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Chris and Jack Hiking in Washington State |
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At Pullout Along Rugged Oregon Coast |
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At Geocaching Headquarters in Seattle for #10,000 |
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Pretty Sunset in Quartzite Arizona |
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At the Window in Big Bend National Park |
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Chris and Jack Hiking in Washington State |
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At Pullout Along Rugged Oregon Coast |
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At Geocaching Headquarters in Seattle for #10,000 |
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Pretty Sunset in Quartzite Arizona |
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At the Window in Big Bend National Park |
June 29, 2025 marks our ninth year of traveling across this wonderful country in our motorhome as full time travelers. The journey continues to be mostly fun and exciting although we still need to try to remember to not treat our lifestyle as a vacation. Generally, vacations are to a new area for a limited time period, and the urge is to try to squeeze in as many activities and sightseeing destinations as possible. So when we pull into a campsite in a new location for a week, the inclination might be to do a search for the top 10 things to do in that town and fit them all in. Since we are big into hiking, we often use AllTrails, or similar sources, to seek out the best hikes and work those into the plans as well. But our experience has been that maintaining “vacation” pace can work for a few weeks but it is next to impossible to maintain for 52 weeks a year.
Heat Map of Year #9 |
Heat Map of First 9 Years of Fulltime |
Same as Above but Broken Down to County Level |
Condensed Stats for Last 6 Years |
We tackled several nice hikes in the Adirondacks during the two weeks we spent in the area but Avalanche Lake Trail stood out with both its beauty and challenging terrain. There are a few starting points to get to the lake. We picked the one from the Adirondack Loj since it sounded to be the least flooded option during our stay. What started as a nice hike in the woods became steep around the 2.5 mile point as we climb over Avalanche Pass before heading down to the pretty mountain lake. You’ll want to continue along the challenging rock climb along the edge of the lake. There are assorted ladders and stairs in place to scale the larger ones. But the real draw for us was to check out the cantilevered platforms that are in place to get around the sections with only a shear rock face along the lake. Read the blog post, to discover the story behind their name - Hitch-Up Matilda’s. Our out and back hike came in around 12 miles but was well worth the effort.
While visiting the area of Vermont known as the Northeast Kingdom, we get the mountain bikes out and head north on the Newport Bike Path. It’s a pleasant ride along the shore of a large lake and in 5.5 miles, we make it to the Canadian border in the small town of Beebe. In a few more miles following a combination of bike paths and lightly traveled road we make it to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House. This is a beautiful old building that straddles the border between Canada and USA. We did a little more sightseeing in the town of Stanstead before retracing our route back into Vermont and out campground. There are easier ways to visit the library but we really enjoyed the 25 miles bike ride and unique sights along the way.
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Chris Straddles the International Border |
A 4.6 mile loop with about 1000 feet of elevation gain in the woods of northern Vermont. Half to the hike is following the Long Trail which extends the length of the state from south to north. While the bulk of this hike was nice, it was the quarter mile portion near the mid point that made it special for us. The trail enters a small canyon area with lots of boulders and extremely lush vegetation at least when we were there. This section is dubbed Devil’s Gulch and was a really neat stretch of the Long Trail. It was somewhat challenging simply because of the wet and mossy nature of the area made for difficult footing but worth the effort to see.
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Chris Hikes Devils Gulch |
While staying in St Johnsbury for a month, we found several rail trails that were fun to explore. The LVRT stuck out as a more enjoyable bike ride with some beautiful scenery and unlike the Ammonoosuc River Trail and Presidential Range Trail, the LVRT does not permit motorized vehicles so the trail surface was excellent. This 94 mile rail trail runs the width of Vermont from Lake Champlain to St Johnsbury. We did two different 22 mile sections of the trail by bicycle and found all sorts of interesting things to see along the way. We started our visits at trailheads in West Danville and Hardwick but from our experience, any portion of this trail is likely to be wonderful.
Blog post with second LVRT bike ride
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Train Sized Covered Bridge on Lamoille Valley Rail Trail |
A privately owned but free trail system with a very well maintained 16 mile loop trail. Half of the loop follows the Penobscot River and is quite pretty. Since it is not a former railway bed, there are more hills than we originally expected but they were not too strenuous. There are intermediate connector trails along the loop so it is possible to shorten the ride if the full loop is too long. Near the halfway point is the Long Meadow warming hut. It turns out that this place is also used for cross country skiing and snowshoeing during the winter months. The hut is positioned to give a great view of Mount Katahdin. The return portion of the loop goes through the woods but is still a nice wide gravel trail. You can even show up without a bicycle and borrow one of their loaner bikes and helmets. It even sounds like they have cross country skis to borrow. The commitment required to develop and maintain such a wonderful property is what really appealed to us.
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Warming Hut with Mt Katahdin in Distance |
Baxter State Park is the beginning (or end) of the Appalachian Trail so it is a very popular location for hikers. In fact there are some rather unusual rules and regulations within the park to limit the number of visitors permitted in various areas. We were not up for the extreme distance and elevation required to hike the last leg of the AT but we did find a beautiful hike to the southwest of Katahdin that seemed to be more within our capabilities. Sentinel Mountain at Kidney Pond Campground is rated as a moderate 5.4 mile out and back hike with a little over 1100 feet of elevation gain. The initial part of the hike is relatively flat along the edge of Kidney Pond. Most of the climbing is required in a half mile section with an average slope of 24%. But once to the top of the mountain, there are some spectacular views of nearby mountains.
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Nice View from Sentinel Mountain |
Located in northern South Carolina, Table Rock State Park is less than 15 miles from Brevard NC which happens to be one of our favorite places for hiking. It seems like we should have visited this part of the foothills of the Appalachians earlier. This trail is rated as hard with 6.8 miles and over 2300 feet of elevation gain! It was a steep and challenging climb to the ridge of the peak. There are several viewpoints along the easier terrain along this ridge with some incredible views of the surrounding mountains. Our timing was excellent by reaching the final viewpoint in time for lunch and to soak in the scenery. As we finished lunch, a cloud bank rolled in and shrouded the whole top of Table Rock in a surreal fog with almost no visibility beyond a few hundred feet. This is a tough but beautiful hike.
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View from Table Rock |
We had made a day trip to this state park back in the fall of 2021 and found one of our favorite hikes for our sixth year review, but this time we camped in the park so we could explore some of the many other trail options. Our favorite hike from the earlier visit was the West Rim Trail that follows the top of the canyon. We repeated that hike again but also did this trail which follows the creek along the floor of the canyon. At almost 5 miles out and back and just over 1000 feet of elevation, this hike is moderately challenging although the majority of the elevation is comprised of a metal staircase that leads down from the visitor center to the two beautiful falls before proceeding down the side of the creek. The water was flowing rapidly and it was nice to have the constant sound of rushing water for the full hike. Being at the bottom of the canyon makes it feel like a completely different environment even though we are within a mile of the other trail.
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Nice Hike Along the Creek |
Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map
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Large Smelting Pot |
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Welcome to Cloudland Canyon SP |
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Unusual Roofline - Visitor Center |
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View Over the Canyon |
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Different View of Canyon |
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Overlook with Beehive Pillars |
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Damaged Pillar Shows Construction Method |
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Meadow View |
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Viewing Platform |
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View of East Rim from West Rim |
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Chris Enjoys the View |
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Mind the Gap! |
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Rhododendron in Bloom |
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Beehive Pillar |
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Another Canyon View |
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Overlook |
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Northernmost Overlook |
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Creek Along Backcountry Trail |
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Large Overhanging Rock |
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Down the Steps |
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Heading Back to Cherokee Falls |
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Cherokee Falls |
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More Stairs Down |
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Heading to Hemlock Falls |
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A Misty Hemlock Falls |
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Surprisingly Nice Gulch Trail |
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Daniel Creek |
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Water Crossing Along Gulch Trail |
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Frog Highlighted in Photo |
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Oakleaf Hydrangea Starts to Bloom |
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Mini Mushroom |
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Sentry Salamander |
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Overlooking Old Train Station in Chattanooga |
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Old Steam Engine |
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Inside of Passenger Car |
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Domed Train Station Ceiling |
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Hallway in Convention Center |
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Chris and Jack Pose for Webcam |
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Colorful Sculpture |
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Old Riverboat |
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Tour Boat Cruises the River |
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Tennessee Aquarium Building |
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Old Lift Bridge |
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Aquarium Water Park |
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Hunter Art Museum |
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Tall Stone Tower |
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More Traditional Architecture |
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Street Swing? |
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Rock Garden |
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Huge Bird Nest |
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Circular Stone Building |
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Golden Columbine |
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Metal Sculpture |
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Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom |
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Vegetable Garden |
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What Time is It? |