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TrailGroove Blog

A Blog by the TrailGroove Team

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Entries in this blog

Trips

Backpacking in the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness

November tends to be a dead zone for Colorado hikers. It's too early for skiing or even snowshoeing in the high country. But cold temps and the threat of blizzards are present even if the snow is lacking. Most backpackers sit out the month, maybe catching up on their favorite trail magazine. Not all Colorado is high country and 14er's though. Out beyond the West Elks, the Uncompahgre Plateau runs from the Utah border 60 miles southeast down to the edge of the San Juans. Elevations range from 400
HappyHour

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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

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

Sierra Serenity: Hiking the Theodore Solomons Trail

You’ve no doubt heard of the John Muir Trail, justly known as one of America’s premier hiking trails. Perhaps you have even hiked it (if not, put it at the top of your hiking bucket list). But the JMT is not the only long trail through the heart of the Sierra Nevada. Just 10 miles to its west, the Theodore Solomons Trail parallels the JMT. Starting at Horseshoe Meadows south of Mt. Whitney, it bears west over the Kern drainage, turns north to Mineral King, then keeps to the west sides of Sequoia
HappyHour

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Trips

Backpacking the Tetons: Grand Teton National Park & More

Memories can be painful and happy. As I drove through the darkness past the national park boundary near Moran Junction, I reflected a bit on my last trip to the Tetons. In June 2001, my Boy Scout troop took a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and during that trip we backpacked one night up Granite Canyon. I know it was my first backpacking trip outside of Colorado and maybe my second or third backpacking trip ever. Two distinct memories pop out from that trip. I remember how beautiful the mou
tmountainnut

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Trips

Backpacking to the Summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado

Pikes Peak soared above Colorado Springs as we drove towards the downtown area. As an ultra prominent peak, and one of the easternmost peaks in Colorado, it is easily visible for hundreds of miles on a clear day. The east face of the peak is massive, and the east face route of Pikes Peak, known as the Barr Trail, was our objective this weekend. The weather looked great except for the wind, which fortunately was coming out of the west, meaning the mountain would be our wind-block most of the trip
tmountainnut

tmountainnut in Trips

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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

A Manistee River Trail Hike: Manistee National Forest

After a weekend hike on the Manistee River Trail loop, we were left with an interesting impression. While not a true wilderness experience, the trail has a unique feel that only the Michigan backwoods seem to offer. Quiet and remote, hiking the trail feels a bit like travelling back in time. The map shows that several roads will be crossed, but none are paved or graveled. Most are nothing more than wide, almost forgotten paths through the forest that see little use. It feels as though you’re wal
Aaron Zagrodnick

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Trips

The Grand Canyon: Hiking the Hermit Trail Rim to River

Reasoning that I’m not getting any younger, I decided recently that the Grand Canyon was something I needed to do before I no longer could. Such a decision, by its very nature, triggers some urgency. And “doing the Grand Canyon” meant, for me, a rim-to-rim hike. But as I began to navigate Grand Canyon National Park’s backcountry permit system, I realized that actually hiking the hike might not be the hardest part. Obtaining the necessary permit for camping within the canyon on a multi-night
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 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

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

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

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

Section Hiking and Backpacking Along the Ouachita Trail

I hear the wind approaching as it moves up the ridge. No other sound breaks the night's long silence, not even the rustle of a possum in the undergrowth. It is early autumn in a year of drought; perhaps the lack of water at this elevation keeps the critters away, which suits me fine. We took care to hang the bear bag high off the ground, regardless. Why tempt fate? I drift off, awakening later to an unmistakable sound a few feet away. Zzip! Opens the tent. Zzip! Closes the tent. It is Mary,
Susan Dragoo

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Trips

Canyons & Creeks: Backpacking the Rogue River Trail

I turned up the heat in the car at the trailhead. It was a chilly, near freezing November morning as we finished getting our gear ready. There was a sense of excitement. As I hoisted my pack, I could feel the not-so-gentle protrusion of the solid kitchen frying pan in my back. I knew it would be worth it. I carefully left my key in the car in the prearranged location, hoping that the arranged transportation would deliver it to the end of the trail as planned. There were three of us: a good
Eric

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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

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Trips

Hiking Chilnualna Falls & Beyond: Yosemite National Park

Tromping to the beat of my trekking poles’ clickety-clack against trailside stones, I notice perched on a low boulder ten feet away a yellow-bellied marmot, slothful and only superficially interested in the approach of my dad and I. Nozzle pointed heavenward, sniffing our advance, the marmot scuttles under his rock as we pass, unhurried, only to reemerge as soon as we hike several paces beyond. Looks like a giant hamster coated in grizzled cinnamon with a gold spackle gut. I snap a picture.
Daniel Anderson Jr

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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

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

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

Hiking the Escalante of Southern Utah: Colors & Canyons

It’s a land of seemingly infinite slickrock and canyons, anchored by the Escalante River and its tributaries. The landscape’s intense colors are dominated by red and ivory sandstone and accented by brilliant green cottonwoods and willows along the waterways. In the deep slot canyons, the reds take on shades unimagined…maroon, purple, and indigo. Easy it’s not. Exceptional, it is, and worth every ounce of effort for the experience. Within the massive Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Susan Dragoo

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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

Backpacking North Cascades National Park: A Smoky Trip

After the landscape itself, the memories made with companions, and the wildlife seen, the weather is usually one of the most memorable parts of a backpacking trip. Bluebird skies, sideways rain, scorching heat, unexpected inches of snow – these are often the things which come to mind when reminiscing on trips where weather was either a blessing or a curse. In much of the West, another weather phenomenon also has an outsized influence: smoke. Even if you’re hundreds of miles from an active wildfi
Mark Wetherington

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Trips

Hiking the Greenbrier Area of the Great Smoky Mountains

Hiking along the Ramsey Cascades trail in the Greenbrier region of the Smokies, my good friend and hiking partner Mark, froze in his tracks. “Bear!” he said in the loudest whisper he could manage. There was indeed a large, dark mass about 40 yards up the trail and was difficult to see what it was doing in the low, dappled light at the end of the day. Not sure it was a bear, we walked forward a few steps and soon discovered the large black bear wasn’t moving, but turned out to be a shadow of a ne
DustyD

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