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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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Entries in this blog

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
Aaron Zagrodnick

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Trips

Hiking Grand Gulch & Bullet Canyon: A Magical Connection

It was gradual, the dawn of my understanding of Grand Gulch and its magic. Only five years ago, I rode a motorcycle right up the Moki Dugway, its dirt surface ascending in precipitous twists and turns, and traveled blithely across the gentle slope of Cedar Mesa, oblivious to the treasures hidden within its canyons. That changed with repeated visits to Arizona and Utah. Seeking new hiking destinations, I noticed an adventure guide offering a Utah backpacking trip and, through the itinerary, learn
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

Meadows & Ridges: Backpacking the Goat Rocks Wilderness

With excitement we awaited the arrival of the rest of our group. There would be five of us, friends and future friends, and a dog. The rain that had been drizzling throughout the morning was subsiding and turning to a lovely late August day in the Pacific Northwest. The forested trailhead was beginning to fill with vehicles as we waited patiently. It was near mid-afternoon by the time everyone had arrived, finished packing up, and were ready to hoist their backpacks and begin the uphill climb in
Eric

Eric in Trips

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Trips

Hiking, Backpacking, & Exploring Enchanted New Mexico

In the “must see” places of the outdoors, certain areas seem to garner the most publicity. All names that are found in glossy photos for post cards, magazines or coffee table books. Destinations any backpacker would love to, and should, see at some point. Places to be added to their memories and experiences of where they have spent time in the outdoors. But among these places cataloged, discussed and portrayed in glossy photos is a place of deep canyons, ancient Puebloan sites, high a
PaulMags

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Trips

Hiking to Owl Creek Hot Springs: An Idaho Overnight

Peaks, waterfalls, and lakes each have their own charm and allure, but there is perhaps nothing more appealing than natural hot springs as a destination for a late fall backpacking trip. It almost seems too good to be true – hike through beautiful scenery and then set up camp near pools of water as hot and comfortable as those you’d soak in at home. The Pacific Northwest, and Idaho in particular, are blessed with an abundance of hot springs, and many of them require a hike to access and are part
Mark Wetherington

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Trips

From Sea to Alpine: Backpacking in the Trinity Alps

Choosing a trail is often half the adventure in the scenic Trinity Alps Wilderness. The Trinity’s are somewhat like a wilderness island in northern California: to the east you’ll find Interstate 5 and the snow-capped volcanoes of Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen. To the west is the mighty Pacific Ocean and its rugged coastline. All the while to the north and south, wrapping the wilderness is an impenetrable green of mixed pines, woods, and streams isolating the Alps into its own serenity. Choosing
jansenjournals

jansenjournals in Trips

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Trips

Waiting for Daylight: Hiking the Ozark Highlands Trail

Nights are long on the trail in late October. The sun sets early and there we are in camp, 13 hours of darkness ahead. The camp fire – if we build one – provides amusement for only so long, and after hiking together all day there is little left for the four of us to talk about. We try to stretch the evening all the way to 8 o'clock but typically give up and retire to our tents by 7:30. Once inside my MSR Hubba, I use the light of my headlamp to review what the trail guide says about the miles we
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

Backpacking the Grandview Loop in the Grand Canyon

With age comes wisdom, or so goes the old adage. But, as any observer of the world can plainly see, that’s not always true. With age certainly comes knowledge, but whether that knowledge is converted to the making of wise decisions is, so to speak, a crap shoot. Hiking in the Grand Canyon offers an excellent example. First of all, it’s challenging business. For us to successfully descend to the bottom and return to the rim in good health, we would have to gain adequate knowledge but we'd al
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

Hiking the Donjek (Dän Zhùr) Route: Kluane National Park

The opposite bank is tantalizingly close, just a couple of meters away. In fact, it would be fewer than 10 paces on solid ground. Instead, we can only gaze longingly across the un-crossable, raging river that stands between us and the next section of our route. We are stuck on the west bank of the Duke River. It’s a crushing defeat. On a normal hike, this would be a mild inconvenience, but we are on day six of a backpacking epic that is far from normal. View of a scenic upland section
DKim and PatriciaV

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Trips

Hiking Goshen Prong in the Great Smoky Mountains

In this article, I’ll describe a beautiful hike that traverses both natural diversity and historical significance. This is a great candidate for a shuttle hike for a somewhat leisurely decent into a beautiful creek-side trek. The perfect day for me would be to camp with your hiking buddy at the Elkmont Campground. Get your coffee brewing good and early, leave one vehicle at the Little River Trailhead about a mile from your campsite, then head up 441 to catch the sunrise from Clingmans Dome. At 6
SparbaniePhoto

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Trips

Thru-Hiking the Colorado Trail as a Family

In 1996, when I was 22, my boyfriend, Curry, and I set off on the 471-mile Colorado Trail. Over nine grueling, awe-inspiring, and life-changing weeks, we hiked most of the way from Denver to Durango, only to be snowed out 60 miles before the finish by an October blizzard. Three years later, we returned to hike the final segment on our honeymoon. In 2016, exactly twenty years after we started that first CT hike, we hiked it again, this time with our three sons: Milo, age 15, and the twins, Z
AndreaL

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Trips

Backpacking in Yellowstone: The Cascade Corner

Waterfalls were perhaps the first natural landform that truly fascinated me. There was something about the phenomenon of water travelling so fast, so abruptly, and so seemingly endlessly that captured my attention in a profound way. I remember being amazed by them as a child during camping trips with my parents, with Cumberland Falls in Kentucky and Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee being the ones that made the biggest impression. As a young adult, I sought out waterfalls specifically during the bac
Mark Wetherington

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Trips

Backpacking the Loowit Trail: An Otherworldly Hike

Like most Americans who were raised in the East and born after the mid 1970s or so, volcanoes are something I associate with middle school science classes and dramatic pictures of Mount Saint Helens and its 1980 eruption. Even after I became enthralled with backpacking and natural landscapes after frequent trips to the sandstone wonderlands of the Cumberland Plateau and the forested slopes of the ancient Appalachian Mountains, hiking around a volcano seemed like a ludicrously exotic experience.
Mark Wetherington

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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

mgraw in Trips

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Trips

Sawtooths & Spires: Backpacking the Sawtooth Mountains

The people of Idaho know what a gem they have in the Sawtooth Range, but few people elsewhere in the world have a clue it exists. Recently my travels took me to Stanley, Idaho which lays claim to being the gateway to the Sawtooths, and from here it’s an easy drive to numerous trailheads in the Sawtooth Range. I have photographed this mountain range many times around its periphery, but this time I wanted to backpack through the heart of these mountains. With the help of a shuttle, who would shutt
David Cobb

David Cobb in Trips

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Trips

Backpacking to Russell Pond in Baxter State Park, Maine

Less than a mile up the trail and the space between my shoulder blades already aches. I’m regretting the overpriced mini tube of sunblock, which the dense trees and clouds have rendered unnecessary, the extra layer I threw in at the last minute, and my insistence on healthful foods that caused me to pack two pounds of green beans and carrots fresh from the garden, a jar of sunflower seed butter, and three loaves of German bread the size, shape, and weight of bricks. My last backpackin
AndreaL

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Trips

Views & Volcanoes: Backpacking the Timberline Trail

The Timberline Trail is one of the classic trails in America and is classified as a National Historic Trail. It was designed in the 1930s primarily by the Civilian Conservation Core. For about forty miles the trail circumnavigates Mount Hood, the highest mountain in Oregon at 11,250 feet. Staying near treeline, a hiker on this trail will experience lush forest, wildflower meadows, rugged canyons with glacial fed streams, and view after view of Mount Hood. Driving nearly 2 hours throug
Eric

Eric in Trips

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Trips

Ascending and Descending: Hiking the Wonderland Trail

Mt Rainier straddles the Cascade crest with a dry continental climate to the east and the luxuriant moisture of the Pacific Ocean to the west. The mountain’s geographical positioning coupled with its 14,410 ft elevation and 35 square miles of permanent ice and snow cover creates its own weather. The Wonderland trail is a 93 mile (150 km) circular loop trail around the mountain that traverses all drainages resulting in 22,000 feet of net elevation gain. Many seek the Wonderland Trail o
JimG

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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

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Trips

A Hike of Water & Sand: Backpacking Coyote Gulch, Utah

Water and sand, water and sand, water and sand – it’s been a few years since I visited the canyon country of Utah and I forgot about the mix of water and sand here that can permeate one’s hiking shoes. I should have worn sandals. I read about walking the wet canyon bottom, but I stuck with my hiking shoes anyway. This time I arrived to explore Coyote Gulch, a photogenic but crowded canyon which cuts across Grand Staircase National Monument and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area of south-ce
David Cobb

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Trips

Hiking Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness | Appalachian Trail

I’m no stranger to a new challenge. Two years ago, after two decades as a carpenter and building contractor, I took a chance and changed my life. Though sawdust runs in my veins and I’ve always imagined myself as a builder to the end, the only other profession I thought I might like is teaching. In October 2019 that notion became reality when I became an instructor in the Building Construction Technology Program at a local Community College. That’s when the challenge began. The idea of teac
Curry Caputo

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Trips

Into the Great White: Snow Camping on Mount Rainier

The Paradise area (5400') sits on the southern flank of Mount Rainier National Park in the direct path of winter storms coming off the Pacific. At 5,400 feet, it receives an average of 53 feet of snowfall a year, and a snowpack at the height of winter that can exceed 15 feet. A road is maintained to the Sunrise area throughout the winter, allowing direct access for day trippers, but also those wishing to snow camp. The road closes each night at 5 PM requiring an earlier departure from Paradise t
JimG

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Trips

The New Hardest Thing: The Trek to Everest Base Camp

Strong men and women are laid low by this place. Acute mountain sickness, the “Khumbu cough" (also known as the high altitude hack), gastroenteritis, the cold, the food...what makes them want to come here? What made me want to come here? Our friend Paul walks down the hall of tonight’s tea house, remarking on the sounds of hacking and coughing emitting from the guest rooms. “This place is full of crazy people.” And I can’t argue otherwise. I wondered, before I came to Nepal to hike to
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

Backpacking Royal Basin in Olympic National Park

I stood, breathless and exhausted, on the top of the divide, looking down at the pristine and untrailed cirque that lay ahead. My route bared before me, for a moment continuing on across the three passes that lay ahead seemed achievable. Then my eyes lifted to the glaciated massif of 7,600-foot Mount Mystery on the opposite wall of the basin, and my shaking legs sent an unmistakable message: I would make it no further. Olympic National Park offers hikers rugged terrain and stunning vi
mgraw

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Trips

Hiking & Exploring The Great Plains: Overlooked Wildness

The Great American Desert. The flyover territory. Flat. Boring. Uninspiring. All names or descriptions given to an area of North America that is five-hundred miles wide and two-thousand miles long. This area is The Great Plains. The Great Plains are arguably the most American of all landscapes. What people over the world often conjure up when the American West is thought about. The wide open spaces, the vast landscape and the sky above. Seemingly limitless. Extending forever. The Grea
PaulMags

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