It’s still technically summer, but my summer road trip is done and I am back home! While I love being on the road and exploring the beautiful places in our world, it is certainly nice to be in air conditioning and sleeping in my own bed!
The trip was fantastic and every stop was great, and revisiting places I’ve been before while pushing myself harder and further than I’ve been before was great. Summiting some of the largest mountains in Tahoe, doing multiple huge hikes in Yosemite I wasn’t fit enough to do before, and pushing farther in Mammoth were all awesome.
On the flip side, I explored some amazing new places that I had not visited before! In particular, I finally explored the Pacific Northwest in depth for the first time. I had never hiked in the Oregon Cascades, and exploring the mountains around Bend was a great introduction. Technically, I had been to Mt Rainier before, but spending real time doing real hikes in Mt Rainier and Olympic was an awesome way to finally see some of the best of what Washington has to offer!
Really top to bottom it was a great trip, and I realized that I made it home for the first time with no major health issues or car issues! Last summer my wheel half ripped itself off my car and I had plantar fasciitis, two years ago I had food poisoning, and three years ago a tire blew out on a desert highway in Utah! Nothing bad this summer was great!
However, there were some lowlights. My attempt to summit Mt Shasta was unsuccessful due to dangerously strong winds. I got a bit sick for a few days, and faced some brutal heat and humidity in the Pacific Northwest, but really nothing bad happened!
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! We’ll also have local Bay Area stuff coming out as well so stay tuned!
If you don’t already, follow us on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook to keep up with all of our updates!
The Numbers:
Total Miles Driven: ~6000
Total Miles Hiked: 344 miles
Total Elevation Gained While Hiking: 82,805 feet
States Driven Through: 4
National Parks Visited: 3
Bears Seen: 0
Elk Seen: 0
Moose Seen: 0
Coyotes Seen: 0
Times Rained On (hiking): 0
Times Rained On (driving): 2
Total Days: 53
Nights Spent Backpacking: 1
Nights Spent Car Camping: 34
Nights Spent In Hotels: 6
Nights Spent In Hostels: 5
Nights Spent With Friends/Family: 7
14ers: 0
Mountain Summits: 13
Mountain Lakes Swam In: 1
Steaks Eaten: 3
Mechanics Visited: 1
Longest Hike: 19.6 miles
Most Single Day Elevation Gain: 4,885
Highest Elevation Reached: 12,332 feet
Here are my best answers to some common questions I get!
What’s the best hike you did?
The Palisade Glacier Trail. Even if you only went halfway to the glacier, you would still reach the first two Big Pine Lakes which in themselves are incredible. Add onto that great start an incredible glacier, big time scrambling, and 14,000 foot towering peaks and it was an incredible day.
What’s the best place you visited?
This is always a tough one because I choose cool places, so there are never really bad destinations on my trips. That being said, Yosemite, Mammoth, and Mt Rainier definitely stood apart as the truly world class places I visited this summer. I think top to bottom Yosemite and Mammoth are better than Rainier, but if you’re looking for one single view or mountain to look at, Rainier might be it.
Biggest Surprise?
I had a couple of surprises this summer. A pleasant surprise was the almost complete lack of smoke for the entire trip. My last day in California there was a bit of smoke coming from Yosemite, and once or twice in the Pacific Northwest I could see smoke on the horizon, but it was never a real issue. An unpleasant surprise was near record heat paired with high humidity in Washington. It got seriously hot the last week or so I was there!
Hardest Hike?
Strictly by the numbers, the High Divide Loop in Olympic National Park was by far the hardest hike of the summer. Nearly 20 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing! However, it never really felt all that difficult, the climbing was pretty gradual and spread out, and it was mostly shaded. The hike that felt the hardest was the 1,000 Island Lake Loop outside Mammoth. “Only” 18.4 miles and 4,100 vertical feet, but we were truly exhausted and dehydrated by the time we finished!
Best Drive?
The best driving of the summer came in and around Mt Rainier National Park. The combination of incredible views, warm but pleasant temperatures, and relative lack of traffic made it truly enjoyable driving.
Biggest Lowlights?
I honestly don’t think I had any true lowlights. Certainly nothing was as bad as my wheel ripping itself off my car like last summer, and I didn’t have any serious injuries. The biggest disappointment was not being able to summit Shasta. Our original plan was cut short due to incoming storms, but on our summit day, we found that brutal wind had moved in much earlier than we expected and forced us back down the mountain. I was super bummed at the time, but I’m already planning my next attempt at the mountain!
Detailed write ups are coming so stay tuned for all of the details!
Here’s some more pretty pictures!
