Guides and Trips
Trips
For our last big adventure before returning to the US we decided to go to Sri Lanka. We had looked at the Phillipines, Malaysia, and Indonesia but couldnt find any way to help out the endangered animals while we were there. We finally chose Sri Lanka because of the elephant and slow loris programs we found.Sri Lanka is the best place in the world to view leopards. There are no lions or...
Just outside Tallahassee is a great swim hole, Wakulla Springs. It is a busy hangout for the college students during the summer. It is also a great place to see the endangered manatee during the winter.Just outside Wakulla Springs is the Wakulla State Forest, and a short loop hike out to the Double Springs. The "forest" is the typical North Florida pine and sand, and the trail is a mix of forest...
River Road - Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park, Texas, United States
Offroading | 53 miles
Offroading | 53 miles
During our road trip to Colorado we snuck south for a few days in Big Bend National Park. We hiked The Window and a few smaller hikes, but had the afternoons open. Even in March it reached into the 90's, so we decided to go for a drive!The River Road is officially broken into East and West, but we decided to drive the whole thing. We labeled this activity "off-roading" but there...
A great little hike in the Colorado National Monument, with an added loop that is not in the official trail.
Colorado National Monument - Ute Canyon Trail
Grand Junction, Colorado, United States
Hiking | 5.8 miles
Hiking | 5.8 miles
Our first hike in Colorado since returning to the US. A very nice hike almost completely downhill. Starts with a steep descent on switchbacks down the side of Ute Canyon, and proceeds along the creek bed.After cresting a small gorge, the trail continues along the flat canyon bottom into dryer territory. the trail stays in the canyons shadow well into the morning and then widens into the base igneous layer of rock.The...
This was our second "hike" after returning to Florida. The first 20 minutes of the walk is through a prairie, but it turns into sparse evergreen forest for the rest of the hike (at the Trail Split marker). The trail is well marked, and has about 10 markers related to the history of the trail. The area was made famous by a book and then movie titled "The Yearling" that was based and...
We stayed at the Mirihi Resort for four nights during my wife's Spring Break vacation. I bought an underwater housing for my Canon 5DM2, as well as my first "tough" point & shoot. Both worked wonderfully! We booked the whaleshark day trip from the resort, and had a great day! I brought the GPS along, but had to leave it in the boat as I couldn't find a waterproof bag to throw it in...
Our trip to Shizuoka-ken, our 33rd prefecture in Japan!
Easy hike when you use the ski lifts!
One day while wandering the internet I found a book on the old tales of Japan. It told the story of two sisters who lived on Biwa-ko, an Ancient Lake in Japan. It talks of giant catfish (a special catfish is indigenous to the lake), self-sacrifice, Cannon, and a message to Oda Nobunaga, a fierce warlord to spare the temples on the island.The story caught my attention so much because I had been wanting...
We did two and a half days in Naeba Ski Resort in the winter of 2011-2012, the first full day had beautiful weather! Down the road from the resort is the location for the old Minakuni Ski Resort that is no longer in operation. The road is still there, but no buildings remain. The road has about 300m elevation gain, but it is all gentle slope through beautiful foothills. Right at the first...
A leisurely walk on the Shadow Lake Circuit at Lake St. Clair in the Cradle Mountain / Lake St. Clair National Park in Tasmania, Australia. An absolutely gorgeous day for a wonderful hike! We thought about doing Mt. Rufus but decided there was too much snow still, although another hiker/runner did the Mt. Rufus route and back in less than 5 hours the same day we went out!We could have done this...
Angkor Wat and Surrounds
Phumĭ Trâpeăng Séh Khang Lĕch, Khétt Siĕm Réab, Cambodia
Photography | 233 miles
Photography | 233 miles
We spent 4 days Siem Reap visiting the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the area. We did all the touristy stuff including elephant ride, boat ride to Tonle Sap floating village, and even a helicopter tour! The ruins are immense and very atmospheric in the early morning. We made a day trip up to Phnom Kulen National Park and had a great time on our last day. The shopping was a unique...
After visiting Hiroshima and Miyajima several years ago with my family, I decided to return and enjoy some more time on the famous island. Although we planned to hike, the weather was quite wet, so we decided to take it easy and enjoy the ropeway and coastline instead. We were able to visit the World Heritage shrine and famous Torii that stands in the water, this time catching it at low tide...
As the leaves were turning colors in 2007 we visited the famous Okama Lake and hiked from their to Fubo-san. This is a nice easy hike as we rode a bus up to the Okama Visitor Center. The lake was formed about 400 years ago during the last activity of the volcano, and is so alkalai that it is not safe to drink. However is does create many different colors depending on...
The winter of 2008 was especially fun for us, we had a great New Year and we kept the momentum going by starting to snowshoe. While in Nagano we made an overnight side trip to the famous Monkey Onsen.The onsen is tucked up into a valley behind a museum and small neighborhood that have a few hotels mixed in. The onsen is home to Japanese macaques, which are among the northern-most primates...
The third stop on the first trip together with my future wife. After a night in London we headed into the countryside and stayed at a "haunted" castle! We stayed at the top of one of the four towers. It was a bit chilly (pun intended) in October, but we enjoyed the grounds, a very atmospheric garden, and of course the 15th century castle.
We enjoyed a long weekend trip to Seoul South Korea, a bit chilly in February, but quite enjoyable. It was interesting to see American chain restaurants in certain parts of town, and old palaces and castles in the next. We visited only the most touristy attractions and parts of town, as we did a fair amount of clothes shopping during the trip, and very much would like to get back to hike...
This was part of my first (and so far only) guided photography tour. This was close to the last location we stopped at in our winter tour of eastern Hokkaido. When we were about to pull into the empty parking lot just after sunrise our leader spotted a fox walking down the middle of the road in front of us. I still had all my gear packed up from the night before,...
While planning for our trip to Borneo and learning more about the clouded leopard there, I came across another type of leopard that is critically endangered, the Far East Leopard (aka Amur Leopard). It lives in an ever decreasing area now centered around the boarder between Russia, China, and North Korea.After doing a lot of research I decided that an organization called The Phoenix Fund was doing a lot of great work...
