Hiker's Blog – Page 9 – The part of life we really live is small.

Red Mountain (CA) Plus

There are a couple of mountains that we always look at for quite a while when driving up/down Hwy. 395 on Sierra Nevada trips. We never have the time on these trips to hike them, so I put together a separate trip for these.

Marble Peak Northwest

There is some confusion about the Marble Peak that is mentioned in the “Desert Summits” book by Andy Zdon. My 2006 edition of the book does not give a description of how to get to the top, in fact a Marble Peak is only mentioned on one of the small maps. Some list this peak rather than the other Marble peak (which we climbed years ago) to the southeast on a nearby ridge. The later seems to be in better agreement with the little map in the book. To cover our bets we decided to climb this one also.

Mount Marie-Louise, The Pinnacles, Deer Mountain

Checking out three small mountains on a short overnight trip to the San Bernardino NF north of Lake Arrowhead.

29 Palms Mtn., Sheep Hole Mtn’s. High Point, Joshua Mtn.

Uwe has been working on a new list of Desert Peaks. He had 3 in mind in the Joshua Tree NP area and invited me and John.

Cady Peak, Sleeping Beauty, Van Winkle Mountain

Another outing to scramble up some desert peaks in Southern California. This time we had our eyes on Cady Peak, Sleeping Beauty, Van Winkle Mtn., and others time and conditions permitting.

San Bernardino Mountains, Desert Peaks (East)

A 3-day outing to hike Black Mountain, Chaparrosa Peak, Bighorn Mountain, Meeks Mountain with John, Jack, Frank and Ilian.

Monument Mtn., Humbug Mtn., Spectre Pk + Agua BM – Joshua Tree NP

About 15 years ago I bought the book “Desert Summits” by Andy Zdon. It contains information about 334 desert peaks/mountains/benchmarks in California and southern Nevada. I have hiked some of them, but not as many as I liked. Time to check off more of them.

Bradshaw Trail and Joshua Tree NP

A 4 day / 3 night outing to get on top of some peaks north of the Bradshaw Trail in the Chuckwalla and Orocopia Mountains that I had been eyeing for quite some time: Chuckwalla Peak, Black Butte, Orocopia Mountains High Point.

Austria / Italy Alps Hiking

In August Bianca and I rented a VW camper van and drove south to the Austrian / Italian Alps for two weeks of hiking. Below is a day-by-day summary and attached slideshow with pictures of the highlights from our trip. Some details may not be as interesting for all, but are included for my own reference later. Skip to the end for the slideshow and best results :).

Hornstrandir Solo Backpack

(Summer 2019)

My third week in Iceland was spent on a solo backpack trip to the remote nature preserve of Hornstrandir. The entire Hornstrandir peninsula has been without permanent residents since the local fish population hit a significant decline in the 1950s. There are no roads, no stores, no permanent settlements, and only a few sparsely located historical buildings that are still maintained for use in the summer months. To get there requires first traveling to Ísafjörður, in the remote north of the Westfjords, and then chartering a 1hr ferry to bring you out to the peninsula. Once on the peninsula there is no returning until the ferry is scheduled to pick you up, and even then bad luck and rough seas can prevent it from making the trip. And unless you are standing on top any of the tallest peaks in the area, no cell reception. A true out there experience.