Read about Dan’s travels around the world.

Bouldering at Governor Dodge

I met a couple of friends last week for an afternoon of bouldering at Governor Dodge State Park. For the uninitiated, bouldering is climbing without a rope, but you use a mattress called a “crash pad” in case you fall. Most boulder “problems” are only 10-15 feet high, but sometimes they can be 20 feet… Read More »

Climbing in Kentucky and Arkansas

I recently made the trek along with six others to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. This is one of the country's premier destinations for sport climbing, so the nine-hour drive from Madison is normally well worthwhile. Instead of staying at the famous and overcrowded Miguel's, we pitched our tents at Lago… Read More »

Ice Climbing in Southern Wisconsin

Recently I got to go ice climbing for the first time near Madison. Tying in and belaying were basically same as rock climbing, but there were tons of differences. Here's some of the stuff I liked and disliked versus rock climbing:

Good
– Huge reaches. You're allowed to – no, encouraged… Read More »

New Climbing Video

Here's the video I made of the Joshua-Tree trip I took last December. The trip was memorable in many ways. Despite having been to over thirty countries, I had never been to California. It was quite the experience. I also experimented with time-lapse for the first time. I hope you enjoy it!… Read More »

A visit to Thunder Bay

I drove northbound through the frigid cold for most of the day. I wanted to get to Thunder Bay, Ontario and didn't think I'd make it at first because the roads were terrible. At times I had to slow down to 25 on the highway and still was sliding around and had almost no visibility.… Read More »

Delta Lodge

The Hoofers Outing Club in Madison does an annual cross-country ski trip in Delta, which is kind of between Hayward and Ashland, but really in the middle of nowhere. They must do something well, though, because this was my third time going there. On the drive up I listened to Fear and Loathing in Las… Read More »

A Day at Red Rocks

December 31, 2012 – Jan 1, 2013

For our final day of climbing, we drove through the Mojave Desert and into Nevada to Red Rock Canyon, which is a National Conservation Area near Las Vegas. Before we even got to the wall, we took in the stunning natural beauty all… Read More »

Joshua Tree National Park

December 27-30, 2012

Freshly showered and with a clean set of clothes, we were joined by Josh, Jonah, and Chris in our drive across Los Angeles and up to Joshua Tree National park. Before we even reached the park, we were surrounded by spiky and curvy Joshua trees, which resembled the… Read More »

Climbing with the Cardashians

December 25-26, 2012

Reinvigorated from our two days at New Jack City, Zoey, Gokul, and I drove over the Cajon Pass between the San Bernadino and San Gabriel mountain ranges, and into Los Angeles. Even though the drive across the city was ninety miles (the city is ridiculously spread out), the… Read More »