Hello! My name is Travis Briles and I'm a scientist working and living in Boulder, Colorado. This website documents my adventures in and beyond Boulder county. 

A few years back someone asked me about my favorite hobbies.  As I listed off things like backpacking, hiking, climbing, looking for caves that may or may not exist, working with my hands/machining etc,  I realized that the common thread was really that "I just like sitting in a pile of dirt".  This has followed me from a young age...

These days, my ideal outings are majority off-trail (including both genuine bushwhacking and following game trails) and hopefully lots of alpine scrambling. The culmination of these have been the Pfiffner Traverse and the LIGANN Traverse.

It's hard to overstate how powerful the emotions are when you to venture into an area devoid of human trails, with only the things carried on your back and be able to call a small patch of flat land your "home". Last year, I took my Dad on a tour of RMNP along Trail Ridge Road and pointed out where my various adventures had taken me. I remember saying after emphasizing some of my favorite peaks in the Mummy Range, "you'd think this would get old at some point but it just doesn't." It really doesn't.

I'm already scheming for next summer. Wyoming? California? Alaska?

Day 5 of the Pfiffner Traverse. One selfie per decade is acceptable right?

"Selfie" on the Wild Basin High Route. July 01-03, 2018

Canyonlands National Park

All pictures are taken by me, so don't blame anybody else. Except the one below.

That's me on the left trying not to face-plant in 40 degree water, in the Wind River Range in Wyoming

I didn't write this. But I wish I had.