The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 7 – Backpacking through Lone Star Geyser Basin & Travels Home
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 6 – Backpacking the North Shore of Shoshone Lake & Shoshone Geyser Basin
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 5 – Backpacking to Shoshone Lake
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 4 – Old Faithful, Black Sand Basin, & West Thumb Geyser Basin
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 3 -Amphitheater Lake Hike in Grand Teton National Park
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 2- Paddle Boarding on String & Leigh Lakes in Grand Teton National Park
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
The Grand (Mis)Adventure: Day 1 – Laramie to Grand Teton National Park
“The Grand (Mis)Adventure” is a blog series chronicling my fourteen-day-turned-seven-day adventure in July 2025 through the rugged, awe-inspiring northwestern corner of Wyoming. From hiking and backpacking along the Continental Divide to paddle boarding on alpine lakes and camping under the stars, I’ll be sharing the highs, challenges, and misadventures from my summer vacation that didn’t…
My weekend at summer camp: Wyoming Becoming an Outdoors Woman 2025
The last (and only) time I attended a summer camp was for Girl Scouts in 1992… my last memory is of the leech-filled lake at the Chimney Park Boy Scout Camp that victimized those who dared enter it, along with horrendous smelling vault toilets. Needless to say, I was overdue for some fonder summer camp…
Wyoming Hiked: Lake Louise
No, not the famous Lake Louise that is in Canada… this is the gorgeous Wyoming version! 😀 It feels great to go back and accomplish a hike that I did not finish in the past. In August 2020, I had tried to hike to Lake Louise in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness near Dubois after a failed…
Two Girls Roving: Days 15 & 16 – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument & The Journey Home
Two Girls Roving: The tale of a 16 day, 3522 mile road trip to the Pacific Northwest in celebration of my friend’s college graduation! Follow along for all the shenanigans through thousands of miles, eight National Park Service units, night after night of camping, and even some coastal backpacking! September 6, 2024 Whelp, the day…
Two Girls Roving: Day 1 – Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Two Girls Roving: The tale of a 16 day, 3522 mile road trip to the Pacific Northwest in celebration of my friend’s college graduation! Follow along for all the shenanigans through thousands of miles, eight National Park Service units, night after night of camping, and even some coastal backpacking! August 23, 2024 After nearly a…
Wyoming Hiked: Crystal Reservoir Loop at Curt Gowdy State Park
With over thirty-five miles of trails, Curt Gowdy State Park has plenty to offer for hiking, even though it seems like everyone just flocks to Hidden Falls. Hiking around Crystal Reservoir (one of two reservoirs at Curt Gowdy State Park – the other being Granite Reservoir) is a great loop that offers some flexibility with…
Cirque Du Sore Legs – 2023 Hiking Recap
In June 2023 my friend and coworker Janice made it a goal to become more active and start hiking. She roped in our other friend (and coworker) Taylor and myself into the shenanigans and a thing was started! Eventually by autumn we decided we needed a cool hiker gang name, and Cirque Du Sore Legs was born. Our…
2023 Adventuring Year-in-Review
In the past I’m not sure how I’ve felt about year-in-review posts, but I think of all years, it is needed for 2023 for personal reasons. It is so easy to get bogged down in the minutia and mundane of every day life that one forgets exactly how awesome things were! January For many years my…
Tour de Wyoming 2023
July 16-21, 2023 Had I ridden a bike much in 2023? Hell no. Mostly I’ve been off hiking or doing anything to avoid riding a bike, especially if it was not a mountain bike. The prospect of riding 350 miles in a six day period, therefore, was quite daunting, especially the two days of 6000…
Medicine Bow Peak Snow Climb
“Putting this out there for my crazy friends that own ice axes and crampons… anybody want to join me on Sunday for a snow climb of Medicine Bow Peak?” All good ideas start with a solid Facebook post to crazy friends, right? I normally climb Medicine Bow Peak at least once a year, and have…
Microadventure: Northern Lights Chasing!
Living at 41.14°N does not lend itself to many aurora borealis, or northern lights, sightings. All my times seeing them had been in Iceland, or en route to Iceland on the plane. So when a mega geomagnetic storm (coronal mass ejection) made it possible to have a KP index of 8 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on…
Wyoming Hiked: Gap & Shelf Lakes
I can’t say I’ve really explored this late in the year in the Snowy Range! Wanting to kick off my 39th birthday with some sort of hike, though being a day late, I headed up early to Lewis Lake Trailhead. Today I would explore a new-to-me trail to Shelf Lakes. This trail spurs off of…
Wyoming Hiked: Bridle Trail
I love after a day of meetings and work obligations being able to get outside somehow. Not all the places I am for work are great for it, but thankfully Casper is! Casper is Wyoming’s second largest city, and sits on the northern side of Casper Mountain, a large mountain that stretches west-to-east. Casper Mountain…
2022 Adventuring – A Year in Review
I’ve always seem to be here or there over the last decade, but damn, 2022 was a doozy! What a year, what a year!! Nine states (including the District of Columbia – new for me!). Thirty new National Park Service units. 52 Hike Challenge blown out of the water and completed months ahead of schedule.…
Under the Stars: My Guide to Camping in Yellowstone National Park
Last updated August 4, 2025 I’ve been lucky enough to spend seventeen nights over four trips camping within Yellowstone National Park, and it finally dawned on me that maybe I should write a little review of the campsites I have stayed at! You won’t see me calling this “the ultimate,” “most inclusive,” or “bestest ever”…
Falling for Grand Teton: Day 5 – Signal Mountain, Jenny Lake, & Moose
October 4, 2022 Well, “Falling for Yellowstone” would’ve been a strange name for an adventure day happening in Grand Teton National Park! The final day of adventure was here. We packed up the moist tent for the last time (it was a rockstar when it came to keeping us dry the entire trip!), and headed…
Falling for Yellowstone: Day 4 – Norris Geyser Basin, Mount Washburn, Mud Volcano, & Yellowstone Lake
October 3, 2022 The final full day in Yellowstone arrived as we crawled out of the rain soaked tent that was thankfully still keeping us perfectly dry inside despite being solidly drenched for four nights. It seemed like the precipitation was holding off, so we quickly packed up the wet tent as best as we…
Falling for Yellowstone: Day 3 – Mammoth Hot Springs, Wraith Falls, Tower Falls, Dunraven Pass, & Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
October 2, 2022 The weather was not willing to play nice during this trip to Yellowstone. Upon waking up to another chilly, rainy day with precipitation forecasted throughout the day, Eric and I took to debating the day’s itinerary I had planned. Ideally, we would be heading to Dunraven Pass to summit Mount Washburn in…
Falling for Yellowstone: Day 2 – The Geyser Basins
October 1, 2022 Allllll the hot water! This would be the day for main geyser basins of Yellowstone… the greatest concentration of geysers and hydrothermal features in the world. My geyser geek self would shuttle Eric through the Upper, Black Sand, Midway, and Lower Geyser Basins before the exhausting day was done! We didn’t even…
Falling for Yellowstone: Day 1 – Oxbow Bend, Colter Bay, West Thumb Geyser Basin, Riddle Lake & Lewis Lake
I needed one last big adventure for 2022, and some more time spent sleeping in a tent before the year was up. One thing I’ve been saying the last few years is I needed to visit Yellowstone National Park in the later fall season to see it with moody weather and a lack of people,…
A Quickie In Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Travelers to Wyoming tend to know/do the “big three”: the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Devils Tower. However, Wyoming does have a few additional National Park Service units that are worth exploring, and often with a fraction of the crowds! That’s right, Wyoming is home to seven NPS units, not including the National Historic Trails that cross-criss…
Wyoming Hiked: Roundtop Mountain and T Hill in Thermopolis
Thermopolis is one of my favorite little spots to layover during travel I have to do around Wyoming. This small town is home to Hot Springs State Park, a great place to explore travertine terraces up close, take a soak in thermal mineral waters, and hike in unique scenery. This trip through Thermopolis I decided…
Wyoming Hiked: Laramie Peak
Laramie Peak “is, at this day, covered with snow, which glitters in the sunshine like a diamond in the dark,” emigrant Dan Gelwicks writes in his diary – May 28, 1849. Treating emigrants to a view of its 10,275 foot summit for over a week as they made their way from western Nebraska into Wyoming,…
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument & Fort Laramie National Historic Site
Memorial Day weekend was approaching, and initially I had planned a trip through the Black Hills to knock out some National Park Service units in South Dakota and to hike the high point of that state. But after eleven days in Washington earlier in the month and just a busy overall month, I just lost…
Wyoming Explored: National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
You have died from dysentery. I’ve always been obsessed with the Oregon Trail, growing up in Wyoming and spending hours of my elementary school years playing on the game on those gigantic floppy discs. In fact, I credit my microbiology degree choice to the Oregon Trail game, as I was an overly curious (if not…
On Top of Nebraska!
On this episode of “Heidi stumbles into a random Saturday adventure…” we visit the highest peak in Nebraska! Okayyyy, “peak” may be overkill. Also, I’ve known about Panorama Point for awhile, and always planned on doing a 120 mile bike ride out there sometime from Cheyenne. But a December evening of playing around on Peakbaggers.com…
Wyoming Hiked: Turtle Rock Loop
What is an outdoorsy girl to do when its in the low 30’s, windy, and spitting snow? Hike, of course! It has been many years since I’ve done the Turtle Rock Loop at Vedauwoo, a spectacular place in the eastern Medicine Bow National Forest between Laramie and Cheyenne. I arrived to the ever-present wind, and…
Wyoming Explored: Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility State Historic Site
It’s interesting growing up and living with nuclear missiles in your “backyard.” I always known that southeastern Wyoming was loaded with them – it’s FE Warren Air Force Base’s job after all – the base is one of three strategic missile bases in the U.S. There was always that morbid knowledge that this region was…
Caldera Tales – Day 8: Steamboat Point, Lake Butte Drive, & Sylvan Pass
September 13, 2021 All good things must come to an end… my 2021 “big adventure” and my week of avoiding my “real life” was over and it was time to pack up camp and head back to the opposite corner of Wyoming – an eight hour journey! (Wyoming is big, and Yellowstone is NOT “in…
Caldera Tales – Day 7: Norris Geyser Basin, Ice Lake, & Little Gibbon Falls
September 12, 2021 Sadly my last full day in Yellowstone was here. To make up for the sunrise dud the day before at West Thumb, I was greeted with a spectacular sunrise as I made my way from my campsite at Canyon towards Norris Geyser Basin in the early morning hours. Seriously, I made it…
Caldera Tales – Day 6: Mud Volcano & Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
September 11, 2021 It rained overnight, and I strangely enough love camping in the rain (aside from packing up soggy tents). I woke well before sunrise, hoping to get out to West Thumb Geyser Basin for the sunrise. I was happy after days of record high temperatures the weather had turned more seasonal, and I…
Caldera Tales – Day 5: Lone Star Geyser, West Thumb Geyser Basin, and Yellowstone Lake
September 10, 2021 Time to pack up and move to another spot! After three nights at Madison, I was looking forward to new scenes and rejuvenating my energy for the rest of my eight day trip. I’d be heading south for a one night stay at Grant Village before heading up back north for a…
Caldera Tales – Day 4: Biscuit Basin, Mystic Falls, Black Sand Basin, & Upper Geyser Basin
September 9, 2021 I feel like I have to begin the blog for this day with a huge confession… I did not watch Old Faithful erupt on this trip. Whew, now that my confession is off my chest… It is geyser basin day! Chasing all the geysers, all day long! Naturally, I got an early…
Caldera Tales – Day 3: Sentinel & Imperial Meadows, Imperial Geyser, Fairy Falls, Fountain Paint Pots & Firehole Lake Drive
“The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.” – Teddy Roosevelt September 8, 2021 Another early morning and the bugles of nearby elk greeted me as I dressed in layers and boiled water for coffee and oatmeal. Today I had a BIG hike planned – in fact,…
Caldera Tales – Day 2: Osprey Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, & Artists Paintpots
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir September 7th, 2021 I have never smoked anything in my life, but I woke up feeling as if I (assumingely) smoked cigarette after cigarette all night long. The air quality was stupidly awful, and I rubbed my dry, scratchy eyes…
Caldera Tales – Day 1: Trout Lake, Lost Creek Falls, Petrified Tree, & the Lamar Valley
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir September 6, 2021… the day had arrived to head back to one of my favorite places ever, Yellowstone National Park. After spending five days/four…
Wyoming Explored: Biking Grand Teton National Park
I normally don’t discuss my cycling adventures on this blog, but it has been a long time since I updated! Too much work, too little adventuring! I did escape to Moab for a few days of national park exploring and mountain biking in May, but I am still working on those photos. So until then……
Wyoming Explored: Curt Gowdy State Park Hidden Falls – Winter Version
One of the more popular hikes in southeastern Wyoming, the ~4 mile hike to Hidden Falls in Curt Gowdy State Park is great all year around. However, in the summer (even more so since COVID19 hit) it is CROWDED. I much prefer solitude, so Hidden Falls in the winter months are my go-to for waterfall…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Days 7 & 8: Midway Geyser Basin, Jenny Lake, Hidden Falls, Colter’s Bay, and Granite Creek Falls
Day 7 – August 28, 2020 Sad, the final morning in Yellowstone. Hindsight is always something that can come into play, and looking back I would’ve done this day much differently and spent the night off in the national forest near the Hoback Canyon, but alas… hindsight is 20/20. It still wasn’t a bad day,…
Wyoming Hiked: Browns Peak Loop / Alpine Lakes Loop
Alpine Lakes Loop11.8 miles Back in September my adventure buddy, Lydia, and I headed up to the Snowies for a late summer season camping adventure. We didn’t quite bank on a foot of snow when we arrived to Brooklyn Lake, but we found a spot fairly sheltered from the wind and set up camp, ready…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 6: Fairy Falls, Black Sand Basin, and Upper Geyser Basin
Day 6 – August 27, 2020 The day of hydrothermal madness. The day I’d see something like 25% of the world’s geysers in a one square mile area, and the world’s largest concentration of hot springs. In other words, the geyser chase was about to get serious! It got stormy overnight, and I was awaken…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 5: Mammoth Hot Springs, Undine Falls, Biscuit Basin, Mystic Falls, and Lower Geyser Basin
Day 5 – August 26, 2020 Early mornings in Yellowstone are special. The cool temperatures create a steam-filled landscape that just puts me in the most special mood. I’m not a morning person at all, but I became a morning person in Yellowstone. Today would have me driving from Madison up to Mammoth Hot Springs…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 4: Artist Point, Norris Geyser Basin, Artists’ Paint Pots, Monument Geyser Basin, and Firehole Lake Drive
Day 4 – August 25, 2020 Today was the day that taught me early mornings are the key to a more enjoyable Yellowstone experience. I’m not talking about extreme early mornings, but getting to places at 7:30am greatly increases the positive visitor experience! I packed up and headed out of Canyon Campground with a mug…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 3: West Thumb Geyser Basin, Mud Volcano, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River
Day 3 – August 24, 2020 It’s Yelly-stone Day, it’s Yelly-stone Day!! Seriously, I’m not an early bird, but I sprung up out of my sleeping bag at 5am, ready to get the show on the road and head into Yellowstone National Park for the first time in 29 years. Volcanos! Waterfalls! Geysers! Bubbling mud!…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 2: Fitzpatrick Wilderness Hiking
Day 2 – August 23, 2020 Because I was unable to change my camping reservations on short notice in Yellowstone, I decided to kick it around the Dubois area for a day before heading into the park. I delved into researching hikes, and learned about Whiskey Mountain (11,1547 feet) and Lake Louise that were fairly…
Of Geysers & Waterfalls – Day 1: Popo Agie Falls
Day 1 – August 22, 2020 Ever wake up on the morning of a grand adventure, so darn excited?! That was me. Though I didn’t need to get an early morning start, I was still filled with anticipation. My grand 2020 adventure would take me to corners of Wyoming I had not visited in 29…
Next up… Yellowstone!
It’s been 29 years… but I’m finally going back to Yellowstone!!! You’d think living in Wyoming, I would’ve been to Yellowstone more than once. But people forget how large our state really is – I’m about seven hours and 400 miles away from the park, so it’s not just a weekend bop over to the…
Hiking Medicine Bow Peak
I’ve been up and down Medicine Bow Peak eight times since I was eight years old. Needless to say, it is my favorite place in the whole world. Medicine Bow Peak is the prominent peak of the Snowy Range mountains in southeastern Wyoming, and rises to an elevation of 12,018 feet (it was 12,013 for…
Wyoming Explored: Pole Mountain Camping
Sometimes you just have to get away, even if it’s just close to home and a quick trip to enjoy the longest day of the year on the Summer Solstice. This past spring REI put a lot of their tents on sale, so I pulled the plug and got myself a new tent, the Half…
Wyoming Explored: Como Bluff & Fossil Cabin
Wyoming Explored – my new blog series on unique things to see and do in Wyoming, which is my home. This is inspired partially by me wanting to see things I haven’t in 30+ years, and by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to me focusing on adventuring closer to home. I love dinosaurs,…
Planning the next adventure…
It goes without saying 2020 has turned into a year we’ve all been blindsided by. As a public health employee with a background in infectious disease, my entire adult life has been studying and preparing for pandemics, but it was still weird to suddenly find myself as part of one. Needless to say, life halted. …
The 50th Earth Day
Today is the 50th Earth Day, and what a wonderful place Earth is! But my heart aches for the suffering our planet – our home – is enduring. As anthropogenic climate change warms our oceans, melts our glaciers, endangers countless habitats, and brings more severe weather, it can make me feel helpless. The contiguous U.S.…
Throwback Thursday: Understanding in a plane crash on Medicine Bow Peak
I originally published this post June 2012 on my cycling blog. Decided to dig it out of the archives to share again with very minor edits! Because 7 years have passed, there could be some big changes to the crash site thanks to snow, weather, time, and humans. For some background… Flight 409 crashed…
Chasing Waterfalls & Adventures in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains – Day 4: Thermopolis and Kcymaerxthaere
“Do I really need my job, and do we really need to go home?” That was the theme of my morning as I struggled to wake up on the final morning of our Bighorn Mountains adventure. Y’all, I really struggled with getting up on this morning! Kubo jumped up, started preparing some coffee and sandwiches…
Chasing Waterfalls & Adventures in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains – Day 3: Porcupine Falls and Bighorn Medicine Wheel
Nothing like fresh mountain air to lure one out of bed on a Saturday morning in the Bighorns! Kubo and I cooked up some breakfast and coffee, and prepared for the day’s adventures. The previous night we watched headlights switchbacking up the mountain by our campsite, so we figured we needed to check out the…
Chasing Waterfalls & Adventures in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains – Day 2: Shell Falls and Paradise Falls
It rained a lot during the night, but there was a bit of sunshine when we woke up in the morning. But Kubo and I both had the feeling it wouldn’t last, so part way through preparing breakfast we decided to take a break and tear down the tent while it wasn’t totally wet. As…
Chasing Waterfalls & Adventures in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains – Day 1: Crazy Woman Canyon and West Tensleep Falls
A four day weekend that included me taking a rare single day off of work can only mean one thing… adventure time!! I didn’t want to stick around home while using a precious PTO day, so Kubo and I packed up Fozzy (my beloved Subaru Forester) and hit the road to northern Wyoming and the…
Workin’ my way around Wyoming – the bright side of work travel in this wonderful place!
To take my own spin on Dagobert Runes’ quote, “People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home,” replace the second people with places – it’s amazing how far people will travel to see things that they can see in their own backyards. I’m guilty of this,…
January’s Microadventure – Lunar Eclipse in Vedauwoo
What’s a microadventure? A microadventure is a short bit of adventure that is done close to home. The concept has been popularized by Alastair Humphreys, who frames it around the idea of being “small and achievable, for normal people with real lives” and with sleeping overnight outdoors. It doesn’t require airfare, or long road trips, specialized…
The Adventuring Heidi 