Two lakes for the price of one: that's just one reason among many that Isthmus Peak makes a wonderful day hike. Isthmus Peak is a great alternative to the iconic, wildly popular Roy's Peak. Both of them are challenging hikes involving a great deal of climbing, and both treks reward hikers with dazzling lake and mountain views. I waffled between the two hikes because we only had time for one, ...
new zealand
Stunning New Zealand Day Hikes: Lake Marian, Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park is well-known as one of the gems of New Zealand's South Island. Teeming with day hikes and backcountry alike, beauty is tucked away in every turn of its untrammeled wilderness. Lake Marian is located just off the Milford Road, a bit more than an hour of gorgeous driving north from the town of Te Anau. The official distance for this hike is 4.4 miles with just shy of ...
Glamping in Wanaka
Although I'm always up for adventure and outdoor time, there's something about camping that has always scared me off. The combination of sleeping outside on top of the logistical challenges of backpacking has always been enough to scare me off. But when I first learned that glamping (aka glamorous camping) was a thing, I was totally on board. While I was looking for unique lodging for our ...
Walking into Mordor: Tongariro Alpine Crossing + Mt Ngauruhoe Summit
You know that Lord of the Rings meme where Boromir says "one does not simply walk into Mordor"? Well, I simply walked into Mordor. When I was a teenager, I was a huge Lord of the Rings nerd. I read The Silmarillion. I had an Elvish translator app on my computer (both Sindarin and Quenya, thanks). There's a mildly embarrassing picture of me posing with my Sting replica in front of my ...
Our New Zealand Honeymoon: The South Island
As promised, I'm back with the second half of our honeymoon adventure through New Zealand! Day 6 was our first full day on the South Island. In case you missed the first half and our NZ shenanigans, you can see what we were up to on the North Island in this post. Day 6 | St Arnaud → Haast Early the next morning, I woke up with the sun and walked down to the dock at Lake Rotoiti. ...
Our New Zealand Honeymoon: The North Island
After our wedding in Yosemite, we boarded a plane for the second leg of our adventure: New Zealand! I started dreaming of visiting New Zealand when I was a young girl, so I couldn't have been more excited to take this trip. When we first started talking about honeymoon destinations, we both had NZ high on our list, but we thought it would be too expensive. Once we looked into it, we realized ...
