Sunrise in the mountains, is almost always a special treat – more so when the weather reports were wrong – with a prediction of rain. Blessed with another special morning, I couldn’t help but snap a few pix before breakfast. But before saying goodbye to Rifugio Averau, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful morning and try again to get to Rifugio Nuvolau. And we were not disappointed. The skies were continuing to clear, offering some unusual backdrop, especially

This was our last day of trekking – saying goodbye to the Dolomites and the Alta Via 1 and returning to our home base in San Vito. Today’s trek, while not especially long, a bit over 8.5 miles, had nearly 4,200 ft elevation loss – LOTs of downhill. We had been in a shared bunk room at the Rifugio, fortunately, just us and one other trekker – so overnight noise wasn’t an issue. As with all the others, the Rifugio

As is our custom, our travel plans included some time in “the front country” – away from the trails and the woods – though we might not quite call what we’d enjoyed anything like the back country of New Hampshire. Spending time in civilizations and exploring other areas of the world are always enjoyable. Since we were already in Northern Italy, we had heard great things about the Istrian Peninsula – part of Croatia on the Adriatic. Our time off

Breaking a bit of our tradition for active vacations/holidays – this adventure, to celebrate a milestone birthday, was more tranquil, but no less breathtaking in natural wonder. We traveled to St. John, US Virgin Islands. The island itself isn’t very large, not much more than 10 miles across. We’d found a cute villa on a hillside on the “sleepy” side of St. John – overlooking Coral Bay. It’s an island, so pretty much if you don’t bring it there, you’re

Our last full day in New Zealand was spent in Te Anau, following our few days in Milford Sound, and on our way back to Queenstown for our departure from NZ. Unlike the point-to-point routes of the Milford and Routeburn tracks, the Keplar track is a 3-4 day, roughly 60km loop with a trailhead not far from Te Anau. We knew we couldn’t do the whole loop, so we decided on a section, heading southward or clockwise on the track.

After our morning hike/walk around Lake Alta, we wanted to get out and stretch our legs a bit more. This walk was a great option. And while it’s name suggests something small, compared to say, Queenstown Mountain, or Queenstown Summit, this walk amounted to about 1500ft elevation gain over about 2 miles – not insignificant. As we’d been experiencing, NZ had many “big bang for the buck” hikes – Queenstown Hill was no exception. The trailhead was literally in a

After the torrential rains and winds we experienced the day before, we were blessed with another beautiful day as we left Milford Sound. Packing up and saying goodbye to the area, we headed out, stopping for one final look at the tunnel separating what felt like serenity from the rest of the world. Shortly afterward, we arrived at the trailhead parking area and got geared up. Heading out, we see, surprise, a bridge and stream crossing! As we’ve been coming

This was our first full day in New Zealand – and while we’d been on the other side of the world for a few days already, we were still a bit off. Even so, we wanted to get out on the trail – and this trek had a starting point which was within walking distance from our AirBnB (remember, driving in NZ is different – we were still getting the swing of that left-side-of-the-road thing, so it really wasn’t something we wanted

Early research showed this was another track with some stunning photos – listed as one of the best day hikes.    Located only about an hour north of Queenstown, just outside of Wanaka, this would be our first significant drive on the left-hand side of the road – and our first venture out into the country-side. We were blessed with another day of cloudless skies and moderate (70’s) temperatures.  As we’d come to learn , our first few days in

After a few days centered in Queenstown, we wanted to branch out a bit – try to experience some of the famed Great Walks of New Zealand. Nearest to Queenstown is the Routeburn Track, typically a 3-4 day point-to-point trek which makes its way through the Humboldt mountains. The plan was to begin at the Routeburn Shelter trailhead, north of Glenorchy, make our way to the Routeburn Falls hut, and return on the same path – roughly a 12 mile