Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Kachina Peaks
[slideshow_deploy id=’408′] Atop Humphrey’s Peak — Flagstaff, Arizona, the views are dazzling! Air loses 1/30th of its density with each 900 feet of altitude gained. At 12,643 feet we looked through air not just humidity free, but it had lost nearly half of its weight in oxygen and carbon dioxide. We gazed into the…
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Mount Roberts
[slideshow_deploy id=’401′] It’s just a three-mile hike up a well-marked trail to the 2,200-foot summit, but what you can see in this half-day above Juneau, Alaska! There are bald eagles and ravens soaring overhead; hoary marmots whistling up-down-and-around the mountain to one another; and if you go up in early summer (postholing a bit…
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Table Mountain
[slideshow_deploy id=’394′] One of the most recognizable mountains in the world, with its massive flattop looming over Cape Town, South Africa. For centuries Table Mountain has been a guiding landmark to mariners rounding the tip of Africa, the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Summit is 3,563 feet and first recorded ascent was…
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Mount Kilimanjaro
[slideshow_deploy id=’385′] Excerpt from my magazine article, “Red Dirt, Sweet Smoke and Kilimanjaro in The Moonlight”: “. . . At High Camp, during the rest of the day, we keep staring up at that steep, unrelenting Western Breach – an immense, exposed wall looming above you and weighing down continuously on your chest. We…
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Machu Piccu
[slideshow_deploy id=’377′] Blown away by the beauty of Peru! As far as High Adventure and Deep Native Culture, I put it right up there with Alaska and Africa!! Flew into Lima and then up to Cusco — quite an altitude jump from sea level up to 11,000 feet. Then took the most beautiful train…
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Mt. Rainier
[slideshow_deploy id=’366′] Looming above Seattle, Washington . . . Mt. Rainier at 14, 410 feet and with 27 glaciers is an arctic island in the temperate zone. Went for a week long Winter Expedition Seminar conducted by Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. to hone my skills for upcoming big mountain climbs. Under the expert leadership and…
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Le mont fleuri
[slideshow_deploy id=’357′] When talking with fellow travel writers invariably “The Most Beautiful Island in The World” comes up for discussion. Bora Bora (of soaring green peak and perfect coral-ring reef) is the snap-reaction-favorite, but then a glazed look melts jaded faces and “THE SEYCHELLES!” is stated with reverential awe — ascending not only to…
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Upper Dewey
[slideshow_deploy id=’352′] 3,000 feet above Skagway, Alaska, crowning The Dewey Lakes Trail System, is a lake cupped in a glacial couloir between soaring mountain peaks. The trail up is tree and bush-lined, so there’s always the sudden surprise of topping-out at the expansive lake, with swirling mist concealing and revealing the jagged peaks and…
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Ben Nevis
[slideshow_deploy id=’343′] While in Scotland in early October — three days after running The Inverness Loch Ness Marathon, decided to climb Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the British Isles, at 4, 409 feet. Turned out that the height wasn’t the challenge, but the severe weather. In researching the climb, I learned that the…
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Sossusvlei Dunes
[slideshow_deploy id=’335′] Think of Africa and you might envision vast herds of wild animals migrating across the Serengeti Plain or the Congo’s impenetrable green jungles interlaced with Tarzan’s vines. However, there is a place in Africa far off the known and beaten path — a stark, surreal area that if it didn’t exist, Salvador Dali…
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