I, on the other hand, tossed and turned for most of the night, caught in a classic camping dilemma: to breath fresh air or to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Making friends as an adult is incredible hard and like finding a life-partner, a solid adventure buddy is a needle in a hay stack. However, a few months ago I found one named Jess.

Since arriving in Washington State, I had admired Koma Kulshan, Mt.Baker, from across the Sound. My dad and I spoke often about doing a guided climb with the American Alpine Institute.

On our way back to Seattle, after climbing Loowit, we made a quick detour to visit Tahoma.

We were alone for the first few miles of the trail, but as we broke out of the trees a conga line of headlamps belonging to those farther up the mountain was revealed.

A short and sweet collection of photos from a family day hike on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

After our muffins and the first round of coffee, we took a nice morning stroll around the lake. The water was crystal clear and small trout gulped at the surface, unbothered by our presence.

Back in Chimborazo's National Park, while waiting for the bus to take us back to Riobamba, the two other people also waiting for the bus had mentioned Cajas National Park.

Northwest of the city lies Chimborazo, the highest volcano in Ecuador and to the Northeast, El Altar with many multi-colored lakes surrounding it.

The Quilotoa Loop: A three day trek through the Ecuadorian Andes and country side, hiking from hostel to hostel along a loosely defined route that concludes at the Quilotoa Laguna, an insane crater lake.

This hike was no joke. Once at the base of Ruku Pichiucha, we hiked around the jagged rock top towards the back of the ridge where a path leads to the top.