Happy February!!!
I hope you are all staying warm this time of year. This winter in Virginia has vacillated between extreme cold and 70 degree days, sometimes within a matter of hours. I’m used to weird midwestern weather growing up in Illiana, but I swear it followed me when I moved.
Soon will come the dawn of spring, and with it…HIKING SZN!!! My hiking hibernation these past few months has allowed me to cook up all sorts of plans for 2024. I figured it was a good time to come back to the blog and give an update on some of the trips I will embark on. It’s going to be a big year, with a few bucket list trips thrown in. I am counting the days until I can lace up my trail runners and head back out to the wild.
Author’s Note: Listed below are a few of my most anticipated trips for 2024. They are not the only ones I am doing, but merely the ones I have already planned and gotten reservations for. During the course of the year, I will probably hike a few more smaller trips that I don’t have on the calendar yet.
May
Grand Canyon Rim-to-River-to-Rim – My last trip of 2023 was the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike of the Grand Canyon. A water pipeline break forced me to reschedule my Phantom Ranch reservations. I was lucky enough to be able to reschedule them for May 2024. My friends, Nick, Ethan, and Ryan will be joining me just like last time. This trip won’t be as ambitious, as we are only going to do South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch to Bright Angel Trailhead. It will be a much shorter hike this time, but I’m sure just as grand.
Havasu Falls – Since I was coming back to Grand Canyon, I figured I would try and extend my adventure. Arizona has no shortage of beautiful recreational areas. Last month, I entered the presale lottery for the notoriously hard-to-get camping reservations at Havasu Falls. To my suprise, I was successful!!! Upon leaving the South Rim, I will drive roughly 3 hours NW to the Havasupai Native American Reservation. Once I check in I will hike 4 days through the incredible blue waterfalls of the Grand Canyon. I am also planning on hiking to the confluence of the colorado river while there.
September
Presidential Traverse – This one has been on my to-do list for some time. As I wrote about in my Grandfather Mountain post, I cancelled it last year due to severe weather. The Appalachian Mountain Club was very generous by letting me reschedule my Lake of Clouds Hut reservations to September 2024. I cannot wait to finally take on one of the most challenging hikes in the country.
October
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – Being a born and bred midwestern boy, it is high time I take myself back to the heartland and prove that it’s more than just cornfields. My friends and I will be heading to the upper peninsula of Michigan to hike approximately 40 miles of the Lakeshore Trail. For 4 days, we will be walking through striking fall foliage, along cliffs, and over beaches overlooking Lake Superior. In addition, Pictured Rocks is one of the few places in the contiguous US where it is possible to see the aurora borealis.
So there you have it, hopefully the stars will align and I will be able to hike all of these wonderful places. Of course, some things are out of my hands, so I will be ready to call an audible if needed.
As always, my trips will be detailed right here on my blog, and I look forward to sharing them all with you. I can’t say enough how much it means that people actually take the time and read my writing. I started this to help others plan their future hikes, and I appreciate all the questions and feedback I have gotten.
Happy hiking!!!