Technically it’s still summer, but for me, my summer ‘21 road trip is over. Not going to lie, it’s really nice to be home and able to sleep in my own bed, but I do miss being on the road already!
It was an awesome summer, and honestly every stop on the trip was fantastic. I’ve already been asked a few times what my favorite stop was and I honestly can’t really choose a favorite. Yosemite, Glacier, Mammoth, Leadville, and all the others honestly did live up to and exceed my expectations!
While the summer was awesome, there were one or two low points. Near the end of the trip, outside Glacier National Park, I nearly had a serious accident while driving. Going down the highway at about 55 mph, I had three lug nuts sheer off due to being improperly tightened when I got new tires earlier in the summer.
Fortunately, two of the lugs held, and I can honestly say my car saved me that morning! So all things considered, the situation turned out about as well as it could have considering I was doing 55 mph on a rural, mountainous, two lane highway through a forest in the mountains.
Disappointingly, I wasn’t able to hike as much as I had wanted to in Glacier and in Washington, and my last two weeks I spent about as much time dealing with mechanics as I did on trail. The costs are being reimbursed, but it’s still disappointing I wasn’t able to hike as much at the end.
Nonetheless, I got to do a lot of awesome hiking. I’ll lay out all of the numbers here, but I don’t think anyone will say I didn’t get out on the trail enough!
Before I get to the numbers, to preview what’s coming over the coming weeks and months from Top Down Lifestyle, we will have tons of content coming! I’ll be writing up all of the hikes I did as well as destination guides, top hikes lists, and more! Stay posted for all of that, and interspersed among that will be hikes and other things we’re doing more recently!
Some Stats:
Total Miles Driven: 8,617 miles
Total Miles Hiked: 355.2 miles
Total Elevation Gained While Hiking: 74,980 feet
States Driven Through: 9
National Parks Visited: 5
Bears Seen: 1
Moose Seen: 5
Coyotes Seen: 1
Times Rained On (hiking): 1
Times Rained On (driving): 1
Total Days: 65
Nights Spent Backpacking: 1
Nights Spent Car Camping: 30
Nights Spent In Hotels: 7
Nights Spent Hosteling: 14
Nights Spent With Friends/Family: 12
14ers: 4
Mountain Summits: 9
Mountain Lakes Swam In: 1
Steaks Eaten: 7
Mechanics Visited: 5
Longest Hike: 19.4 miles
Most Elevation Gain: 4629 feet
Here are my best answers to some common questions I get!
What’s the best hike you did?
Tough one, but I’d probably say the Yosemite Grand Tour. By far the toughest hike of the summer, but includes the best scenery in one of the best hiking spots in the world!
What’s the best place you visited?
Really hard to say because I enjoyed them all. Glacier has become my favorite national park, but I didn’t really get to hike there much. Yosemite is incredible and I spent a couple weeks there. Colorado was great. Honestly can’t choose one!
Biggest Surprise?
Hiking in Mammoth. I knew it would be good, but some of the best hiking I’ve ever done was right from my campsite in Mammoth!
Hardest Hike?
The Yosemite Grand Tour is by far the hardest hike on paper, but for some reason I really wasn’t that tired until the very end. I’d probably say the Freel Peak, Jobs Peak, Jobs Sister loop totally worked me and was probably the toughest.
Best Drive?
I would probably go with Going to the Sun Road in Glacier, but there are a few other ones that are really close. The Beartooth Highway, Million Dollar Highway, and Sonora Pass were all awesome drives.
Biggest Lowlights?
Definitely my wheel almost falling off on the highway, but I also sprained both my ankles at various points which sucked, and the smoke in Colorado really roughed up my lungs!
Detailed write ups are coming so stay tuned for all of the details! If you don’t already, follow us on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with all of our updates!
Heres a few more pictures!
