Musings
Last Adventurer
#preservethegood

As you’ve seen above, #preservethegood could mean anything – it could mean helping someone in a time of need; it could be picking up trash on a trail, or a wilderness area; it could be educating people on leave no trace principles; it could be making a difference in any way you want; and it could be just about anything you want as long as you are focused in keeping the magic and the unique positive things in this world and this life. In terms of tangible things, I encourage you, my readers and followers to use the hashtag when you post a photo of something amazing; or when you’re talking about something exceptional you – or someone else has done to improve the world. I look forward to seeing how all of you end up preserving the good in 2015, and you can rest assured that as always, I will keep preserving the good where I find it as well, because as Plato says, “Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.” 

#preservethegood
Hiking, State Parks
Last Adventurer
Canyon Trail to Waipoo Falls

As I mentioned previously, Waimea Canyon is a site that is most definitely one of the “must-view” locations on Kauai, and in the world; and as I also mentioned, the best way to experience it is to hike it. While there are many great hikes through the canyon, the best hike in my book is the Canyon Trail to Waipoo Falls. It is the best hike to me because at four miles roundtrip, it is accessible, it has stunning views of the canyon from inside the canyon, and it ends at the top Waipoo Falls. It also allows the hiker the chance to swim in a waterfall, which is a once in a lifetime experience.

Canyon Trail to Waipoo Falls

Urban Exploration

Levator Gordejuela

Levator Gordejuela

As the largest of the Canary Islands, and the third largest active volcano in the world, Tenerife has innumerable beautiful beaches, scenic hiking trails, and historic points of interest. In addition to all of these things, it also has one of the most picturesque and strange ruins in the whole Canary Island chain, the Levator Gordejuela, otherwise known as the Gordejuela Water Elevator, or the Casa del Agua de Gordejuela. Located on the North side of Tenerife, just outside the town of Los Realejos, the ruin looks like a phantasmagorical castle or an abandoned great house above the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Paris Catacombs

Paris Catacombs

While the Catacombs proper comprise a small portion of the tunnel and mine network under the city, small is a relative term. At one hundred and eighty six miles of tunnel length, the Paris Catacombs – or as it is officially known, the “l'Ossuaire Municipal” or “Catacombes officiels” is the world’s largest grave. What the Catacombs are, is a large underground ossuary, which is a place designed to serve as a final resting place for human remains. The Catacombs were opened in response to two separate but simultaneous crises in the city of Paris in 1774. At that time, the city first had a lack of space to bury the dead; and second, had a number of cave-ins and collapses in the mine and tunnel network. The Catacombs were devised as a solution to address the tunnel instability problem, and as a place to store the city’s many dead. From 1774 onward, over six million bodies were moved into the Catacombs from the city’s old cemeteries. If an ancient underground tunnel and mine system that has over six million bodies in it wasn’t interesting enough, it is also worth noting that tours of the Catacombs have been going on since 1814.