With the exception of 2024, I’ve made it to Montana every year since 2020, one of my favorite places. 2023 was an especially memorable year for peakbagging out there, and in 2025 I cycled through as part of the Great Divide. This year I had a quick outing in Washington before heading to the Bull River Valley to meet with friend Thomas Schaffnit. We’d met up at Bad Medicine campground before hiking Snowshoe Peak in 2021 and wanted to return. This trip we met up with other campers, hiked O’Brien Peak, checked out Cabinet Mountain Brewing and Kootenai Falls. I then hiked Berray Mountain before making the drive back to WA to catch my flight. Fingers crossed I’ll be back in 2027…

This was a 4-day backpack to climb Red Kaweah. At 13821′, Red Kaweah has been recently resurveyed as the tallest of the Kaweahs, a premier subrange in the Sierra Nevada. These peaks are not easy to reach, my route from Mineral King involved hiking over two passes just to get to the base, and required 32 miles and over 13000′ gain for the roundtrip. Originally I’d planned on a second peak but circumstances forced a late start my first day so I defaulted to breaking the approach into two days. Views of Black Kaweah made the trip worth it – shorter but more technically challenging than Red Kaweah, certainly of the most badass peaks in the ConUS.

This was a special trip to Utah to share some of my favorite places with my Mom. We visited Zion, Bryce, and Capitol Reef National Parks. She had no idea what to expect and was blown away by Zion. On the way to Bryce, she didn’t understand why we were going there, but once at the viewpoints she wanted to stay longer. Near Capitol Reef, we stayed at the Cathedral Valley Inn (a place I’ve wanted to stay for years) and went as far east as Factory Butte. Factory Butte is one of my favorite formations and I wasn’t sure what she’d think but she loved it. We picked apples in Fruita on our way back west and stopped in Vegas for dinner with my aunt and cousins on the way home. I’ve spent a lot of time in southern Utah over the years, sharing some of it with my Mom made for an extra memorable trip.

Pictures are from a climb of Mt Shuksan, an uber-classic climb in Washington’s North Cascades. The ascent involves a pleasant trial approach, easy glacier crossing, and a steep rock scramble on an impressive summit pyramid. This is my 146th of 147 mountains in the lower 48 with 4000ft of prominence.

After finishing the HPS list way back in 2019, I’ve been neglecting this area and this trip confirmed what a mistake that’s been. I carried my overnight pack up to Tahquitz Lookout, then scrambled over a few peaks along the ridge heading east, taking in great views of the desert divide. After camping in Skunk Cabbage Meadow that night, I continued north then east for some good scrambling over Divide and Landells Peaks, then looped back to Tahquitz Lookout before hiking back down to my truck. A satisfying weekend. Peaks included in this loop: Tahquitz LO, Tahquitz East, Grey Tahquitz, Red Tahquitz, Divide Peak, Landells Peak, Cinega.