Heckel's Adventures

October 14th started with a long journey beginning at the Boise International Airport and would end in Chiang Mai Thaland 26 hours later. Susan, our WWE (Wild Women Expeditions guide) met Ann, Krista, and I at the airport and brought us to our accomodations. We had a suite reserved for the night and were looking forward to stretching out after sitting up for so long. The 13 hour time difference was sure being felt by this time. Rachamankha Boutique Hotel turned out to be a gem! We had wonderful accomodations in that huge suite for Ann, Krista, and myself. It was definitely spendy and we could see why. Day 1 of our WWE adventure wouldn't begin until just after 4PM, so the 3 of us set about town after a nice sit down breakfast with amazing Thai coffee and the best gluten free bread that I have ever tasted. We explored the Budhist temple near our hotel then set around old town a little and stumbled on another temple to tour. We had Pad Thai shrimp for lunch for uner 40 thai ...

Day 1 Hobbs lake 6.75 miles Great camp with shelter after scouting a while Storms at 230 and wicked wind and thunderstorm 1045-midnight Day 2 Hobbs lake to island lake with full packs Scouted a site Set up camp Had lunch Day hiked with lighter packs to Titcomb Basin Dug a big hole Day 3 Day hike up Indian pass trail stopping at 11100 at Upper Indian Pass Lake Storm clouds building with early lunch Got back to camp just in time to shelter from a thunderstorm Day 4 Early start at 750am and had thunderstorms plague us for most of the day. Didn’t make it to elbow lake as planned due to risk of thunder at the pass. Set up camp at lower Jean Lake. Day 5 Another early start at 750 Mostly sunny day, long day to make up for a shorter day 4 Had lunch at summit lake Found camp at trapper lake 12.5 miles Day 6 Another good start though most of us had either blisters or hot spots A ton a down hill today making it worse on the feet Took a nice break so Anita ...

The High Uintas Jen and I first went into the High Uintas together in 1999! Back then, we were rained and thunderstormed out from summitting King's Peak. Our hope this year was to see some new territory of the Uintas while also being able to summit King's Peak. I arrived to Moosehorn campground on the western edge of the Uintas at 0830 the morning of Friday August 5, 2022. There are 33 no reservation campsites at this location in the Uintas. I got one of the last 3 remaining camp sites at that time. We had a great spot, decent level location for the tent, decent spot to hang a tarp in preparation for the rain. Jen arrived that night, so I was able to settle into camp and take the occasional refuge from the rain. I also drove back to town at one point due to forgetting to pack a camp chair, found some GF snacks, and also some cider. We had a great little dinner and drinks at camp after another bout of rain. On Saturday August 6th, we did a long dayhike of 12 miles re...

2021 Girls' Trip to Colorado Our hiking team included: Mary (me - ID), Ann (ID), Jen (MN), Lora (MN), Anita (MN), and Krista (MO) The expected altitude for the Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop is no joke with four mountain passes all around 12,500 ft. in elevation, so our preparation included arriving to the Aspen area for some day hikes for acclimation. American Lake Day Hike Lora, Anita, Krista, Mary, and Ann at American Lake Our first day hike on Aug 2, 2921, was to American Lake out of Aspen.  We left early due to the recent rain fall and forecasted rain for the afternoon.  Our starting altitude was near 9,000 and we climbed to  bird looking for handouts 11,400.  I started to experience altitude symptoms at 10,000 promptly, despite living at 2,700 and doing numerous altitude training hikes in ID.  My symptoms were primarily nausea, lightheadedness, and a mild headache.   I later realized I was a bit dehydrated, and this didn't help my body's effort to accl...