Old Trips Remembered: A Dangerous Combination

This 2024 update has focused on trips in the “Way-Way Back Collection”

What do you get when you take a retiree, a computer, thousands of slides and a film scanner? In my case, you end up with a collection of blog posts that chronicle trips from decades ago.

I don’t do this expecting acclaim for the trips since they really weren’t anything special. One thing I learned from the travels is that there are lots of people doing what I did and MORE. I do this mostly for myself. I haven’t compiled my recollections anywhere else and I expect that as I age further, I’ll need a way to stimulate the pleasant memories of past trips. Hey, I spent a lot of money and time on these trips and all I have left of them are the photos and memories, I might as well get some enjoyment from both.

I am not so disciplined as to start with my first “trip” (a hike to Annette Lake in 1968, as it turns out) but will post trips in a scattered fashion. The dates of the trips will jump around but I’ll try to keep them in order by jiggling with the blog entry post date as best I can.

Trips before 2007 are hosted on this blog site while trips 2008 and later are hosted on our MV Alpenglow blog site. Since this site journals old trips and events while the Alpenglow site collects more recent activities, I thought that distinction made sense.

I’ll probably keep this blog entry the first one displayed so there is some context set for the individual trip posts that will follow. As I enter the detailed post associated with a trip, I’ll convert its title to a hyperlink and add a date (e.g., 2/15/2015) that I uploaded the post. That way, if you come back to the blog later, you can at least see what was most recently posted.

The Denali Series

Between Marcia & myself we have six different trips to Denali. Fortunately, we each have a successful summit ascent. Mine was on the first trip I did and Marcia’s was on her last.

1981 – South Buttress Traverse (Kurt) (2/15/2015)
1988 – Muldrow Traverse (Kurt & Marcia) (2/18/2015)
1989 – West Buttress (Marcia) (2/12/2017)
1992 – West Buttress (Kurt & Marcia) (2/26/2016)
1993 – West Buttress (Marcia) (3/5/2015)
2003 – West Buttress (Kurt) (2/17/2017)

Foreign Travel

A collection of overseas trips that includes climbing, trekking, kayaking and general touristing

1982 – Huascaran/Peru (Kurt) (3/4/2015)
1983 – Makalu II/Nepal (Kurt) (3/8/2015)
1984 – Everest/China (Kurt) (3/11/2015)
1985 – Mexican Volcanoes/Mexico (Kurt & Marcia) (2/25/2015)
1987 – Aconcagua/Argentina (Kurt & Marcia)(2/21/2018)
1990 – Patagonia/Chile & Argentina (Kurt & Marcia)
1994 – New Zealand Kayak Trip/New Zealand (Kurt & Marcia) (3/16/2017)
1999 – Annapurna Circuit/Nepal (Kurt & Marcia) (2/28/2017)
2000 – Baja Weekend/Mexico (Kurt & Marcia) (3/5/2015)
2001 – Baja Kayak Trip/Mexico (Kurt & Marcia)
2004 – Africa Safaris/Africa (Kurt & Marcia) (3/16/2017)
2006 – Baja to Seattle Positioning Cruise (Marcia)
2007 – Norway Coast Cruise/Norway (Kurt & Marcia)(2/21/2015)
2008 – Antarctic Cruise/Australia & Antarctica (Kurt & Marcia) (2/21/2015)
2019 – England Coast to Coast (Kurt & Marcia) (9/25/2019)
2019 – Crossing the Pacific and Australia (Kurt & Marcia) (12/26/2019)

Trips Closer to Home

A collection of trips in the United States (and occasionally Canada) that includes climbing, hiking, kayaking, skiing and bicycling.

1987 – Yellowstone Ski Trip/Wyoming (Kurt & Marcia)
1991 – Yellowstone Ski Trip/Wyoming (Kurt & Marcia) (3/2/2017)
1992 – Yellowstone Ski Trip/Wyoming (Kurt & Marcia) (3/2/2017)
1995 – Queen Charlottes Kayak Trip/British Columbia (Kurt & Marcia) (2/24/2015)
1996 – Gates of the Arctic Ski Trip/Alaska (Kurt & Marcia) (2/24/2015)
1997 – Gates of the Arctic Ski Trip/Alaska (Kurt & Marcia) (2/20/2018)
1998 – Bryce & Zion in January/Utah (Kurt & Marcia) (2/20/2018)
1998 – Grand Canyon Hikes/Arizona (Kurt & Marcia)
1998 – Clayoquot Sound Kayak Trip/British Columbia (Kurt & Marcia)
1999 – Grand Staircase-Escalante/Utah (Kurt & Marcia) (3/9/2015)
1999 – Deer Group Kayak Trip/British Columbia (Kurt & Marcia)
1999 – SE Alaska Ferry Trip/Alaska (Marcia)
2002 – Grand Canyon Float Trip/Arizona (Kurt & Marcia) (3/6/2015)
2003 – SW Road Trip/Utah, Colorado & Arizona (Kurt & Marcia)
2005 – Canadian Maritime Cruise/Nova Scotia (Kurt & Marcia) (3/21/2017)
2006 – Alaska Cruise/Alaska (Kurt & Marcia) (3/20/2018)
2007 – BC Coast Cruise on MV Dragontail (1st boat) (2/21/2015)
2008 – RAGBRAI Bicycle Ride/Iowa (Kurt & Marcia) (2/21/2015)

The Way-Way Back Collection

This section collects my first outdoor and backpacking trips. I have lots of slides from that period but they aren’t well organized nor are my memories very complete. I thought it best to memorialize what I can recollect somewhere safe, like here.