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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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  • Aaron Zagrodnick 239
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Entries in this blog

Trips

Section Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: A 40 Year Hike

It was 105 in the shade at my brother's house near East Los Angeles. Smoke from a foothills fire browned the sky while rolling blackouts swept through the city, defeating the air conditioning, closing restaurants, leaving us to swelter without benefit of even a fan. Darkened traffic lights made the already horrible traffic impossible. We left LA at dawn, escaping north on US395, heading to the southern terminus of the Sierra Nevada at Walker Pass. We had taken this road forty years ag
HappyHour

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Trips

Hiking and Photographing the Zion Narrows

Words fail and even photographs fall short of doing justice to the incredible Narrows hike in Zion National Park, especially in the fall. The Southwest US is a treasure trove of world-class locations to hike and photograph, but the Narrows has to be at or near the top of that list. It’s hard to imagine a blue-green river lined with golden cottonwood trees and soaring canyon walls glowing fiery red all around you. Surreal and otherworldly are about the only words that come close to describing the
DustyD

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Trips

Hiking the Grand Canyon: Hermit's Rest to South Kaibab

Winter had been especially harsh, even while living in the mild climate of Colorado’s Front Range. Multiple subzero nights had made me tired of the cold, longing for a warm retreat. As good as a tropical vacation with white sandy beaches sounded, I felt the need to get out and get dirty in the desert. I had backpacked into the Grand Canyon a year before in the spring of 2013, but it was an unplanned trip, and I had been very lucky, grabbing a walk-in permit for Bright Angel Campground.
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Trips

Desert Paradise: Backpacking Capitol Reef National Park

I have never been inspired to do a multi-day trip from an overlook, but that was before Capitol Reef. In May of 2013, I took my dad to southern Utah for a road trip. I was still recovering from surgery, limiting myself to merely driving. On our way home, we drove the Burr Trail, a scenic backway through the heart of Capitol Reef National Park, and on the map I saw a point called Halls Creek Overlook. We decided to drive out of our way to see it, and I was blown away by the scale that could be se
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Trips

The Escape: Hiking Fish and Owl Creek Canyons, Utah

The desert is full of little gems, and again I was off to explore another little nook in the wide expanse of the Colorado Plateau in Utah. As I headed south on U.S. 191, passing through the sleepy towns of Monticello and Blanding, my headlights cut through the darkness of the night-shaded road. I was on another unplanned road trip, fueled by my need for some space and nature therapy after having a typical week in the city. After car camping for the night I awoke the next morning to my
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Trips

Hiking the Canyons & Trails of Southern Utah

Canyons are compelling for reasons I rarely consider on a conscious level. Like no other terrain they attract me with an intrigue born of curiosity and an underlying sense of danger. The potential for flash floods, snakebite, falls, and losing my way brings an edge to the experience of walking a path between walls of stone, not knowing what’s around the next bend – this is the essence of a canyon. Slot canyons compound the appeal – their narrow, sinuous heights enclose me as I probe their depths
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

To the Basin: Backpacking the Trinity Alps Wilderness

I sat with my face squished against the passenger-side window, trying to get a better view of the toothy white summits jutting above the western horizon. Driving south on Interstate 5, Mount Shasta hardly seemed worth a glance compared to this jagged range I hadn’t even realized existed. Pulling up Google Maps, it didn’t take long to identify the range. A quick search brought stories of rugged traverses of knife-edge ridges and lakeside campsites ringed by granite cliffs. Looking back at the sno
mgraw

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Trips

Thru-Hiking the John Muir Trail: A Day in the Life

The first light of morning begins to stream over the mountains, through the tree’s canopy, and into your tent. These mornings were welcome, as seeing the sun’s morning glory while still bundled up warmly inside your tent was actually a rarity on the JMT. More often than not, however, you’re confronted with the unenviable task of rising to the dark, cold blanket that lies heavily on your campsite before the sun’s rays have the chance to lift it off. Chilly mornings thicken the blood and slow
Tucker Ballister

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Trips

Hiking The Subway in Zion: Trip Report & Bottom-Up Guide

Imagine standing in a circular tube of smooth stone around 30 feet high with emerald green pools of water at your feet and golden, glowing light shining through the entrance of this natural wonder. This would be the destination of the Subway hike in Zion National Park. Especially during the fall color season of early November, the Subway hike should be on your short list. You’ll need to be prepared for a rugged, backcountry day hike that requires some route finding but the rewards are quite high
DustyD

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Trips

Hiking the Trails of the Pioneer Mountains: Take Two

When a trip has great scenery, plenty of lakes with nice-sized trout, and hardly any crowds it seems to be worth repeating – even if that means leaving some other destinations on my “places to hike list” for another year. Fall weather had arrived – and with snow already falling in the high country (but fortunately not sticking in most places, at least not yet), I found myself getting rather anxious about which trips to wrap up the backpacking season with. Internal discussions about prioritizing
Mark Wetherington

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Trips

A Hiking Guide to Historic Fire Lookouts in the Cascades

Washington's Cascades have an unfriendly reputation. Unlike the Rockies and Sierra, whose alpine basins and gentle saddles allow for easy travel, the Cascades are a maze of serrated ridges and deep, heavily-forested valleys containing swift-flowing rivers. While miners built high roads in Colorado in the 1800s that now service trailheads, most Cascades trailheads are in valley bottoms barely above sea level, deep in the dense coastal forest. The crux of a climb is often escaping 4,000 feet of ve
seano

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Trips

Backpacking the Highline Trail: A Utah High Country Hike

5am – July 4th 2013 – “What am I doing?” pops into my head before getting a few hours of sleep. The previous night entailed 8 hours of driving to shuttle my car to the end of Forest Road 43 in the middle of nowhere. After leaving it in darkness on the far eastern slope of the Uinta Mountain Range, we switched cars and drove another five hours to reach our destination. My GPS showed that I was over 55 miles away from where we had left the car, but I knew the trek to get there would be closer to 8
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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Trips

Northern Rockies Gold: Hiking in Search of the Fall Larch

The Rocky Mountains provide hikers with countless opportunities to immerse themselves in backcountry areas filled with quintessential landforms. Majestic mountain peaks, sublime subalpine lakes, waterfalls, glaciers, and wildflower-filled meadows come immediately to mind. Rolling high-altitude plateaus, cascading mountain streams, and fragrant forests of dense conifers are also key contributors to this enchanting landscape. Somewhat surprisingly, there are even some natural arches scattered acro
Mark Wetherington

Mark Wetherington in Trips

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Trips

Hiking the Amazing Oregon Coast Trail: A Report & Guide

Years ago, Governor Tom McCall of Oregon had a strange idea: he wanted to make all the beaches of Oregon open to the public, as he felt that the beaches belong to the people of Oregon. Now 382 miles of state trail exists from California to Washington along the beaches of Oregon, over headlands, through state parks and Federal land, and as rights-of-way over private land – some of the most beautiful country the state has to offer. Most of the trail is along the beach or along maintaine
David Cobb

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Trips

Backpacking the Enchantments: Alpine Lakes Wilderness

With names like Gnome Tarn, Dragontail Peaks, and Aasgard Pass, you’d think I’d stumbled into a land of Norse Sagas. But instead I walked through a land of water and granite surrounded by the fall color of subalpine larch. The Enchantments are a small section of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in northern Washington’s Cascade Range. This is a land of high valleys and beautiful aqua-marine lakes, all lying under the ever-present view of Prusik Peak. While an Enchantments hike can offer rew
David Cobb

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Trips

Introduction to Hiking the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness

The Anaconda Pintler Wilderness is an overlooked gem in the state of Montana. It doesn’t have the notoriety of a Glacier National Park, or the iconic awe of “The Bob” (as in the Bob Marshall Wilderness), but it has the solitude and grandeur of some of the best wilderness the west has to offer. Lying in the vicinity of Butte, Montana, but closer to the copper-smelting town of Anaconda, this wilderness is part of the spine of the Rocky Mountains and also encompasses a 45-mile stretch of the Contin
David Cobb

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Trips

Hiking in Solitude: The Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming

The snow began to fly even before I put on my hiking shoes, but wasn’t this still August? It was, but any mountain range worth its salt was going to have snowfall in August, and this seemed to be the norm for me backpacking in Wyoming. Besides, I’d rather have snow than rain any day, and these colder temps meant only one thing: the death to millions of mosquitoes! Rugged terrain and a scenic waterfall in the Bighorn Mountains. A Backpacking Loop in the Cloud Peak Wilderness
David Cobb

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Trips

Hiking the Goat Rocks Wilderness of Washington State

The Goat Rocks wilderness is located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of Washington, between the Mount Adams wilderness and Mount Rainier National Park. The remnant of an old volcano which stood at over 12,000 feet is now an area of alpine scenery with many peaks over 8,000 feet. The wilderness contains 105,000 acres and I’ve hiked through this area a few times before, but recently I made a trip into the backcountry to camp and walk a bit of a wilderness trail loop. The protecti
David Cobb

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Trips

To the Chinese Wall: Bob Marshall Wilderness Backpacking

There’s a geologically interesting Chinese Wall that’s not in China. It is part of the million-plus acre Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana and consists of a 15-mile, 1000-foot cliff of limestone that runs north to south along the Continental Divide. The last time I hiked along the base of the wall was in mid-June during my hike of the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. That time I post-holed through 4-12 feet of snow, so I wanted to return in nicer climes and for the opportunity of bette
David Cobb

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Trips

Hiking through Rubies: Backpacking the Ruby Mountains

Recently I set out to explore the Seven Devils Wilderness in Idaho and walk a 27-mile loop through those mountains, but a large fire in Hell’s Canyon diverted that plan at the last minute. The Ruby Mountain Wilderness of Nevada had long been on my “to do” list, and this seemed like a good time to change plans and head south. The Rubies were misnamed in the 1800s during the gold rush, when a group of army explorers thought they’d found a range filled with rubies; instead they discovered only
David Cobb

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Trips

Hiking and Backpacking During Wildflower Season

Nature has a rhythm. The snows covers the landscape in winter. There is beauty to be found, but the beauty is a cold, ethereal one. A landscape with a palette of a few colors. Green trees, white snow, brown grass, gray rocks, and blue skies. But then the snow starts to melt. The mountain streams grow from a bare trickle to a steady flow and then become a raging torrent. The birds are making their morning calls more frequently. Old man of the mountain wildflowers gracing the high count
PaulMags

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Trips

Thru-Hiking the Hayduke Trail of Utah & Arizona

Something is evoked in people when they envision hiking in the Southwestern United States. The unique and remote terrain triggers that wanderlust for exploration in remote and untouched places that few travel. There is that excitement and fear of the terrain and elements mixed with the calm and clarity of the scenery. In the late 90s, two men who had a great affinity for the Southwest, Mike Coronella and Joe Mitchell, wanted to do something that would encourage more to venture to those hard to r
Wired

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Trips

Going Long: Skiing Around Oregon's Crater Lake

One-by-one we traversed the narrow cut in the cliff, careful to lean to the right in case we slipped – the steep drop-off on our left plunged over a hundred feet to the valley floor. The sun had already set behind the western Cascades, painting the sky a burning red but leaving our trail in rapidly increasing darkness. That we were struggling to remain upright on our cross-country skis on even the slightest descent made each step even more nerve-racking. By the time we traversed the top of the c
mgraw

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Trips

Backpacking and Hiking Jargon: Shoulder Season

In backpacking circles, shoulder season refers to the time of season between the full peak (summer) and off season (winter) hiking periods. Shoulder season timing varies by region. In the fall, warm care-free summer days are gone and likely replaced by crisp, but often pleasant shorter days with nighttime temperatures calling for that warmer sleeping bag you may have stashed away for the summer. Sudden cold snaps aren’t uncommon, and in many parts of the country, you can encounter significant sn
Aaron Zagrodnick

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Trips

Short and Sublime: Day Hiking the John Muir Wilderness

If you’re traveling on California Highway 395 along the striking escarpment on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada south of Yosemite and looking for a high-elevation hike deep in the heart of the mountains, but you only have a day or less, various roads off the main highway take you up to trailheads between 8,000 and 10,000 feet quite easily and quickly where you’re immediately immersed in stunning alpine scenery. For example, out of the town of Bishop, you can take Highway 168 stra
Madeline Salocks

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