The Klamath Range is one of my favorite areas in the country. Top shelf mountains, remote communities, and beautiful drives, I’ve been drawn to this area for some time. I’ve visited a handful of times for peakbagging and though I cycled through last year, I’d missed an area I really wanted to explore on a bike. I’d originally planned on a longer ride this trip but for various reasons settled on the core of my interest. I started a 100-mile loop from Etna, cycled downstream along the north fork of the Salmon River through Sawyers Bar, turned upstream along the south fork at Forks of Salmon, and looped back through Cecilville and Callahan. It was a peaceful and gorgeous ride, the biggest challenge being cold nights and two 3-4000ft climbs. A relatively casual and satisfying three days.

Before and after the ride I hiked and scrambled a handful of summits in the area, the most notable being Boulder Peak, Deadman Peak, and Monument Peak. I saw just one pair of hunters on Monument Peak but otherwise no one else. Great peaks and a nice time of year to be out here.

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.