Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Way back last August, I joined a couple of friends (Craig and Alex) to do a 7-day backpack trip through the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness on the Montana-Wyoming border (just north of Yellowstone). The landscape exceeded expectations by a wide margin, and I'll be going back. Way back last fall I shared photos of the dayhikes I did while acclimatizing. The night before the backpack was to start, we three met up at a campground in the area, to finish packing and planning, and hit the road early. We had to set up our car shuttle (for a one-way hike) before we could start walking. Since our exit trailhead was kind of 4WD, I wouldn't be going there, and so took my time on the drive to the put-in and enjoyed the amazing Beartooth Pass highway. Some of the twisty bits climbing the east side of the pass. The pass is more like a summit, and when you get there, you are definitely in the alpine, at 11,000'. One of many scenic lakes along the west side of the pass.   What with all the ...

Last week I started sharing the photos from this amazing trail in the Icelandic Highlands. Here's the next installment, where the weather turned... Icelandic :D Laugavegur Trail Day 2   (Sept. 7): Hrafntinnusker Hut to Alftavatn Hut You remember that lovely view from the hut from the previous evening, right?   Conditions in the morning were... changed. The wind was coming up, the mist turning to rain, and it was clear a) why the tent sites have rock walls around them, and b) that I was really glad I'd chosen to stay in the huts. From the start I was wearing my rain gear, my camera optimistically still on the shoulder strap though under its cover. Spoiler: that didn't last long. Within half an hour, the wind and rain had both picked up, I'd stowed the camera, put on the poncho (with a lot of tucking to keep it from flapping, and the rest of the day took cell phone photos. Despite the conditions (and inability to see the mountains that surround the caldera through which ...