You can’t have high highs without some low lows. What started as an auspicious trip kick-off turned into a nightmarish situation Monday afternoon. The dust has settled, though — we’re not out of the woods, but we’re at least back on track.
Waking up in the comfort of a Vail hotel with family, we were able to work as normal and even enjoy some homemade waffles cooked up by Ryan’s cousin, Jason.
Ryan took the opportunity to fly fish during his lunch hour, during which he fell into Gore Creek (no injuries, a mostly comical scene that no one had the fortune to witness).
While I worked, I had my family’s corgi, Chowder, at the back of my mind. My mom had texted the night before saying he was going to the vet after not eating all weekend.
These unrelated hiccups coalesced in an ugly way around mid-afternoon. I was on a meeting when I saw multiple texts between my mom, sister, and brother coming in. Then my brother was calling. I couldn’t attend to any of this until after the meeting, but a lump in my throat was forming. When I got off the call, I got the news that Chowder needed to go to the animal hospital overnight to have exploratory surgery to try to find what was wrong and fix it. The vet was deeply concerned. I was absolutely crushed thinking of Chowder being in any pain, or worse, not making it through the night.
Meanwhile, Ryan had his own issue. After falling in the creek, his phone had stopped working. He had done some research to see if we could bring the phone to Apple in Wyoming or Montana, but there are no Apple Stores in either state — we’d have to go to Denver or Boulder to right the situation. Preoccupied by Chowder, I didn’t mind the detour; I was just glad that we were still close enough to the front range to resolve the problem before heading north.
I quickly contacted my family friend in Boulder, John (who goes by “Captain”), to see if we could stay the night. Cap has come to the rescue countless times before, and this time was no exception. Having secured a place to crash, I scheduled an appointment for Ryan at Apple in Boulder while he drove. It rained throughout the entire drive and we hit traffic at Denver, but we persevered. Ryan lightened the mood with several hilarious comments, including, “Are you crying because of how I sang that Justin Bieber song?” And, “All I remember from math is PIMDAS.” (Me: “you mean PEMDAS?”)
The sky was particularly ominous when we arrived, lightning and rain increasing by the minute. We were right on time and an employee (Salim) was able to see us immediately. Ryan quickly discussed with Salim his different options and they were moving efficiently through the trade-in process when we hit a wall with T-Mobile. His account was blocked for some odd reason, and since he wasn’t an authorized user (one of his parents was), he wasn’t allowed to purchase the phone. Queue an hour of phone calls between Ryan, T-Mobile, and his mom and dad to try to move forward. I downloaded Fruit Ninja in an attempt to distract myself. We left the mall with a brand new but unusable phone and our spirits broken. We had thankfully missed what turned out to be an insane storm, but it was still grim outside.
Captain made it all better. We got to his house by 8:30 and he gave us each an Imperial beer in our respective fragile states. As Ryan fixed some ramen for the both of us, I asked Cap all about his latest adventures to Alaska and the great state of New Jersey, plus he told us about his upcoming trip to British Columbia. It was such a welcome distraction from such a brutal afternoon. The best part of all was he had farm fresh chocolate milk in his fridge, as usual, which cures most woes.
I thought we’d just crash at this point, but as Cap showed us where we’d be staying in the basement, we couldn’t help but get deeper into conversation. He had laid out a bunch of gear for his BC trip — his first kayaking endeavor — so we naturally were discussing packing pros and cons. Then Ryan saw Cap’s work bench and was amazed by some of the tools laid out — in particular, an absolutely miniscule high key. “What’s this used for?” Ryan asked. He was not prepared for the answer.
Cap led us into his man cave, where there are around two dozen amplifiers he’s collected as well as nearly a dozen guitars. An electrical engineer, he takes these amps apart and then rebuilds them, ultimately improving their function through the wiring. He showed us on one of the guitars where he uses the teeny high key, then took us through the history of the different amps — which one he would sell last, the oldest amp (from 1952 I believe) and how it emits sound, the one he acquired from a church. Back at his workbench, Ryan found what looked like a complicated blueprint in a foreign language. “What’s this?” “Oh, that’s just a schematic to one of those amps. I stare at these for quite a while before taking them apart and putting them back together.” Ryan was in absolute disbelief.
Schematic discussion at the work bench
I was equally impressed but not surprised. Cap and my dad worked at Bell Labs for AT&T when they were Ryan’s and my age, doing all sorts of early-stage computer coding that goes way over my head. Cap was always rolling up at my dad’s desk to convince him to go on some hair-brained outside expedition, to which Steve would typically agree, as long as Captain provided all the gear and technical expertise. Eventually New Jersey was too unsatisfying to fulfill Cap’s outdoor pursuits, so he moved to Boulder and has been there ever since, a vast majority of the time working for Ball Aerospace.
“How did you get into this stuff?” Ryan inquired. It began with an interest in music in high school, building some equipment. “I didn’t think I had any proclivity to electrical engineering, any natural talent. But I was flunking out of college and thinking, ‘This sucks,’ so I enrolled in an engineering program and just breezed through it. I loved it so much, and it came so easily to me,” Cap explained. I’ll say.
“This one is basically priceless. It’s as rare as hen’s teeth!”
The evening ended with the three of us poring over a map of the US, discussing different points of interest. (I love maps and could stare at them for hours.)
When we finally settled down for sleep, I was exhausted, though I spent the night mostly sleepless, tearful over our dear corgi. I was terrified to check my phone in the morning, but relieved to receive news that Chowder had made it through the surgery and was stable, though still in critical condition. He had a perforated ulcer which was stitched up, and his vitals were being closely monitored.
Determined to start fresh, we started work over coffee supplied by Captain, who gave us some useful Sedona information for the latter half of our trip and showed us pictures. Before we left, Captain also gave Ryan the tour of his camper, which I’ve gotten a couple times. It’s pretty sick. We departed feeling so grateful for Cap’s time and hospitality.
Camper tour
Ryan dropped me off at a coffee shop to work while he resolved the phone situation with just a few small remaining headaches. I was doing OK, distracted by work, but knew I was going to hit a wall. I was having trouble thinking clearly and answering questions, so I asked my manager if I could take the afternoon off — I had gotten so little quality sleep worrying about Chowder and felt ill. I put in a solid 5 hours until we eventually packed up and headed to Fort Collins around 12:30, getting there for lunch at 2:00.
The next hurdle was Ryan’s Apple Watch — it wasn’t syncing with the new phone. I found a repair shop nearby and left Ryan there while I walked. When I returned, he explained that the only way to fix it was to send it into Apple. It would come back in 3-5 days, then we could leave for Wyoming.
I was too tired to be upset. What was there to be upset about, anyway? That’s life for you sometimes. We contemplated what to do for the evening, sorely in need of something to cheer us up. After debating between going to see Barbie, playing putt putt, or climbing, we nixed all 3 and went for a hike.
The hike was exactly what we needed. We were heading along the Poudre River, and there was a light rain coming down. I finally felt like I could think clearly and no longer felt like I had been hit by a bus. We were totally rejuvenated.
We drove further along the Poudre to our campsite, an excellent view point on the way to the CSU Mountain Campus.
When life keeps throwing curve balls at you, I tend to believe things will turn around if you remain calm and take them as they come. But on Tuesday it really felt like no matter how calm and collected we were, life was pegging us with curve balls.
I once texted Ryan, “Logistics are the only thing that are certain in this wild, wild world.” He didn’t respond for hours, and I didn’t think anything of it — he was visiting his cousin in Newport Beach, probably off having fun. Turns out, he read it and it blew his mind. He didn’t respond because he didn’t know how to respond. Remembering this story, I realized there really is only one response to life’s hurdles: logistics. Stay tuned.
As I settle back into my life in Colorado Springs, it feels as though I’ve never left. All of my routines and rhythms are unchanged. I’m running my trails and climbing at my gym and cooking my staple meals in my kitchen. Life is peaceful, and though I am not racing out on an adventure for the foreseeable future, I am so grateful that I did. Being back has shown me that you’ve got to get out there; home will always be waiting for you when you’ve had enough. Below are some sporadic thoughts I had on the trip — perhaps not full posts unto themselves, but things I noted to write about.
I am notoriously bad at keeping track of jewelry. Especially as a young teen, I would lose priceless necklaces, earrings, and bracelets gifted to me, much to my mother’s and my dismay. I don’t know why I seem to be careless with jewelry, especially when the jewelry I wear usually are pieces that I treasure.
For this trip, I decided I’d just bring a pair of simple studs for my ears and a necklace that didn’t hold too much significance. Just putting them on before departure, I thought: I’m going to lose these. It’s kind of messed up, isn’t it, that I decided before even setting out that they would not return home? I can’t say why I had this premonition in the first place, just that it happened.
A month into the trip, I misplaced the necklace. This is usually how I lose jewelry — I think I’m putting it in a safe place, but then I forget where that clever place I selected is. I shrugged it off, thinking I’d manifested the loss.
Then on a hike in Glacier, while pulling off my sweatshirt, I felt a stud come out of my ear. It was lost in the dirt immediately, far too small to locate. I’d done it again.
When we came out of the backcountry in Banff, I asked Ryan to help me purchase a new pair of studs — something simple but would remind me of Banff. He knew exactly what I was looking for. We’d power through gift shops, quickly scanning and moving on if we didn’t land on the right earrings. Finally, I came across these little multi-colored bear studs and we agreed — these were the ones.
About a week later, I was feeling in my shorts pockets for any items to remove before washing, when I pulled out a lucky penny and my necklace. I wasn’t so careless after all!
Now the necklace and the bears are safe and sound in Colorado Springs. I’d like to think the experience shows I’ve improved.
Ryan and I were both reading The Hobbit while on the trip. Though Ryan was ahead of me by many chapters, we could still discuss themes once I had dug in a little more. One of the phrases that kept coming back to me was how Bilbo “longed for his hobbit hole” — his cozy, well-furnished abode. Though he was on the adventure of a lifetime, he failed to recognize it for much of the story; he was so uncomfortable and out of his element that he craved familiarity and home.
What struck me about Bilbo’s experience was how differently I felt. I couldn’t quite place why I didn’t long for home, though several traumatic events occurred on the trip. Usually all I want is my family and my home in times of duress. But out on the road, I couldn’t really imagine a place I’d rather be; I wanted to be there, wherever we were. Ryan felt similarly.
Now that I’m back in my “hobbit hole,” I am ever grateful for it. It doesn’t mean I won’t leave it again, but I sure appreciate it more than I had prior to leaving.
While out on a long hike in East Glacier, Ryan and I stumbled upon a mother ptarmigan and her chicks. For several minutes, we sat and watched her call to them as they made their way down the hillside, their little chirps returning her calls from all angles. It was truly a special moment for us. Once we saw them off, I found myself deeply affected; I couldn’t stop thinking of our moms.
I thought about how protective the ptarmigan mother was — how she wasn’t willing to move until she had all the chicks under her purview. It broke my heart thinking that eventually the chicks will grow up and leave her, after all the time she cared for them.
Then it hit me: we leave our moms once they’ve raised us to go off on our own. While they’re the ones who prepare us for the real world, they are thanked by us departing. I was struck by how incredibly painful that must be — to be a mom letting go of her kids, even though she knows they are ready to go. I had enormous respect for Lisa and Doris unlike I had ever had before, and it brought tears to my eyes just thinking of them seeing me and Ryan off to college and beyond.
Moms are incredibly strong. We should thank them for helping us spread our wings.
In Teton Village, I spotted a restaurant called “The Mangy Moose.” Yuck, I thought. Who would want to eat at a place with a name like that? But then it happened again — in Kalispell, a restaurant named “The Salty Calf.” Suddenly, I recalled Warwick’s own dirty animal restaurant: “The Rusty Goat Grill.”
I’m sorry, but naming a restaurant after an animal and tacking a truly unappetizing adjective in front of it doesn’t seem like sound marketing.
Back when I was getting laid off by Clif Bar, I had a series of panic attacks that always resulted from breathing too hard. I’d be out on a training run, usually with Ryan (he’s my “speed coach”), and once my breathing got labored to a certain degree, I would start panicking. It felt like something horrible was about to happen, when in reality, my body was just working harder than normal.
I thought I had shaken this affliction in the months since, but I was wrong. While camping outside of Glacier, Ryan and I did this run up and down the hill to our campsite, Ryan Road. It was 3 miles roundtrip, and the perfect burn. On our last day at this site, we decided to do the loop one last time, and I think both of us knew we wanted to push it a little.
The way down was fine, but as we started back up the hill and my breath became erratic, I could feel the panic setting in. It’s OK, I told myself. You’re just chasing Ryan up the hill. You’re supposed to be out of breath. It wasn’t enough. By the time we reached our site, I wanted to cry and I couldn’t tell why. I took several laps walking around the site to bring myself down and managed to quell my worries. The human psyche is a frail, frail thing.
There were a few instances while Ryan and I were in Canada that one of us would use the phrase, “When we go home…” — in this case, “home” referred to the U.S., not Colorado Springs, nor Colorado, Warwick, or New York. It was kind of funny to think of “home” as one large expanse south of us, and I suppose in our case, it was. Though we had mapped a general route, with our set-up, we could go anywhere. Be anywhere. Call anywhere “home.”
With further reflection, though, we agreed that home really is where the heart is, as cheesy as it might be. Colorado Springs is home to Ryan because not only does he live there, but so does practically his whole family and most of his friends. In contrast, home is both Colorado and New York to me. While my family is across the country, many of my closest friends and lots of “chosen family” are in the same state as I am. Were my family to visit or even move to Colorado, Colorado would become the resounding answer to “Where is home?” It’s all about the people, less about the place.
I came up with an analogy on this trip that I’m unreasonably proud of: Mountain Project descriptions are like astrological readings. They are simultaneously descriptive and vague enough that any route you look at may or may not be the route you’re viewing on the app.
I am convinced we entered the Twilight Zone in early July. It was in a Safeway in New Mexico. Typically, I am a “King Soopers or die” type of gal, but we needed a few items, including chips. Ryan is the king of salty snacks, so I left the decision to him. He spotted a family-size bag of crispy tortilla chips. “‘Juantonio’s’?” I smirked at the bag, questioningly. “Juantonio can’t be a real name. I mean, I suppose it’s something like ‘John-Anthony.’ But still.” The chips looked pretty good, though, so we bought it.
Well, since that moment in the Safeway, we never found Juantonio again. The chips are still in most markets — but they’re called “Juanita’s.” I have damn near lost my mind seeing Juanita’s everywhere, because I know Juantonio’s exists somewhere. I started to wonder if the name difference somehow plays into demographics. After all, Kroger goes by many different names depending on where you are: King Soopers in urban Colorado; City Market in mountain town Colorado; Smith’s in Wyoming; Fred Meyer in Idaho; QVC in Washington.
I have done some research behind this Juantonio/Juanita discrepancy, but I ultimately don’t want to know. Now I understand why people love conspiracy theories.
A month later, I am still reminiscing about Tim Horton’s in Canada. I have been a Dunkin’ fan my whole life, and Tim Horton’s is essentially a Canadian version, with key differences. The food and drink offerings, while not identical, are incredibly similar. However, at Tim Horton’s, you can truly dine in. They give you your coffee in a ceramic mug, your donut on a ceramic plate. When you enter Tim Horton’s, there are undoubtedly several groups of people seated, enjoying their breakfast and coffee together. It makes me actually laugh to imagine the same sight at Dunkin’. Dunkin’ clientele is way too busy for that. Just give me my damn coffee because I’m already late. It’s just further proof that Canada is and always will be superior to the U.S.
The longest stint Ryan and I went without showering on this trip was probably 10 days. Ten days, when you are as active as we are, allows you to get sufficiently smelly and hairy. I think since both of stunk, it didn’t really bother us, though the eventual shower was quite welcome. Before long, we really became comfortable with not knowing when our next shower would be. So much so, that I think I’ve become too comfortable. Though I am once more living in a house with running water, I went four days last week without showering. It just didn’t seem necessary? We’ll say I’m saving the planet, conserving water.
It’ll take a while for this trip to truly sink in. It was everything you could expect from a journey like this and more: joyful, heartbreaking, rewarding, frustrating, challenging, inspiring, spontaneous … the list goes on.
In an effort to process the adventure, Ryan and I sat down on our last day and tried to hone in on our “greatest hits.” These are the people, places, and things we’ll treasure the most, but really. The whole trip was spectacular.
To start, some trip stats:
Days on the road: 56
Nights camping: 37
Miles driven: ~5,800
Miles run: 113.4
Miles hiked: 120.15
Best Hike
We expected to climb a lot more than hike on this trip, but clearly from the mileage above, we gained a great appreciation for walking in the woods—particularly backpacking. We agreed that the best hike was to Two Medicine Lake in East Glacier. It was 12 miles of very little elevation and meandering trail that took you through all sorts of environments, including a huckleberry patch. We encountered a hoary groundhog and ptarmigan mom with her chicks along the way, and the view at the lake itself was stunning. A close second was Delta Lake, since the first time we attempted it, we got hailed on in the gnarliest fashion, and the second time (when we actually made it to the lake), we encountered a grizzly on the way down. Honorable mention goes to our backpack in to Crevice Lake, since it was our first time backpacking together and the lake was also stellar.
Two Medicine LakeDelta Lake Backpacking in Yellowstone
Best Run
While a lot of our runs consisted of roads and paved bike paths, it felt like we should still mention a couple we liked. Running up and down Ryan Road was a great run, since it took you down, down, down, then up, up, up. It was exactly 3 miles and an excellent workout. Similarly, the Mosier Plateau Trail took you up, down, up, down and back again. The views at the top and bottom of the Columbia River were solid and this also really got the heartrate up—in a good way.
Best Beer
We had to distinguish between best beer and best brewery/pub, since they don’t always align. We sampled many beers on this trip, and although we sometimes kicked ourselves for it, it was never egregious. We only really drink a single beer in a sitting, maybe two if it’s a Friday or Saturday. In any event, the best beer we tried was in a random pizza place in Bend: Jeremiah Johnson Honey Weizen (Great Falls, MT). We both love hefeweizens and you could really taste the honey. The best “basic” beer we got was Sneaky Weasel by Balderdash Beer (Vancouver, BC)—a crisp lager with good flavor. And the most unique beer was hands down Más Boss West Coast IPA, which we got at Boss Rambler Beer Club (Bend, OR). This was most unique since we got it topped with a frosé float.
Honorable mentions go to some specific styles: the Tamarack Brewing Keylime Radler (Lakeside, MT), which was sold to us as a margarita radler; Roadhouse Brewing Wilson IPA (Jackson, WY); and Iron Goat Slam Dunkel (Spokane, WA).
It should be noted that pretty much all of these beers are from different states!
Best Brewery / Pub
Another very stiff competition. The winner has to be 3 Bears Brewery in Banff, though. Not only was the beer solid, the chicken sandwich we got was out of this world and came with waffle fries. The atmosphere won out, with an open air ceiling and plants hanging all around us. Plus, we’d just finished three days of hard backpacking. Still, we’d also like to recognize Grand Teton Brewing Company in Victor, Idaho, for its unpretentious vibe and delicious beer. We sat in lawn chairs at sunset and ate tons of free popcorn, after being drenched by rain and hail.
Honorable mention goes to Stagecoach, which was a lively brewpub on Teton Pass with lots of solid beers on tap and excellent street food.
Munchin popcorn at GTBC
Best Food
This one was not a competition at all. Hands down, Capones in Coeur d’Alene was the best food we ate. I mean, we ate there twice, it was so good. We ordered only Guy Fieri suggestions, including “sweet hot” boneless wings and a Philly cheesesteak. I could eat those wings for the rest of my life.
That said, we want to shout out Fire Tacos in West Seattle, since it was likely our best food pick without Guy’s guidance. The birria nachos and churros we got were maybe the best we’ve ever eaten. Honorable mention goes to Dump City Dumplings in Bend, as those dumplings were so unique and tasty.
Birria nachos at Fire Tacos
Best Pastry
I think it’s funny that we ingest so many pastries, it was necessary to included them as a category in the Greatest Hits. The best had to be the pecan sticky bun from La Baguette in Revelstoke. We got it twice as well, it was that life-changing. Second is the huckleberry bearclaw from Polebridge Mercantile outside of West Glacier. Though it had gotten a little rain-soaked, it held its claw shape and its integrity. Honorable mentions are split between us: for me, it was the bee sting bun I got at The Daily in Bozeman, which was like a cream cheese-filled, almond- and honey-topped round croissant, and for Ryan, the almond poppy seed croissant he got at Morning Glory Cafe in Eugene.
Pecan sticky bun on left Speaks for itself
Best Coffee Shop
We drank a lot of coffee on this trip, both in and out of shops, as a way to fuel our work. We’re always looking for the best coffee shop “vibe,” and that’s ultimately how we chose the winners in this category. Number one is Coeur d’Alene Coffee Co., which had multiple fireplaces and lots of couches and nooks and crannies to work in. Runners up are Treeline Coffee Roasters in Bozeman—a hipster, botanical vibe—and Sisters Coffee Co. in Sisters, Oregon—a homey, log-cabin vibe. Both were absolutely hopping when we were there, which speaks to their reputation and popularity.
A shout out to Redpoint Climbers Supply, which is really a gear shop first and a coffee shop second. The employees there were straight chillers and they hooked Ryan up with free drip coffee while I was out and about.
Best Song
We are always trying to accumulate new tunes, and it was no different on this trip. The song of the trip is probably “no song without you” by HONNE, which we listened to endlessly. We are very fond of HONNE, especially their songs “Day 1” and “Me & You.” (Fun fact about HONNE, since I’m a music geek: “honne” is a Japanese word that means “true feelings.”) A close runner-up is “cool with it” by brb.—I recommend “your love” and “move” by brb. as well. Finally, we have to call out “Adventure” by Russ. It’s off his new album, released while we were on the trip, and is just fitting.
Honorable mention goes to “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell, also released on the trip and sent to Ryan by our friend Geo.
Best Podcast
Though we listened mostly to music, podcasts were definitely a welcome change of pace. While we couldn’t recall a ton of super noteworthy pods, we did especially like “Why can no one agree on the truth anymore?” a Modern Wisdom podcast in which host Chris Williamson interviews Eric Weinstein, a mathematician, economist, managing director of Thiel Capital, and a podcaster. It will blow your mind.
Best Town
This one was super tough, since we can appreciate virtually any place we go for its charms. We decided to split the category into mountain towns and “town towns.” Of the mountain towns, we liked Victor, Idaho, and Banff, British Columbia, best. Victor was tiny but had some exceptional little spots, and Banff, though crowded with tourists, is just stunning. As for “town towns,” Bozeman, Montana, was one of our faves for its variety of activities and eateries, and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for its food, climbing, water, shops … everything!
Downtown Banff View in north Bozeman View over Lake Coeur d’Alene
Best Sport Route
The majority of our climbing was bouldering, but we still did enough sport to call out some routes. Our favorite areas were definitely Smith Rock in Bend and Rattler Gulch in Missoula. Of the routes in those places, we liked Cat Scan (5.11b) in Smith (though we were absolutely roasted by the sun) and Fashion Disaster (5.10d) in Rattler. Cat Scan had great crimps and committing moves, while Fashion Disaster had the most variety of moves, including laybacks and a dyno.
Ryan on Fashion Disaster Smith Rock
Best Boulder
We definitely think the V5 we did at Tubbs Hill in Coeur d’Alene (uncreatively named “Tubbs Hill #4a“) was the best problem; it had a sweet overhanging roof that felt like you were tackling something in the gym. We also just loved a lot of the bouldering areas we hit, generally. Tubbs Hill was the best due to its proximity to the lake, but we also liked the Overhangutang boulder in Bozeman (so wide and had a variety of levels on it), Grohman Boulders outside of Nelson, BC (right above the train tracks, overlooking the town), and the Empire Boulders outside White Salmon, Washington (in the most magical, quintessential PNW forest).
Tubbs Hill bouldering View from Grohman Boulders Empire Boulders
Best Campsite
We slept in everything from designated campgrounds to glorified parking lots, and by the end, felt pretty good at sleeping anywhere. Our favorite campsite had to be Curtis Canyon outside of Jackson, Wyoming. The road to get to our spot was so gnarly and you had to really work for it, but the views of the Tetons the whole way were insane. Sunset and sunrise were excellent, the latter especially since it included cinnamon oat Kodiak Cakes. In second place is Ryan Road outside of West Glacier, since it was not only beautiful, but also offered great running. And finally, we have to highlight our spot outside of Green River, which offered a top-notch sunset and some solace after a very hard week: a broken phone, the passing of my dog, and work stress.
Curtis CanyonRyan RoadGreen River
Best Animal Encounter
I don’t think either of us really considered all the wildlife we’d see (minus preparing for bears with mace), but wow. So many animals. Over the course of the trip, we saw a bear, elk, deer, bison, wolves, marmots, pikas, snakes, lizards, rams, sheep, eagles, hawks, ptarmigans, a hoary groundhog, and even a woolly caterpillar. The best sighting had to be the bison in Yellowstone, since we were absolutely flooded by a herd of them flanking all sides of the car. However, stumbling upon a grizzly bear while hiking was also a sick experience, mainly because it taught us exactly how to handle such a situation, and we handled it well. We’d be remiss to not highlight the wolves, too, since we woke up at 4:00 a.m. two days in a row just to spot them. While tiny in the frame of Ryan’s binoculars, it was still so special to see them.
I also will give an honorable mention to the ptarmigan mom and her chicks on the Two Medicine Lake trail, since we got to sit and watch them for several minutes, so close we could reach out and touch them if we wanted.
Further Reflection
While we each learned particular things about ourselves individually, we learned some lessons together that we’ll carry with us. These lessons weren’t new nor earth-shattering, but the trip hit them home.
First, always be flexible. We never got upset about the changes of plans, the inclement weather, the availability of friends and family, because we always wrote our plans in pencil. We’re highly logistical people, constantly reordering our to-do list to optimize our efficiency. This tactic served us well over and over, and because we’re so prone to changing plans, it almost seems like the first plan will never be how things play out. We have more empathy for others who change plans as a result, too.
The second lesson is always having open and honest communication. It doesn’t matter who you travel with; if you’re on the road for two months and see that person day in and day out, sharing close quarters, you’re going to get under each other’s skin. For the most part, we did not bug each other too much, but there were certainly moments where it felt like we weren’t understanding each other well. The more we pushed ourselves to confront one another when things didn’t feel right or fair, as well as learn to agree to disagree sometimes, the better our relationship became. Moreover, we learned to give each other space by creating space for ourselves— sometimes running separately, going for walks alone, breaking off to call loved ones. It’s a tricky balance, but by the end, we had struck it decently well.
This trip was challenging for us both week to week, for different reasons. The biggest challenge for me was having to grieve while on the road; I was completely separated from familiar people and places when I lost my dog, then my job, then my grandmother—all in the course of a few weeks. I struggled to process these losses tremendously and admittedly haven’t fully processed any of them. Ryan, for his part, thinks the greatest challenge for him was having to watch me endure these losses and try to support me as best as he could. Grief shows up differently for everyone, which makes it challenging as a friend to know exactly how to show up for those grieving. While the loss of a dog was difficult for Ryan to empathize with, as he’s never owned a pet, he was enormously helpful with coping with the job situation. Both of us were taken aback by how it all transpired, and it led to many rich conversations about the meaning of work. By the end of the trip, I think we both improved our approach to this complicated course of events: I tried harder to reach out to others to avoid putting the full emotional, care-taking burden on Ryan, while Ryan developed more grace for my weepy ways as he came to understand my position better.
There were aspects of the trip that surprised us. As mentioned, we never expected to hike so much—and hike more often than run or climb. We learned that all the hiking really made us “mountain tough.” While we weren’t as fit as usual since we weren’t lifting or going to the rock gym, our functional fitness skyrocketed. We weren’t affected by all the scrapes and bumps and bruises we acquired while trekking through rugged terrain. We were absolutely cranking miles with 30-pound packs on our backs. We became more durable, generally—to heat, cold, rain, wind.
We also had no plans to spend time in Idaho, and ended up loving Idaho most. Victor and Coeur d’Alene were some of our favorite spots, and we spent several days in both.
We realized we’re not city people. We felt so uncomfortable in Spokane that we left after 24 hours, and we didn’t even get out of the car in Portland. I remembered how we similarly struggled in San Francisco last fall, too. In all instances, we’d felt sort of weird, decided to go for a hike instead, and felt immediately better. The one exception to this rule was Seattle—we had a great time there. I think it’s because not only did we do a lot of exploring by bike, but also we had friends to direct us where to go.
Looking back, we’re also kind of shocked at how much we accomplished in every National Park. We did double hikes and fully explored the surrounding towns. We made that pass worth it!
What would we change? Not much, honestly. Obviously we’d have fewer rainy or smoky days, but we didn’t get hampered too much by either. Ryan would have the car set-up a little more organized and dialed, but given the time we had before leaving, it worked pretty well. I think I would take back times where we ate out at chains or settled on mediocre food—there was so much GOOD food to be had, why waste calories and money on stuff that we can get any time or isn’t that appealing?
Things we’d do again? Is it a cop out to say “the whole trip”? Really, we are still a little floored about how it turned out. We’ve discussed doing the whole thing over every 3-5 years. The next time we do it, we’d like to go in reverse. We’ll head toward Arizona first, to Sedona in particular, then work through parks in California. And hit more hikes and waterfalls in the PNW!
The interactions we had on this trip were 99% positive. We tried to pick the funniest conversation, but it was hard to choose. The old man at the Apple Store in Spokane; the gentleman at the natural spring outside West Glacier; the Canadians who ran down the Delta Lake trail with us in the Tetons; the liquor store owner in Revelstoke; the man named Bones in Mansface Liquor in Green River. There’s one interaction I never wrote about but STILL cracks Ryan up, as it’s something that only would happen to me.
In Jackson, while checking out the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, a woman came up to me. She had clearly had a few drinks and was quite animated.
“Excuse me, sorry. Could you take a picture of me and my husband?”
“Of course!”
“OK, great! The thing is, we never have any candid photos and I really want this to look natural. He’s in the bathroom right now, and I’m hoping you can get a picture of us here, with the bar sign in the background, without him noticing.”
“I will certainly try my best…”
I walked about 15 feet past their table and turned around. It already looked so choreographed. She had her seat side by side with her husband’s and had arranged everything on the table. And she was staring right at me. There was no way I was going to be unnoticeable. As I tried to figure out a way to hide myself a little, someone at the bar took the seat next to Ryan (who was trying to stay as uninvolved as possible), and the woman freaked out. She was gesturing wildly to me that SOMEONE TOOK YOUR SEAT!!! and I kept waving her off to assure it really did not matter to me. She got so upset about it that by the time her husband returned, she spilled the beans immediately and told him how I was going to get a photo of them but someone had TAKEN HER SEAT!!! Ryan was laughing mercilessly at me. I don’t know how I get into these situations so often, but it seems to be a pattern.
The bad interactions, on the other hand, were few and far between. We frequently got suspicious looks at bars since folks seemed distrustful of Colorado licenses, plus our licenses look different since we’re two years apart and the style changed during that time. There were the jerks who honked on the dirt road in Green River where we were camping, at 3:00 am. And there was a dude on a longboard who cursed out an elderly couple when they refused to take a flower from him.
There are a lot of things we’ll miss. Ryan admittedly will miss pooping in the woods (just feels natural now). We both will miss sleeping in the tent and waking up to new views and places every week. I will miss Ryan singing to me every morning, to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” a song with the first lyrics always being “Her name is Sarah…” We’ll miss the coffee in the morning at camp and crawling into the tent at night, the sound of rain on the roof, the crisp mountain air.
That said, we’re glad for some things to be over. For me, I got sick of all the shenanigans to keep devices charged all the time. Ryan got frustrated at times by trying to make workspaces outdoors function well (mostly just in the rain). It’ll be a welcome change to not worry about where we’ll shower or do laundry next, and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with friends and family we’ve sorely missed.
We want to thank a lot of folks for their support during our journey.
To Amaury, thanks for taking us out in Aspen before the journey began and letting us crash under your standing desk.
To the Atencios, thanks for letting us join your Vail vacation by having us out to dinner, letting us stay overnight, going fly fishing, and making us homemade waffles.
To “Captain” John Mastrangelo, thanks for hosting us at the front end of the trip when Ryan’s phone malfunctioned and Chowder was in the hospital, and on short notice.
To Landon, thanks for meeting up with us in Missoula and for the climbing, beers, and camping. It was so great to see a friendly face after weeks of being out!
To Uncle Carey, thanks for hosting us in Mosier, feeding us dinner, letting us play with Bella, and having all the lively conversations.
To Tara, thanks for hosting us in Eugene and being down for BLTs and face masks, showing us your favorite spots to eat and drink, taking time at the bookstore to explore, and just being a magical human being overall.
To Jenna and Jake, thanks for not only treating us to gourmet food, but also saving us the worry of where to go the night before our early flights. We are indebted to you for letting us leave our valuables at your house and giving us a safe place to stay before leaving.
Thanks to our families for trusting us to figure things out and being a support from afar throughout; to our friends who checked in and friends who took our calls. It would be difficult to name each and every one of you, but please know how much we appreciated hearing your voices and reading your texts and emails. It made us feel less far from home.
And last but not least, thanks to YOU, the reader of this nonsense, whether it was every single post, just the first and last, or some in between. I have always loved to write for my own enjoyment, and it means the absolute world to me that anyone cares to read my writing. To know that my words may have had a positive impact on even one person brings me immense joy.
Our second day in Lacey was similarly mellow. We went for a 10K run, then made lunch with as many of our remaining ingredients as possible. By late afternoon, we had finished working, packed up all our things, cleaned up the house, and gotten the dogs squared away. On to our final night of camping!
We had picked out our campsite on Snoqualmie Pass, an hour and 45 minutes away. There were lots of options to stop between Lacey and there, but we ultimately landed on North Bend — only 30 minutes from camp. We pulled into town and it was actually rather busy. All the parking spots on Main Street were full. We hopped out and strolled around a bit. I forced Ryan to take a picture as “a beautiful butterfly,” and a woman walking by paused. “My friend painted that. She used to own this place on the corner, and she painted the black and white section. Then when she sold it, the new owners had another artist add the colorful section.” The more you know.
We got beers at Volition Brewing (solid Oktoberfests) and discussed our next business venture by a fire. The temperature range in North Bend looked to be a low of 40 and high of 50 for the whole week, and it felt like it. We then moved on to El Caporal, a Mexican place just a quarter mile away. While it was not spectacular, the food was pretty solid, and I will never turn away free chips.
We made our way to camp, where we promptly set up for the last time. It was drizzling when we arrived and continued to rain through the whole night. It felt familiar. It was bittersweet to think that sleeping out in the rain had become so normal for us, just for it to end.
The next morning, we got up and headed to our last coffee shop adventure, Huxdotter in North Bend. Naturally, we needed to get one last pastry. I got a pumpkin scone (delish). We spent a solid hour at Huxdotter reviewing the trip, compiling the highlights: everything from our favorite hike to the best song we found. It was fitting and proper to reminisce this way on our last day, though somewhat sad. It really was the trip of a lifetime.
Once we were satisfied with our picks, we headed back into Seattle to meet a mountain guide friend of mine, Rob. Rob took me out climbing in Boulder when I was visiting Colorado College as a soon-to-be-senior and again the following summer, when I had enrolled as a freshman. He’s got an incredible guiding résumé and in recent years was working in Chamonix, France. He and his wife and twin sons moved to Seattle in 2021.
We wanted to meet up to climb, but given all the rain, outdoors wasn’t really an option. Rob very generously offered his two guest passes at Seattle Bouldering Project, so we met him there at midday. We had an excellent time catching up with him and getting to pull on some plastic again. Though he likes Seattle, Rob admits that he hasn’t gotten used to all the driving it requires. “I had access to trails via biking or running from the age of 18 to 49,” he lamented. “It’s a hard adjustment.”
Rob sending! A selfie for my dad
After an hour and a half or so, Rob had to skedaddle, but we stayed longer to utilize the guest passes to the fullest. By the time we truly departed, it was almost 3:00 and we hadn’t had lunch. Trusting foodies Jake and Jenna for recommendations, we headed to University Village to grab food at Mr. West. As a final meal out, this really hit the spot. Ryan got a massive turkey club and I got shakshuka — probably the best shakshuka I’ve ever had. My battery life had gotten really low, and this food restored me.
Behold!
For the next couple hours, we did our usual exploring. The University Village was full of lots of shops and restaurants, so we popped in and out of a handful, including Kiehl’s and Backcountry. At some point we stumbled on Tesla and spent a good while there, talking to one of the representatives and asking questions about the Model Y’s features. If Tesla is not the future of cars, I don’t know what is.
Traffic was a real headache, so we decided to go for a little stroll at Magnuson Park. While we did not find a very long pathway to walk, we did get some picturesque sunset views of the water and sailboats floating by. Still stalling, we went to Magnuson Cafe and Brewery to get the final brew as well. It was hard to ignore the feelings of the impending end to the trip, but we still had a fun time.
As we drove toward Jake and Jenna’s, we decided we really wanted to climb just a little bit more — we had missed a whole bouldering section at the gym earlier. So we resolved to go back to SBP for just 30 minutes to hit them. While the gym was very chill at noon, it was an absolute madhouse at 8:00 p.m. We blitzkrieg-ed the problems we hadn’t yet touched, weaving in and out of swarms of people. We’re used to CityROCK getting pretty swamped from 4:00-7:00, but it usually cools down after that. It was completely opposite here, and we didn’t know anyone on top of it. While we were happy to get one last session in, we certainly weren’t sad to get out of the crowded environment.
We eventually made it to J&J’s at 9:00 and proceeded to unload the car of all valuables to keep stored while we’re gone. Quick showers and we were finally eating dinner at 9:30. Jake gratefully stayed up to help us out and even set up the fire pit on the back patio so we could hang out and eat. Then it was off to bed at 10:30 for our “nap” before waking at 2:30 to head to SeaTac.
I’m finishing this last update in the south terminal right now. Ryan’s already in the air and has been for 20 minutes or so. It’s quite difficult to process what this trip meant for me (not only because it’s 5:30 a.m. and I got 4 hours of sleep). Tears streamed down my face for the umpteenth time as I hugged Ryan goodbye and waved him off. As challenging as this trip was for me at times, I wouldn’t change a thing. And I don’t think Ryan would, either.
I made the description for this travel page “exercising our right to errantry.” Errantry is a Tolkien word that I learned around 6 months ago, meaning: the quality, condition, or fact of wandering; especially: a roving in search of chivalrous adventure. I can’t think of a more fitting term for the last two months. Thanks for reading — highlights to come.
Before we even left for this trip, Ryan and I were adamant about one thing: our plans would always be flexible. So much so, that at the time we set out, there was only one time constraint: our backpacking campsite reservations in Banff, August 25th-27th. Outside of those dates, nothing was set in stone. And even those dates weren’t rigid; I had paid only $45 for those sites. If we didn’t make it in time, it was no huge financial loss.
We sketched a rough itinerary, estimating about a week per National Park (Grand Teton Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff), then had intentions to move west toward Vancouver, then down into Seattle, Portland, and so on. The beauty of this trip has been the looseness. It was a few weeks in that we realized: there was no way we could dedicate the proper time to the Pacific Northwest if we hauled all the way through California to Ryan’s cousin in Newport Beach. Therefore, we committed to sticking to Washington and Oregon for the second half of the trip and book flights out of one of the two states.
We couldn’t have predicted the fires this summer — not only where they would be, but their scale. Given the proliferation of fires in Canada, we were unsure if we’d make it to Banff. As luck would have it, the skies cleared the day we arrived, after we closely monitored the situation all week. However, we knew that heading to Vancouver would mean smoky skies. It was honestly a happy re-route to head to Revelstoke (perhaps our favorite of all the mountain towns we’ve seen) and then down into Washington.
Spokane proved to be sketchy and have odd energy, so we didn’t stay. We posted up in Coeur d’Alene for four days, refusing to enter Spokane again until Ryan’s watch was fixed at the Apple Store. As soon as it was, we retrieved it and immediately hit the road. Ryan and I are both concerned about the ~vibes~, and we have no issue leaving a place, be it a town, restaurant, or shop, that seems off.
The original plan was to do Washington first, Oregon second. However, Ryan really wanted to see his friends, Jake and Jenna, in Seattle, and they were out of town until September 12 (after meeting them, I see why!). So we re-routed again. We’d go to Oregon first, and that dictated our trajectory — we’d reach Mosier and my uncle Carey first, and then we could make a little loop of Bend to Eugene (and Tara) to Portland. Seattle has proven to be the only other time crunch we’ve set for ourselves: we’ll be flying out of the Seattle airport this week.
We’ve told many friends and family members — those we’ve seen on the road or caught up with on the phone — that we can really only plan week to week. It’s genuinely difficult planning further ahead than that. It’s a combination of those factors that we can’t control (like fires and Ryan’s watch being stuck in repair) and our desire to spend more or less time in certain places. Who knew we’d spend four days in Bozeman and four in Coeur d’Alene, but not even one full day in Spokane? Who knew we’d never make it to Vancouver (or California for that matter), but spend significant time in Idaho? That’s just been the nature of the trip.
On a microlevel, we are adapting on a daily basis. We relocate campsites; we pick up Trusted Housesitter gigs; we travel early or late or during lunch to piece things together. While both of us feel that our upcoming travels won’t necessarily be restful (I am going to some big family festivities while Ryan is going to a bachelor’s weekend), we agree that it will be such a nice logistical break. For a handful of days, we won’t have to be thinking about where we’ll be sleeping next, when we’ll get our next shower, where we’ll do laundry, how soon we need more ice, what groceries we’re low on, and on and on. In that respect, it will be an enormous mental reboot.
When you embrace this sort of flexibility, not only do you open yourself up to more opportunities, but you also save yourself from being too hellbent on any particular plan. You don’t get your hopes up too high, and in fact, you often find experiences far surpassing your expectations. I can’t imagine a trip that’s more rewarding, challenging, exhilarating, frustrating, and beautiful. Life isn’t always about having everything scheduled perfectly — things are bound to go awry that way. As corny as it sounds, it’s about going with the flow and riding the waves as they come.
