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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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  • Aaron Zagrodnick 156
  • Mark Wetherington 36
  • Susan Dragoo 6
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  • George Graybill 4
  • Steve Ancik 4
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  • Grace Bowie 1
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Entries in this blog

Trips

Subalpine Splendor: Hiking in the Bitterroot Mountains

With so many places to explore in Montana, it might seem a bit strange to visit the same place for a second time – much less a third time. But one lake in particular has drawn me back to it three times over the last few years. My first visit to this lake was coincidentally my first summer in Montana. My eagerness for mountain scenery led me to visiting it so early (late May) that even though it had been a mild winter, the lake was still frozen over and although the scenery was magical I wasn’t a
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

October Alpine: Fall Backpacking in Montana

Among its many inimitable charms, prime backpacking season in the Northern Rockies is also unfortunately defined by a cruel brevity. Try to hike too early in the season and you wind up postholing through leftover snow, anxiously evaluating raging creeks for the safest place to cross, and camping near lakes still thawing out from winter – adventuresome, but not exactly ideal. A few weeks later and things are more amenable to backpacking, but bugs (especially the biting kind) become so numerous th
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Backpacking in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

“Crowded” at trailheads in national forests in Montana typically just means more cars than you can count one hand, thus providing a degree of solitude that backpackers in states like Oregon or Washington would envy. If a solo experience is what you’re after, it doesn’t take much effort to find great hikes where the chances of you being the only hiker on the trail are north of 90%. Needless to say, by and large hiking in Montana provides one with a high chance at finding solitude. With
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

A New Mexican Oddity: Hiking to the Paliza Goblin Colony

Even though this sounds like somewhere from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, it is indeed a place here on our Earth, in northern New Mexico. I had already planned a trip in May 2021 to see some New Mexican scenery, and this was right along the route, so I added it to the itinerary, and boy am I glad that I did! Leaving the somewhat boring highway, my hiking buddy Rod and I headed up into the Jemez Mountains where the colony is located. Climbing up higher into the hills, the scenery changed from dr
Steve Ancik

Steve Ancik in Trips

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Trips

Biking Going to the Sun in Glacier National Park

The early-season opportunity to bike portions of Going to the Sun in Glacier National Park without any automobile traffic seems too good to be true. Miles of paved road passing alongside streams rushing with snowmelt, climbing into the high country, weaving through lush forests – all behind a gate and open only to bicycles and foot traffic. I’ve done enough recreational road biking and bike commuting to develop a sincere appreciation of a smooth surface, hard tires, and minimal traffic through b
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Olympic National Park: Backpacking the Quiet Corner

From beaches to rainforests to glaciers, Olympic National Park provides hikers with access to a stunning variety of landscapes. Although I’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to do in the park’s 922,650 acres, I have had the privilege of soaking in its hot springs, swimming in its alpine lakes, and walking among the giant trees in its rainforest. The extensive trail network of Olympic National Park allows for memorable backpacking trips of all lengths, from overnight outings to week
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

A Winter Refresher: Backpacking at Chief Joseph Pass

Although I did several trips on cross-country skis and snowshoes that involved camping out in the Northern Rockies in below freezing temperatures for multiple nights, the past few years my definition of “winter backpacking” has either included a US Forest Service rental cabin with a wood stove or a plane ticket to southern Arizona. I still find winter to be a beautiful time of year and I enjoy the heightened elements of the season that seem so magical, but I just hadn’t hadn’t been motivated to
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Backpacking the Maroon Bells: A Shoulder Season Weekend

We shuffle off the bus and melt into a crowd of tourists, all headed for the perfectly framed view of the Maroon Bells surrounded by bright yellows and greens. Just a minute from the parking lot and we’re already sold on our three-day adventure. More commonly a four-day trip, the Four Pass Loop is one of the most popular – and most photographed – backpacking routes in the United States. The 28-mile trek takes hikers over four mountain passes, ascends and descends over 7,800 feet, and
SarahLynne

SarahLynne in Trips

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Trips

A Day Hiking Weekend in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

My childhood best friend moved to Akron, Ohio right after she graduated high school to attend the University of Akron. Being from Virginia and having lived there all my life, I had never really heard of the city aside from its connection to Lebron James (but even about this my knowledge was severely limited due to my lack of interest in basketball). That was seven years ago, and I realized recently that I still had yet to visit despite her open invitation. Feeling guilty and quite aware of how l
Grace Bowie

Grace Bowie in Trips

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Trips

Shenandoah National Park: Hiking Back East for a Change

It’s almost as if the Pacific Ocean is a magnet, pulling me west each time I venture out to explore. While I take full advantage of the natural wonders offered by my home region in the central U.S., if I am traveling very far to hike, it is usually somewhere west of Oklahoma. As a result, I have hiked very little in the eastern United States, though I’ve managed to walk short sections of the Appalachian Trail on trips to Vermont and Maryland. Not much to brag about. Recently, I was in
Susan Dragoo

Susan Dragoo in Trips

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Trips

Maine's 100 Mile Wilderness: The Narrated Video

As a follow-up to Curry Caputo's excellent Issue 52 article Of Life and of Maine's 100 Mile Wilderness, a story that details a family backpacking journey through the wilderness of Maine and to the top of Mount Katahdin, here is the full narrated, audio version of the story alongside video documenting the entire trip. You can read the original article here in Issue 52, and watch and listen to the video below:
Aaron Zagrodnick

Aaron Zagrodnick in Trips

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Trips

Summit Serenity: Climbing Mount Saint Helens

Sitting atop the summit of Mount Saint Helens, with views of over a hundred miles in every direction, a passage from a novel came to mind as I sipped a cup of coffee and gazed at distant peaks. Seemingly appropriate when applied to an exceptionally clear autumn day observed from atop a mountain, an experience that makes one feel full of life. It felt like the “most beautiful day in a thousand years. The October air was sweet and every faint breath a pleasure.” As Annie Proulx wrote in the book,
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Along New Mexico's Cabezon Road

I have been exploring interesting and scenic areas in New Mexico for several years. Often these visits have been at the beginning or end of longer trips to places farther west, so the visits are often just a day or so – much less time than the area deserves. I am especially intrigued by the so-called “badlands” of the northwest part of the state. These badland areas include several wilderness areas, including the better-known Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. I first drove down Cabezon Road to ride my
Steve Ancik

Steve Ancik in Trips

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Trips

Dayhikes in Harriman and Bear Mountain State Park

Living in New Jersey, I’ve hiked all over my state: from the northwest region of the Water Gap, to the New Jersey Highlands (and their frequent view of New York City), to the majesty of the Pine Barrens in the south. I have made infrequent forays into the bordering states of Pennsylvania and New York, hiking a trail or two in both Harriman and Bear Mountain State parks. This past Fall, looking for something a little higher, different scenery, and a little bigger, I decided to explore both Harrim
Greg Jansky

Greg Jansky in Trips

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Trips

Hiking the Mariscal Rim Trail: A Return to Big Bend

Last fall, my sister, Melissa, and I visited Big Bend National Park in west Texas (see TrailGroove #56). As we left, we decided that we needed to return in the spring – unfinished business! One of the main reasons was to hike the Mariscal Canyon Rim Trail, which we didn’t hike last trip as the temperature was going to be too high. While our previous trip (detailed here) involved more extensive hiking and some backpacking, during our latest trip, we hiked several shorter hikes and drov
Steve Ancik

Steve Ancik in Trips

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