I live in one of the most adventure-friendly towns – if not countries – in the world: Queenstown, New Zealand. So it’s no surprise then that my day-to-day life (and consequently this blog) is filled with quite a bit of adventure.
The only small downside to living in New Zealand, is that we are thousands of miles away from anywhere. While there are countless opportunities to get out and explore Aotearoa, it’s difficult and often very expensive to travel overseas. So, for the past three or four years, my ‘holidays’ have consisted of traveling back to Iowa for Christmas or weddings.
With the clocks going back an hour yesterday, it’s now more than evident that Autumn is on its way to Queenstown. The days are getting shorter, the evenings cooler and the leaves around the Wakatipu Basin are changing color.
One of my biggest motivations in learning to paraglide was to be able to combine hiking with flying. I’ve always loved walking up mountains, and the allure of walking to the top and flying back to the bottom was huge. Once you’ve reached the top of the mountain, getting back down is never nearly as much fun.
I almost called this post, “A Day Walk to the Cascade Saddle,” but reconsidered at the last minute as realistically getting to Cascade Saddle isn’t a day walk. You can do it in a day, but it’s an epic one.
Backpacking Matt 
