Kearsarge Pass, August 2025

I drove up to Independence and found nice spot around 5000 ft along Independence Creek. It was just a short distance on a dirt road from Onion Valley Road and the $40 for a campsite in Onion Valley felt too steep. The temperature was nice and I decided to treat myself to a burrito. So I went back down to Independence to the Taco truck.

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Father/Daughter Trip August 2025

Whale sharks! This year’s father/daughter trip to Playa del Carmen was an unforgettable swim with these huge gentle monsters.
We started the 3-day adventure with a short snorkel in the Cenote Minotauro. Cenotes are underground water systems, some open, partially open, or completely underground caves. The Mayan used them for water sources and sometimes for human sacrifice. Minotauro was partially open, and we found no skulls. But little fish gave us pedicures. Tickled.

The next day was the shark dive. These whale sharks are surface filtration feeders even though they have rows of small teeth they don’t bite. They come to this area of Mexico to feed on plankton and tuna eggs. Facing them in the water was like looking at a large, slow bus with a 5’ wide mouth coming at you. These sharks can get to 60’ in length but the ones we swam with were mostly 25-35’. We were lucky to have 3 swims with them. Afterward, the boat crew treated us to ceviche, mango, guacamole, tequila, and beer. Overall, it was a remarkable experience. See one of the dives.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytBCJCx2ufF-5HN6R_aJWqKNVZE2Ukla/view?usp=drive_link


On the last day we visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum, a 1,000-year-old city and one of the best-preserved coastal Mayan sites. Following that, we dove in another Cenote Chun Ya. This cenote cave was an impressive snorkel tour. The bats made it a little spooky, flying between our heads just above the water and only a foot or two below the stalactites.

Another great Father/Daughter trip!

Lofoten Crossing 2025

After my long-distance hike in northern Scandinavia last year, I looked at some other hikes in the region for this year. Some people I met recommended the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway. There is no official Long-distance hike through the islands, but it’s easy to connect some of the trails on the islands to a nice, more-or-less remote hike.

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