I've been quite fortunate in recent years to be living the so-called dream. Traveling and backpacking across some of the most beautiful places in the world. Not working much and surviving on my multimillion-dollar trust fund alone.

Yeah, I wish.

But as I've been making the world smaller on foot, I realized something. I don't need to travel far to find some of the best hiking in the world. The mountains in my backyard are a hiker's paradise. Providing what I consider that quintessential hiking experience.

This year, I've decided to explore more of my home turf with an ambitious route through the Colorado Rockies. Hitting what seems like all of the mountains - or about 100+ 13ers and some 14ers. The route stays as high as possible to get the best scenic views and also for a major ass kicking.

I've had this project on my mind for years now. From looking at maps of Colorado, I always knew an epic route could be drawn up. Finally, it's taking fruition. The Colorado Loop.

I really didn't want to camp this high on my first day. At 15,000 feet. This is the highest I've ever been in my life! And I'm not even at the pass yet.

What a brutal way to start a hike. An immediate 5,600 feet of vert. The thing is, I know this is not even the hard part. My plans have me going a lot higher and doing it over and over again 35 times.

But I like to look at the bright side. This traverse is just a warm-up for the ass kicking coming later this year.

Talk about going out of my comfort zone. Here I am alone in Peru. On a super long bus ride about to be dropped off in some small mountain town after dark. The stops are not announced, and I can't make out much.

It definitely would help if I could speak the local language but nope. Unsurprisingly, I know more Spanish than the locals know English, which ain't much because I know maybe ten words or so.

But why worry? Let my first adventure in South America begin!

Blah, blah, blah...major hurricane is coming.

Wait! Whatt!?

I had just landed in Honolulu when I first learned about the Category 5 hurricane that was about to hit the islands. Come on! I knew about the volcano eruption on the Big Island but now hurricane? This kinda changed things.

But it didn't change my first priority. Chicken katsu at L&L. Yum!

I had envisioned the start of my vacation within vacation a bit differently. Camping on the beach. Chilling hard. Lots of sun.

Instead, I was in lockdown because of Hurricane Lane. At the Marriott. Sipping Mai Tais. Sleeping on a bed.

The horror.

Surprises happen. Plans don't go according to plan, so I make new plans.

Hawaii. Packraft. One month.

Um...that's kinda all the planning I did. Now I'm sitting at the Anchorage airport flushing out the details. Flight is in two hours.