In our finale installment of A Long Time Coming, we fly over to the fabled Isle Royale National Park to hike across the island, of which we've been wanting to see for as long as we can remember.

We move yet further east and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to explore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore! We hike a 42 miles through Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. However, we add a little twist by packrafting a few sections of the trail to take full advantage of the beautiful and calm waters of Lake Superior!

We transition from the hot plains of South Dakota up to the US and Canadian Border to explore the extensive waterway of Voyageurs National Park by canoe for a few days of camping on a remote island. As well as a stop in Apostle Islands National Lake Shore to check out the otherworldly rock formations that make the area famous!

In our second installment of A Long Time Coming, we venture in Badlands National Park and cross paths with our first road trip that lead to our current life on the road. Badlands National Park has always had a special place in our hearts, and we are curious if it was everything we remembered it being.

In our second installment of A Long Time Coming, we drop into South Dakota to explore the rugged Black Hills, Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park. This part of South Dakota often goes overlooked but is home to a dense collection of incredible wild spaces just waiting to be explored.

This is the start of our grand adventure into the Northern Midwest. We make an unexpected stop in Makoshika State Park before making our way into Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

A quick recap of our top 5 favorite photos of the year! Enjoy!

Owen and I have both been feeling a visit was long overdue. However this time, we wanted to see the park for the first time in the winter under a blanket of snow. In order to hike in the snow, we needed to pick up a little extra gear. We hatched the idea to rent some snowshoes from REI, so we could hike in the snow out to see the Giant Sequoia trees of the Mariposa Grove.

After a successful inaugural packrafing in Escalante, we were fired up to get back on the water. We quickly got to work planning our second packrafting trip, this time, we were ready for more technical water and add to our growing skills on the water. For this we returned to our beloved Wind River mountain range.

I have been so excited about this blog post because it’s a trip recap from our FIRST EVER packrafting trip. Not only is it exciting because it was the first time we got to try our hand at packrafting in the backcountry but it also was a trip into one of our favorite places in North America, Escalante National Monument!

After leaving Canwell Glacier is was time to start making our way out of Alaska and towards the lower 48. Sadly, we had a few pressing “hard dates” on our calendar that forced us to compress our timeline to get back to the US. However we made stop in Fairbanks to have some much needed time with our family!

Thanks to the scouting mission, we knew right where we needed to go to get to the pool we’d decided on the day before. As Owen was changing out of his clothes, a tour group saw what we were doing and came over to watch.

After our gracier tour in Whittier, we knew the time had come to make our way off the Kenai Peninsula for the last time. Having spent a month in the area, we’d fully fallen in love with this part of Alaska.

Our episode picks back up in Girdwood, Alaska as I prepare to try to surf the bore tide again. While we were elsewhere on the peninsula I had been studying the tide charts in preparation for our return.

Before we ever left for Alaska my brother Erick and bonus sister Julie invited us out for a unique experience. Erick and Julie hunt to provide themselves with the entirety of their meat needs. Julie was drawn from a lottery based system to hunt for a Mountain Goat in a very specific area in the backcountry of the Kenai Wilderness.

We return from Katmai National Park and head onto the Kenia Peninsula for the first time. Our first stops are Girdwood, Whittier and then onto Homer where we venture out on the water with new friends.

This episode picks back up right after we left Talkeetna, AK. Driving south we climb into the mountains to explore the highly anticipated Hatcher Pass. Even though we didn’t know a ton about the area, we’d heard nothing but great things about it which made us excited to get there and see it for ourselves!

Our episode picks back up at the Wonder Lake campground in Denali National Park and Preserve. It was our last day before catching the bus back to our truck. Though we were sad to be leaving, the weather took a turn for the worse. We hopped on the bus just as it started to rain.