Kayaking the Wailua River
Hiking to Switzer Falls on Thanksgiving ...
Hiking the Altadena Crest Trail in Novem...
The Carrizo Plain in October 2012
The vast majority of the people who kayak the Wailua River are there to hike to the least-secret Secret Falls we know. Being ourselves, we couldn'...
This is an excellent, fairly easy hike and it surprised us that we waited so long to discover it. The hike is mostly shady except for one section and ...
The Altadena Crest Trail is not very well known, which makes it a great place to hike, mostly free of mountain bikers or horses. The trail winds throu...
Despite our crazy adventures in California, we've never ventured into the sparsely populated area north of Los Angeles and between the 101 and 5 Freew...
The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition -- Hinku Valley to Lukla. Thursday, October 27 Saying goodbye was tough after ...
The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition: Hea...
The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition -- G...
The following is a continuation of Mera Peak Expedition -- K...
The vast majority of the people who kayak the Wailua River are there to hike to the least-secret...
This is an excellent, fairly easy hike and it surprised us t...
The Altadena Crest Trail is not very well known, which makes...
The following is a continuation of Coast of Maine in Septemb...
This is an excellent, fairly easy hike and it surprised us that we waited so long to discover it. The hike is mostly shady except for one se...
The Altadena Crest Trail is not very well known, which makes...
We're very fortunate to live so close to Eaton Canyon. Only ...
This is an extremely popular hike in the San Gabriel Mountai...
I've heard it said that no Californian can call themselves a climber without reaching the summit of the highest peak in the Lower forty-eigh...
This is a continuation of Four perfect days in Kings Canyon ...
This is a continuation of Four perfect days in Kings Canyon....
Everyone knows Yosemite, at least by reputation, but far few...
The vast majority of the people who kayak the Wailua River are there to hike to the least-secret Secret Falls we know. Being ourselves, we couldn’t limit our activities to the things on the beaten path.
We don’t know who put up the rope swing, but we’ll bet it wasn’t a tourist. Tourists just don’t carry around enough rope. Nor are they very motivated to leave behind something fun for the next person. Read more
This is an excellent, fairly easy hike and it surprised us that we waited so long to discover it. The hike is mostly shady except for one section and there are several easy stream crossings that only require stepping across rocks. This a great family hike. Read more
The Altadena Crest Trail is not very well known, which makes it a great place to hike, mostly free of mountain bikers or horses. The trail winds through excellent chaparral in the low foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
It has steep sections and switchbacks to climb out of the small canyons but the views at each outside turn make it work the minor effort. Read more
Despite our crazy adventures in California, we’ve never ventured into the sparsely populated area north of Los Angeles and between the 101 and 5 Freeways.
We are usually in a hurry to get somewhere and that keeps us from taking the scenic byways that are truly remarkable. Read more
The following is a continuation of Coast of Maine in September 2012 – Boston to Brunswick, Maine.
Driving north from our overnight at America’s Worst Value Inn was a great break from a bad experience. Just north of Bath, the traveler needs to make a choice between the freeway and the coastal road. Speed versus charm. It was an easy choice.
Traffic was light on a Sunday morning and we quickly made our way through the gorgeous communities like Rockland, Thomaston, Belfast, Searsport and Bucksport. Each town was a remarkably well preserved picture of coastal New England and if not for our goal of Acadia National Park, we could have spent a day in any one of those places.
By the time we finally made the turn toward Acadia in the town of Ellsworth, we were already planning our weeks-long trip up the coast for some future date. Read more
A business trip to Boston provided an excellent opportunity to drive the Coast of Maine to Acadia National Park.
But first, a Friday night Red Sox game, made more special for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. After a one-hour rain delay, we enjoyed the game, even though the Sox lost. The special treat on the way back to Cambridge was standing next to the conductor at the front window of the train, seeing the tunnels and stations as they approached.
We could have taken the fast route and reached our destination in the first full day, but true to our style, decided to crawl our way up Route 1, the local route that passes through every village and town along the way. Read more
If you’ve read our stories over the past year and a half, you know that we don’t sit still very long and that we love travel and adventure. When you’ve been high in the Himalayas, crisscrossed Hawaii, many national parks and other parts of the world, what can do to up the adventure?
You can add a member to the team. And it wouldn’t be so adventurous to add an adult. It would be really interesting to add a child who could grow from an early age with the same spirit of adventure and access to the world. A child whose parents are passionate about seeing anything and everything with plenty of exertion along the way.
We’re doing exactly that. By next March, we’ll welcome the newest member of the Maximum Adventure team. We don’t know yet if we’ll be welcoming a boy or a girl, but we’ll let you know when we know. Early indications are for a girl…
We’re incredibly excited to have this future adventure and know that just like most of what we do, it will have challenges. But we’ll do this like we do everything…at full speed and without hesitation.
Joshua Tree has to be the nearest national park to a major US city that is known to the fewest people.
Just an hour and half from our home in Pasadena, Joshua Tree is a winter-only kind of place due to the extreme Summer heat in the Mojave Desert.
Uncrowded beauty
Its seasonality means it doesn’t enter the minds of LA people who are focused on the LA Basin and things along the highways north and south of Los Angeles. That works out well for having peace and tranquility in a park so close to 17 million people.
Joshua Tree is named for its peculiar trees that are so concentrated there but present all over the Mojave. Up close, they don’t appear to be trees at all and are lousy as fire wood (don’t worry, we only tried to burn pieces we found on the ground). Read more
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