Lessons from seven months in Peru, and the value of travel

I’ve been back in Montana for a month now, trying to figure out a new routine in a place I’m grateful to call home for its beauty, the chance to ride or hike for hours from my back door, and a great community of people that extends across an entire state. More importantly, I’m trying […]

Days 7-10 of the Huayahuash Circuit: adventure complete…for now

After the soul shaking descent from San Antonio pass, a frigid night sleeping in a cow pasture, and a several hour lost backpack search, the rest of the trek was relatively easy. But, what really comes into focus is the simple fact that you don’t really want it to be easy; you’re in the most […]

Day 6 on the Huayahuash Circuit: a day of (mis)adventure

One really useful tip I can give you if you plan on doing any solo trekking in the Peruvian Andes is if anyone tells you that the trail you’ll be taking isn’t necessarily the most obvious or well-traveled path *STOP* and realize that means: you are going where nobody else wants to, and there’s a […]

Days 3,4, and 5: easy trail and gorgeous sights on the Huayahuash Circuit

In retrospect, days 3-5 could be called the ‘smooth sailing’ section of the Huayahuash Circuit trek. Not to say the trekking itself is especially easy- there are still plenty of ups and downs at high altitudes- but the trail is well-defined and (although never marked…ever) easy to follow. To firm up our confidence that our […]

Off the beaten path in the high peaks of Peru: Huaraz

As almost every one of my posts has mentioned, repeatedly, Peru’s diversity of ecosystems and landscapes is beyond anything I ever imagined when planning my trip and was a constant source of amazement during my time there. To top off seven months of amazing experiences I spent the majority of my last two weeks in […]

Sustainable Travel Tree Planting Meets Mega Adventure in the Mountains of Peru

In the past 5 days I’ve soaked in the Lares Hot Springs cradled in a deep river canyon in the Lares Valley, planted trees with local rural communities between 13,000 and 15,000ft under towering glaciated Andean peaks, and ridden the Megavalanche downhill course: the steepest, fastest, most technical single track I’ve ever attempted.  So, overall, […]

Amazement and Awe – Touring the Sacred Valley

Last Saturday I took the one day tour of the Sacred Valley, and it was truly, truly amazing. I was a little cynical at first; it’s a bus tour that’s popular with tourists and those are the kind of trips I generally avoid when trying to absorb the nature and culture in a place like […]