2016 in Review
Every year we look back and wish we had done more of the places on our long list. This year we snowshoed in the winter, we started paddling on the river early and had an early start to the hiking season too, on the trails 3 days a week from February to December. We paddled 64 days from Feb. 29 to November 16th. Some of those days were on a SUP. A number of days were lost to winds and wet weather, but many of those turned into hiking and exploration days. We got a strong start to the mountain bike season but it was abruptly halted with a bike accident up at Green Lake on quad trails. We camped on backpack trips, RV trips, paddling trips, and on guided tours. All in, we spend 48 days in some form of camping. Five trips stand out – paddling off Saltspring Island, hiking in Central Washington State, hiking in the Charlotte Alplands, paddling the Bowron Lake Circuit and hiking on the Hawaiian Islands. The most notable outings are listed here:
Best Overall Hike of 2016 – Haleakala Crater, Maui (link)
Best Local Hike – Mt. Kerr, Marble Range (link)
Best Paddling in 2016 – Bowron Lakes (Days 4 – 6) (link)
Favorite Place – Maha’ulepu Trail on Kauai (link)
Best Snowshoe of the Year – Iago Peak, Coquihalla Summit (link)
Favorite Campsite – Steamboat Rock, Washington (link)
Best Hike, Year and After Year – Trophy Mountain (link)
The Biggest Surprise of 2016 – Charlotte Alplands (link)
- January – Snowshoeing in Wells Gray (link)
- February – Hiking the Basalt Bluffs and the Dewdrop Range ridges (link)
- March – Paddling the South and North Thompson Rivers
- April – hiking in Coulee Country in Washington State
- May – paddling the Tranquille Floodlands
- June – hiking the Marble Range – Mad Dog Mountain and Mt. Kerr
- July – hiking the Red Plateau Escarpment (5x this year) and July Mountain (link)
- August – paddling a number of smaller, but remote local lakes
- September – 15 days of paddling in the month
- October – some favorite hikes – Skoatl Point and Estekwalan Mountain
- November – hiking on Maui and Kauai (quite a few articles
- December – continuing to hike a variety of trails even after the snow falls and it got cold
And, Looking Ahead to 2017:
- Death Valley, California hikes
- Red Rocks Canyon, Nevada hiking
- Canyonlands National Park, Utah hiking
- Arches National Park, Utah hiking
- Capitol Reef National Park, Utah hiking
- Interior hikes – Pukeashun Mountain, Mount Grace, Botanie Mountain, Illal Mountain, Marble Range, Monashees, and more
- Glacier National Park, Washington hiking
- Scotland hiking
- and more….