Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Hike

  • Mountain Hike: Travel Goals Alaska

    Mountain Hike: Travel Goals Alaska

    After spending the morning in Skagway, I want to spend some time in the woods. The lower lake trail is touted as a two mile loop trail around a mountain lake. To get to the loop, there is a steep trail up the mountain beginning across the railroad tracks from the Skagway Hotel. Our new…

  • Takao: Travel Goals Japan

    Takao: Travel Goals Japan

    Today we planned to travel to Nagano to see the snow monkeys. But when we woke up, we just were not feeling like a long train ride in order to catch a bus in order to hike. Perhaps earlier in the trip it would have been worth it, but with only two days remaining in…

  • Mendenhall Madness: Travel Goals Alaska

    Mendenhall Madness: Travel Goals Alaska

    Our first stop in Alaska is Juneau. The ship docked around 3pm and will leave port around 9 pm. We decide to skip the crowded city streets (and they are ridiculously crowded) and head to the Tongass National Forest to see the Mendenhall Glacier. Sounds easy enough but I don’t want a tour group experience.…

  • Tourist Mecca or Sacred Mountain?: Travel Goals Japan

    Tourist Mecca or Sacred Mountain?: Travel Goals Japan

    Today’s destination is Fushimi Inari Taisha, a temple that has over 3 miles of trail up Mount Inari. The mountain temple path is lined with over 10,000 Tori Gates. My son has picked the location because of internet reviews and photos of the Tori gates. It does look impressive and a little intimidating. However, if…

  • Saguaro Shut Down: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    Saguaro Shut Down: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    Saguaro National Park is wild and wonderful in its desolation. On this trip we are almost the only ones there, which fuels my imagination.

  • Red Rock Hike: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Red Rock Hike: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    But the song is as old as time. It is the language of life long love, a familiar duet performed among the red rocks. If you have been married for decades, you likely know the lyrics. Feel free to sing along.

  • Verde to Tonto: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Verde to Tonto: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    I wouldn’t call us aimless. But we have no plan other than to enjoy this beautiful weekend. The weather is perfect. Blue skies. Cool breeze. And we have a whole day ahead of us to enjoy whatever we can.

  • Pink Jeep Tour: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Pink Jeep Tour: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    We pile into the pink jeep with six strangers. Our driver seems a little crazy….in a mostly good way. He navigates the heavy Sedona traffic like he has done the route hundreds of times. So far so good. He tells stories as he drives. He finds them funny and entertaining. I find them hard to…

  • Hopi Ruins: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    Hopi Ruins: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    After standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona for about as long as we care to, we head out of town on Route 66. Within a few minutes, we find a trading post that sells native made products. I leave with a lighter wallet and some beautiful jewelry. The shop keeper recommends that we visit…

  • Canyons in Navajo Country: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Canyons in Navajo Country: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    Sometimes a place calls to me with no rhyme or reason. Canyon de Chelly has jumped off the map for a number of years. It is off the main highways and requires a multi-hour detour through rugged landscape. Deep in Navajo country, the canyon has remained illusive. You have to mean to go there. It…