Since Covid hit in 2020, Mojave National Preserve has become one of my favorite desert areas to explore. While I’ve run out of major peaks to hike in the park, there are endless small ones that receive few visitors and that’s become quite appealing. I started and finished this trip with more popular summits – Silver Peak and Mt. Clark. Mt Clark is a great mountain on the DPS list that I first hiked in 2016. Friend Keith Winston was interested in this one and I didn’t mind repeating it in order to join. Between these peaks I got to a handful of others, including some unnamed ones that have only been hiked 2-3 times in the last 50 years. I also did a 3-day bikepacking trip to test out a new bike and take things in at a slower pace. I left the park with a list longer than before, a problem I seem to have in my favorite deserts. I can’t wait to get back…

Peaks hiked: Silver, Barber, North Tower, South Tower, P5620, P5877, South Twin Butte, P5851, P5935, P5834, P5776, Mt Clark

Eris and I had a week to roam and mixed things up with short hikes, great camp spots, and abundant food. Weeks of perfect weather ended during our trip but we enjoyed the moodier landscape despite strong wind and near-freezing nights. We visited some new spots and old favorites – the lower Santa Rosas, Orocopia Wilderness, Joshua Tree, Cleghorn Lakes Wilderness, and the Salton Sea. In the Orocopia Mountains, we ran across a stone cabin hidden in the bend of a wash, cool unexpected find.

After cycling the Great Divide, my girlfriend picked me in Tucson with six days to explore Arizona. It was her first time in the state, I had fun showing her a few favorites and a few new spots as well. We visited Saguaro National Park, Mt Lemmon, Sedona, Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell, and hiked Cathedral Wash to the Colorado River, a short but fun scrambly hike that was a great finish before heading home.

I was hesitant to commit to this trip afraid I might be disappointed compared to my previous bicycle tours, as almost all of my bicycle travel has been abroad – Patagonia, Scandinavia, Africa, The Balkans, Iceland, Oman, and clear across Asia. Part of the allure of those trips was the cultural experiences and cycling in my home country seemed less interesting. Lucky for me I was wrong.

I’ve traveled the USA extensively on road trips, visiting and peakbagging in all 50 states with much time spent in all western states. As I should have remembered, bicycle travel is a completely different experience. I traveled through and often stayed in tiny towns I never would have stopped in otherwise and met people from all over, sometimes sharing a meal (traveling by bike often invites curiosity and connection). Many of these people were from states I didn’t travel through, from Arkansas and renting cabins for hunting season for example. This combined with a challenging ride and everchanging top shelf scenery made for a richer experience than I expected.

I started at the Montana border, skipping the short Canadaian section to save some time since I started late season and reached the border in Douglas Arizona, an alternative to the traditional finish in Antelope Wells that’s becoming more popular. From Douglas I cycled through Bisby and Tombstone to Tucson where I met my girlfriend to travel a bit before heading home. I clocked over 2500 miles in 63 days, 11 of which were rest or weather days. Highlights inlcude amazing scenery from mountains to lakes to plains to deserts, the people I met along the way, interesting places to sleep including some offered free by gracious hosts, part of a cyclist support network – an 1800s jail in Ovando, the famous Llama Ranch, the Chaco Trade Center, etc. It was also special to see long-time friends at the beginning and end of my tour – Thomas Michael who gave me a ride to the Montana border and Jeremy Kennedy who met me in Douglas where we stayed the historic Gadsden Hotel. And of course my girlfriend who’s been supportive of my travels and picked me in Tucson. I highly recommend this trip to anyone considering it.

Nine flights and two boats for one of the wildest trips I’ve done, a through-hike of Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. After flying to Qikiqtarjuaq, we hired a boat to the drop off point and began a 9-day trek over Akshayuk Pass. Polar bears (none seen), icy river crossings (~12 crossed), weather, and carrying heavy packs over difficult terrain (glacial moraines, spongy wet ground, boulders, etc) are the main challenges here. Rewards include some of the best scenery on the planet – endless vertical rock, precarious glaciers, and iconic mountains like Asgard and Thor – the tallest vertical drop on planet earth. A grand adventure shared with friend Jacob Kallman.