a

Mount Falcon Park

Mount Falcon Park

We were looking for a hike on the west side of Denver so that we could meet up with friends in the area afterwards.Mount Falcon Park [https://www.jeffco.us/1332/Mount-Falcon-Park] was in the perfect spot for the time we had between nap time ending for the little

Saint Mary's Glacier

Saint Mary's Glacier

Being in Colorado, I felt the itch to get up into the mountains before our first month in our new home was up. On a suggestion from my brother-in-law, we decided to head up to Saint Mary's Glacier. The glacier is just past Idaho Springs on I-70 so we decided

Big Bend National Park: Outer Mountain Loop

Big Bend National Park: Outer Mountain Loop

I had about 3.5 days of my first quarter time off leftover after trips to Washington (working vacation) and Hawaii and I desperately wanted to do a backpacking trip in Big Bend. Some quick Googling led me to the Outer Mountain Loop. This trip can be anywhere from 25-45

Moanalua Valley Middle Ridge to the Forbidden Haiku Stairs

Moanalua Valley Middle Ridge to the Forbidden Haiku Stairs

Distance: 9.6 miles Time To Top: 3 hours 8 minutes Time Down" 2 hours 25 minutes Round Trip Time: 6 hours GPS Track Of My HikeWith a new baby in the family, it was time to pack up and head back to Hawaii to see the new little guy.

Friedrich Wilderness Park

Friedrich Wilderness Park

We had an uncharacteristically nice day this week after months of the Summer's oppressive heat and then a month of monsoon season. With a little bit of cabin fever from not having been able to go hiking for months, this was a perfect day to hit the trail. On a

Family Vacation: Maui

Family Vacation: Maui

Lahain Pali Trail Haleakala Sunrise Flying - Maui County Road To Hana Deep Sea Fishing Koko Head and Diamond Head Traveling With The LO Our family vacation this year was to Maui, HI so that we could visit family that recently moved to Honolulu. The trip was an amazing opportunity

Hiking With My Baby

Hiking With My Baby

I love hiking. The idea of getting to trek to a place tat few people have been or getting to see a vista that requires some work and planning are rewards that are hard to rival. Unfortunately, in Texas, there are only a few hikes in the local area that

Hocking Hills State Park

Hocking Hills State Park

While in Ohio for some Air Force training I decided to violate our 90 minute driving radius and drive two hours to the gorgeous Hocking Hills State Park. I have to admit, I did not expect much from Ohio, the drive in was about as flat as Nebraska and when

Colorado Vacation - Lake Como

Colorado Vacation - Lake Como

We recently got back from a good week long vacation to Colorado to visit our brothers and my nephew. Aside from the great breweries and awesome beer, my brother and I also got to do some back country camping. We chose Lake Como, nestled in the middle of the Blanca,