On a freezing February day in Minnesota, it feels good to think about upcoming travels to warmer places. Today, I’ve been assembling digital and print maps. As usual, my winter trip has several phases, each with its own mapping requirements. The trip starts in the Florida Keys and culminates in a walk from one side…… Continue reading Mapping My Next Travels
Category: Move
Bone-Chilling Day
Walked past a University of Minnesota heating plant on a sunny, bone-chilling day.
Snow Falling on Sculpture
On my walk, snow was falling on Gold Medal Park.
San Francisco Hike
A 7-hour hike around San Francisco was our antidote for jet lag. At the Pacific Ocean, fog probably rendered this camera obscura ineffective.
Geodetic Marker
On our Waiheke Island hike: a geodetic marker, with Auckland visible in the distance. We’re spending our last two nights in New Zealand on this island, a 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland.
Snapshots: Whanganui National Park
Today, a jet boat brought us back to a world with Internet and roads. Three days earlier I maneuvered our rental car along a narrow, winding road, avoiding recent rockfalls. At Pipiriki, New Zealand, a jet boat came to take us up the Whanganui River, through a vertiginous gorge, to the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge. Thursday…… Continue reading Snapshots: Whanganui National Park
Clouds and Small Things
Walked towards clouds, looked at small things.
Snapshots: Egmont National Park
New Zealand’s North Island has three national parks: Egmont, Whanganui, and Tongariro. On this trip we selected Egmont and Whanganui, two of New Zealand’s less-visited parks. We’ve spent two days hiking Egmont’s lovely trails, with two more days to go. Saturday January 6 9:50a Wellington Central Railway Station, Platform 9 (Bus) 12:10p Palmerston North City…… Continue reading Snapshots: Egmont National Park
Easing Back
Egmont National Park, Day 2 of 4. After yesterday’s Big Climb, we eased back and hiked lower-altitude forest tracks starring numerous waterfalls and furry trees hosting mosses and epiphytes.
Hiking on All Fours
Clambered, sometimes on all fours, over volcanic scree to reach this hut at 6,450 feet. We turned around at the hut and rode the scree back down. We’d need ice axes, crampons, and the skill to reach the summit of Mount Taranaki at 8,261 feet.