What is new?

What we still have this thing! 

Well, its been more than a year since we walked that last few miles to that signpost at Bluff. Lots has changed and I figure its about time that we start this up again. Changes are coming, gunna try and update this site and expand its focus. Now, we're all working and studying again so this is going to take some time but well you gotta start somewhere and we are gunna start again I guess with blogging at least. 

In case you forgot who we are and well that we finished the Te Araroa!

Quick update on me (Landey), I would give a more extensive update on Anders and DM but well I get the bare minimum of information back here in the United States. Anders has been working back and forth from the UK and China, and is going through a move now from London to Cambridge with his girlfriend Caia. Damienmarc is travelling around, rockclimbing occasionally, and working hard at Brunel in progress towards a degree in product design. I started a career in the oil and gas industry working for Baker Hughes and have moved to Grand Junction Colorado. I work a 2 week on 1 week off schedule and have begun to explore the Colorado Backcountry with my girlfriend Alex. 

Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs - crystal clear waters and a easy 1 mile hike. Very crowded at times though!

Spouting rock above hanging lake and Alex napping at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah

Casual yoga session at Rattlesnake Arches just outside of Grand Junction. Oh btw Alex is a yoga instructor / journalist!

Using the same ol' epic Squall 2 TarpTent Camping in GJ

Colorado and Utah's high desert landscapes provide immense rock structures with arches and canyons to run around on and mountain bike through. The beauty of the road networks back here mean that I can travel further afield. Its 11hrs drive to Mammoth Mountain California, a half way stop on the John Muir Trail. A trail I aspire to conquer in the not too distant future. 2 weeks long, only 200 some miles, its alot shorter than the Te Araroa but other challenges arise. Its at altitude, never dropping below 10,000ft. Water is more difficult to find and not always clean like what we came accustomed to expect from New Zealand aquifers. It starts in Yosemite, encompasses some of the sequoia forests (the tallest trees in the world) and ends with a climb to Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States. Epic scenery through and through. here's a video some people made:

anyone want to join me?

- Landey Patton