2016 was pretty wicked sweet when it comes to adventuring.

From a first-day-adventure up Mazama Ridge in Mount Rainier National Park on New Year's Day under blue skies to amazing overnights with the kids in the wilderness, 2016 was packed.

We adventured in Washington a lot, as you might guess, but also had the opportunity to visit five other states. We road tripped through eastern Oregon, fished for a weekend in Montana, experienced the magic of a Spring snowstorm in Colorado, and wrapped up the year in the midwest adding two new states (and three National Park sites) to our CV.

I spent 93 days on trail, up substantially from 2015 when I got my boots dirty on only 78 days. The real measure, though, is the percentage of days I spent with one or more of the family on the trail. While Treen is family, she hikes way too much to be part of this calculation. In 2015 that percentage was 52.56%. In 2016 it was 53.76%. That pleases me. And for a bonus accomplishment I chipped away at my Oh-God-I'm-Going-To-Die list by climbing Broken Top.

As I wrote. 2016 was a pretty sweet year.

If you weren't following along all year here are the posts you should take a look at to get caught up.

• No surprise, trips to Mount Rainier top the charts.

  • An epic New Year's snowshoe on Mazama Ridge

  • I learned some good lessons snowshoeing to Reflection Lakes

  • We found a dog-friendly trip to the Park's boundary on Mt. Beljica

  • Clara found her hiking mojo after a year of injury on Second Burroughs

• Lilly and Henry had multi-day backpacking trips to epic locations

  • Goat Lake had goats and really cold water and the craziest flower waterfall ever

  • Thornton Lakes heard about the Goat Lake trip and upped the ante with a bear

• Colorado was about snow and trips in Rocky Mountain National Park

  • Bible Point reminded us of the effects of elevation - plus it had two mailboxes!

  • Deer Mountain got Clara to her first 10k peak

  • Bear Lake was a very short walk, but we slacklined and Henry was swallowed by the lightest snow we've ever seen

• Oregon is close to home, but we spent 10 days road tripping through three of its four national parks

  • Crater Lake is a crazy blue hole in the ground and it blue us away (see what I did there?)

  • Wizard Island is in the middle of that blue hole in the ground and totally changed our perspective on the lake - THIS IS A MUST-DO ACTIVITY

  • Oregon Caves was our first underground adventure of the year and it was a perfect starter

  • The Obsidian Flow was hot, shiny, and sharp (all good things)

  • Remember the volcano bucket-list? Broken Top was my solo trip to make some progress

  • Mother nature was drunk when the Painted Hills were made, but that's perfectly ok with us

• As in years past, I spent a long weekend fishing in Montana

  • Rock Creek delivered its bounty of small, agressive fish

  • We floated the Missouri River and had too many chances at big fish to count (we even caught a few)

• Amy and I had been to Ohio before, but this time we were in adventure mode

  • The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park had a great Junior Ranger program

  • The natural highight of the Ohio adventures was Hocking Hills full of waterfalls and ice everywhere

  • In this crazy, crazy time of politics it was a welcome to relief to learn about President Taft and his sensible approach to serving the nation

• We checked off Indiana underground

  • The Marengo Cave was unbelievable, and not because we had an accidental private tour

• And then there were the everyday, awesome local trips - Just because it's local doesn't mean it's lame

  • Take the Ramparts, for example. My first Spring trip was so awesome I had to go back for a second trip just a few weeks later. And then there was a glorious trip in the Fall when the berries were kissed by frost and tasty beyond belief.

  • Our home trail up Twin Falls finally reopened after several years - the new trail is gorgeous and sustainable

  • Mailbox is Mailbox, but I did get to announce a new ambassador role with WoolX there

  • Melakwa Lake is an old favorite that surprised me with a glorious snow-filled valley early in the season and a reminder to carry emergency gear thanks to a near incapacitating injury

  • I celebrated my 10th season with TNAB

  • Cave Ridge revealed her secret berry fields to us, but Treen ate them all

  • We found a lump on Treen and had it removed - to celebrate we climbed Mt. Margaret

  • I found a touch of early winter on Humpback Mountain, which is a generally lousy trail made better only with snow

  • I can't believe I'm writing this, but Cable Line reminded me why I need to train on terrible trails like that

  • We stumbled into the best day hike in the North Cascades and wound up at Heather Pass

  • Nordic Pass was perfect for introducing new kids to snowshoeing and avoiding crowds

• Lilly decided she wanted to learn to climb and it's only partially (mostly) my fault

  • A science fair project using ropes, pulleys, and harnesses seemed like a good idea at the time

  • For her birthday we went climbing at REI and she crushed it

  • When it came time to climb together, Lilly showed Henry how it's done

• And finally, 2016 marked the end of being quiet. Too much is at stake in our great country to let things just happen. We need to stand up and take action. I wrote about that, too.

Now that you're all caught up, join us for 2017. We've already had two months of epic adventures just begging for write-ups. Paradise at Mount Rainier (twice), snowshoeing above the clouds, and hiking through the desert in Arizona have all kept us so busy we haven't been able to keep up the blog. If you want more real-time check out the Instagram feed (@mrmoosefish), Twitter stream (@moosefish), and the Facebook page (@moosefishdotcom). Those will all get sneak peeks at what's going on as well as links to published posts.

If you see me on the trail please say, "Hi." I'll do the same.