This cemetery shall forever be known as “The One Where I Saw a Coyote”. But before I get to that, I’ll give you the official deets. Riverside Cemetery is another beautiful, historic cemetery in the QCA. There is a 4 mile loop from my house that I like to walk…

From their own site: “It is one of the Quad Cities oldest and most beautiful cemeteries, boasting century-old Oaks, gently rolling hills and knolls, and a beautiful reflecting pond near the cemetery entrance. “

The word “Chippiannock” is a Native American term which means “place of the dead”. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. You can make a nice 3-4 mile loop of this cemetery, while checking out some cool old headstones and mature trees.

A beach. A disc golf course. A lakeside trail. This place is fun and even when it’s busy, it’s not that busy. You can always find a spot to get some solitude.

One of the best hikes in the QCA! My favorite time to hike it is in the spring when I’ve been starved of a good, long hike and all of the ephemerals are popping up. The main feature is the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

A true “Choose Your Own Adventure” type of location! Walk the main paved path, go off into the wooded trails, or add on Fairmont Cemetery. This is also a popular spot for mountain biking.

My favorite place in the QCA to hike! Crowds are typically minimal, it has a more remote/nature feel, and there are a lot of ways to recreate here. There are easy, moderate, and hard trails here, including one of the most challenging hikes you will find in the QCA! The challenging hike would make a great training for a destination backpacking trip or if you’re just looking for something more involved while staying local. Book a campsite, bring a kayak, and make a weekend of it!

When I went away to college at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, I was very excited for the beautiful campus. I got the dorm I wanted that sat right on Thompson Lake and walked through Thompson Woods each day to the student center and classes. There was also an arboretum just south of campus that I enjoyed walking at.

On a hike in San Diego circa May 2023 I ran into a pickle. Ahead of me lay a sloped sandstone ledge about a foot wide with a dropoff maybe 12 feet down into a rockbed. I saw nothing to hold on to if I started to fall. I'd already been sliding and now the risk to continue forward felt maybe too great...

In my mind, Chang Mai was going to be a sleepy, historic town, but we arrived to a bustling city! And since we chose to stay in a condo near the university on Nimmanhaemin Road (or Nimman Road), we were right in the thick of it. The entire experience was so different than what I had imagined, and isn’t that the point?

It was our first day waking up in Chang Mai and out the picture window of the condo I could see the mountain we were about to hike up. The view of the actual temple we were hiking to was obscured by the other half of the condo building, but out on the street we looked up and saw the glinting gold structures. They looked so tiny and far away it was almost impossible to believe we were just going to walk there.

A few years ago, I started to realize that I love winter in a way that most people do not. While bitter cold and dark days aren't exactly the height of joy, there is a peaceful magic in it that I deeply appreciate.  I notice it especially when I return home on a cold, crisp night. Standing at my back door in the dark, fumbling for keys, I will suddenly remember to look up and enjoy the night sky and the stars spread out above.

Monday, July 27, 2020
​I hurry to keep up with my trail angel, Flicker, as she leads me in from the parking lot to the Western Terminus. I don't want her to think I'm a slow poke, but I'm nearly in shock trying to take in the landscape. White pines tower on exposed cliffs over a swirling chocolate river. There are strange holes in the ground around me, filled with water and greened over with algae.

Friday, July 10th, 2020 (2:30AM)
I am awake because Matt is up and saying he doesn’t feel good. That he is nauseated. A pang of nausea hits me in the gut, too, and now my whole body wracks once with anxiety.