Author: intrepidrover
Port Douglas: Where Rainforest Meets Reef (Revisited)
I returned to Far North Queensland at the end of October, the day after our Great Ocean Road drive, stepping off the plane in Cairns into the familiar hot, thick, tropical air. Fifteen years had passed since my first visit to Port Douglas, and it felt like a real treat to return—this time with my… Read more →
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Our Great Ocean Road Adventure
We set out from Melbourne on a rainy day—not exactly auspicious—but that didn’t dampen our spirits. Our goal: a 3.5-day drive along one of the world’s most scenic coastal roads, the Great Ocean Road. Along the way, we were lucky enough to spot kangaroos, koalas, platypus, and little penguins. You can watch all our wildlife… Read more →
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Barefoot in Fiji: From Shark Dives to Manta Rays
From the moment I knew I’d be traveling to Australia for my sister’s wedding, I was looking at a map, trying to determine how many unvisited countries I could squeeze in. Booking via Fiji Airways and taking a long layover on one of the islands before heading to Melbourne seemed like an obvious choice. Several… Read more →
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Frog Lake Huts: A Unique Overnight Escape in the Tahoe Backcountry
Castle Peak Trailhead > Donner Lake Rim Trail > Warren Lake > Red Dot Trail | 6.5 miles one-way | Elevation gain: 1,556 feet I’ve been lucky enough to do a bit of hiking in Europe, and one of the things I’ve enjoyed most is the hut-to-hut experience. Being able to travel longer distances through… Read more →
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The Inca Trail and Beyond: A Pandemic-Era Journey in Peru
I was taking a writing class this past semester and decided to reach into the past to resurrect our trip to Peru and render it on the page as practice. The trip was just under three weeks long, but we managed to go from the Andes to the Pacific, seeing major highlights of the country.… Read more →
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A Taste of Lima: Peru’s Culinary Capital
If the week leading up to our arrival in Lima had been focused on history, archaeology, and hiking, with a sprinkling of food thrown, the next several days in Peru’s capital would be about nothing but the food. In San Francisco, my introduction to Peruvian food had been through La Mar, the first U.S.outpost of… Read more →
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Between Past and Present: A Stroll Through Cusco
After completing our Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu and returning to Ollantaytambo by train, we hopped into a van arranged by Amazonas Explorer for the 50-mile drive to Cusco, where we would be spending the next two nights. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1983, Cusco was the capital of the Incan Empire until… Read more →
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Machu Picchu, Minus the Crowds: Hiking the Inca Trail During the Pandemic
INCA TRAIL HIKE Only a few hundred meters to go and we’d reach Warmiwañusqa, or Dead Woman’s Pass. At 13,828 feet above sea level, it would be the highest point of our hike. My breathing was labored, but steady, as my lungs sucked in as much oxygen as possible with each inhalation. I could feel… Read more →
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Urubamba: The Heart of Peru’s Sacred Valley
Before the Inca Trail, we spent days exploring Urubamba and the Sacred Valley — from the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo to the salt flats of Maras, Moray and the colorful village of Punamarca. Read more →
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Tackling the Trans-Catalina Trail: Our Last Big Hike of 2024
We closed out the year with a Christmas backpacking trip on the Trans-Catalina Trail — a blissfully crowd-free adventure on one of Southern California’s most underrated hikes. Read more →
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