HumongousYeti

Hike the Blue Lakes Trail, Mt. Sneffels Wilderness located between Ouray and Telluride.

ETA: There's probably going to be snow cover on the trail till at least mid-june.

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possible quick stop in Sibenik evening/dinner if there is time.

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Sibenik was my favorite stop in Croatia. Nowhere near the hustle and bustle of Split. If you like architecture, history, and the water, then this place is for you!

My top recommendations are:

1) Cathedral of St. James

2) Walk through Old Town

3) Sunset viewing from top of Fort Subicevac, which over looks the entire town.

4) If there's time, visit this massive fortress called St. Nicholas (which guards the entrance of the town by sea) and watch sail boats go by.

5) Also the Adriatic Highway D8 from Sibenik to Primosten is just stunning. Primosten, although I did not visit, has some nice beaches from what I heard.

Drove from Austin to Southern Utah to visit Natural Bridges National Monument, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks. The Southern Utah desert is gorgeous and very isolated. Aside from the National Parks and Moab, there is nothing but government land and barely any people. You can go hiking, camping, canyoneering, mountain biking, ATV riding without a soul in sight. The weather is an experience by itself. When I was there for a week last March, there was a dust storm at Natural Bridges with gusts up to 60mph and heavy snow at Arches.

Driving on scenic Utah Highway 95 is a must.

Also did a drive from Portland to Eugene, Crater Lake, Bend, Mt. Hood, and back to Portland, OR. Just amazing scenery the entire length of the trip. My favorite part of that was driving up to Mt. Hood Timberline Lodge. I mean you're at the base of a frickin Stratovolcano!

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just1dawg

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Awesome pics. It's good to get another perspective with the snow.

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Can you give some details on the trip? I.e. where you flew into, company you booked the trip with, etc. I'm looking into booking a trip like this soon with my wife and any info would be awesome.

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This was a 10 day solo trip around South Island in the beginning of March 2013 (their summer).

I departed LAX on Air New Zealand for Auckland and then took a connecting flight to Christchurch (City Centre still looked like a war zone from the 2011 Earthquake). From there, I did a triangular loop around the most popular sites in South Island, which included: Franz Josef Glacier, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Mt. Cook.

My favorite town was Wanaka. It's way more laid back and less touristy than Queenstown with its fair share of things to do. It's also near Lake Hawea, which is comparable in beauty to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.

I took a hop on hop off tour bus called Stray, which takes you to places, so you can spend a day or even a week in one place. If you and your wife do go, I would recommend either renting a car or maybe even getting a campervan (if you're feeling adventurous). It allows ya'll the greatest flexibility and a lot of the most beautiful places were the spots you can just pull off to the side of the road.

I hope you and your wife can make it to NZ soon. It's my favorite place on Earth.

:cheers:

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seriously cool and I hate you

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:cheers:

This was a 4 hour hike I did by helicopter in the South Island.

*I meant to add this to the Mt. Ben Lomond Pics thread, but somehow it wouldn't bump.

Enjoy!

View from the heliport









Take off.









Landing. Total flight time was 5 minutes.























After the hike. This is called a "Beef Quesadilla". It was made by a Chilean chef at the Aviator's Cafe in Franz Josef Village. To this day, it's the best thing I've ever eaten.



Rainforest close to the cafe.

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Was this a vacation?

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Yup. Spent 2 weeks in New Zealand and a week in Australia.

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Is NZ a good place visit with family?

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I think it's better suited for solo, husband and wife, or a small group of adventure travelers. It's an outdoors paradise so be prepared to hike, climb, swim, bungee jump, ect. Roads are really windy, so as a driver you get really tired sooner than in the U.S. Probably not a good idea with young kids.

This was a hike I did in New Zealand 2 years ago. I figure it's time to share some of these pictures with the almighty OT.

New Zealand = Heaven on Earth

Enjoy!











Summit (5,735ft)











Southern Alps





Bonus Pic: Sea Kayaking Lake Wakatipu

Check out the Town of Cloudcroft.

It's situated in the Lincoln National Forest at an altitude of 8,600 ft. It has its own climate, in which the high is usually 25 degrees cooler than the desert cities below like nearby Alamogordo. Therefore, it's an excellent summer get away. There's lots of outdoors things to do nearby like hiking, camping, and skiing at Ski Cloudcroft (if there has been enough snow accumulation). My favorite thing about this town is that when it rains, the entire pine forest smells like ... well, a pine tree air freshener. lol. I've never smelled cleaner air anywhere else in the world. There's also White Sands National Monument 45 mins drive west, which are not to be missed as well.