spend little, work less, experience more
In spite of my not having worked the first three months of 2018 (against my will, for once), financially the Warckens crushed it last year. I didn’t start working until the first week of April, and just to show how much of a sugar mama I am, I made more in my first two […]
Read MoreNevada’s highest mountain, Boundary Peak, lies on its border with California in the White Mountains in the middle of the aptly named Boundary Peak Wilderness within Inyo National Forest. It’s elevation is 13,140 ft, depending on where you look, and it’s one of the more challenging peaks we’ve summitted so far. Not just physically, […]
Read MoreAfter Greg and I took 10 and 13 year breaks, respectively, from the grandest canyon on the planet, we went to bask in her presence again, “before it gets too hot”. Joke’s on us, it started snowing outside of Flagstaff and by the time we got to the South Rim it was 30°. The […]
Read MoreWe had real trouble finding information on hiking Hawaii’s tallest mountain- Maunakea (it’s all one word now) 13,796 ft- both online and in person once we were on the Big Island. We heard/read a lot of things – you can’t hike it in winter, there’s camping at the base, there’s a hut available to […]
Read MoreHawai’i is notoriously expensive but there are lots of ways to keep your trip reasonable, not limited to sleeping in your rental car, eating nothing but pb&js, and showering at public beach parks. PSYCH! Okay, we dabbled in those things. Greg and I just spent an awesome, like ready to move there, 8 days/8 […]
Read MoreFar, far away, in the northwest corner of Lake Superior, lies a little-known paradise known as Isle Royale National Park. Isle Royale is the largest island in the largest lake in the world and one of our most favorite places. It’s home to birch and maple, warblers and loons, and moose and wolves, which […]
Read MoreIt’s not that Greg and I don’t like to work, it’s just that we want to work on our terms, in between big chunks of time off. Since 2013 we’ve averaged just 7.8 months of employment a year, and that’s including {{{shudder}}} an entire year working full time. Side note: In that year we […]
Read MoreGreg and I love heavy pack, set up camp, snuggle all night in a cold tent backpacking, but having a roof over our heads in the backcountry is an unbelievable luxury. After we hiked the Laugavegur and Tour du Mont Blanc trails in 2016, I started researching other hut hikes around the world. And by […]
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When we were in Iceland last summer I saw ads for Air Iceland Connect with service to multiple destinations in Greenland and I thought “Boy, that sure sounds like a good time.” Then after we had such a great time on our Laugavegur and Tour du Mont Blanc hikes I started searching for other long-distance hut […]
Read MoreG.Hammer and I were married August 10, 2013, and spent our honeymoon backpacking through Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, then climbing Montana’s highest mountain, Granite Peak. We agreed then we should be in the backcountry for all our anniversaries, too. In 2014 we were backpacking in Glacier National Park and Greg surprised me by packing in his […]
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