Welcome to Breakfast in America

I’m a Brit who unexpectedly emigrated to the USA in 2008, and this is my photo journal.

It’s an eclectic mix of things; there’s no guiding theme or topic. It is whatever catches my attention, what I’ve been thinking, doing, or piques my interest. Currently that’s mainly backpacking and clearing some of the backlog on my ‘honey-do’ list.

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Four days hiking the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. March 2023Four days hiking the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness, Missouri. March 2023
Four. No, three days backpacking in Irish Wilderness, Missouri, April 2021Four. No, three days backpacking in Irish Wilderness, Missouri, April 2021
Four days hiking the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness. December 2024Four days hiking the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness. December 2024

Memories

A dozen pictures, picked at random from my favorite memories. You can see my portfolio here.

Passage

Passage — Passage of time, passage to anywhere, passage through life. At some point the fishing boat will probably become an abandoned hulk on the shore.

Family Christmas – 2019

Family Christmas – 2019 – Family picture after Christmas lunch with Betsy and Matt. 2

Day Four — Misty, damp morning

Day Four — Misty, damp morning. I was planning on spending the night at Fiddler Spring, but there was a hunting camp set up there (no one was at home). I grabbed three liters of water from the much slower than usual spring and decided I’d head away from the hunters to this established primitive campsite around three quarters of a mile away.
Photograph of Gary Allman with his morning tea in a hammock on the Berryman Trail, Missouri.

Morning Tea

Morning Tea. Berryman Trail – Day Two, December 2020.

Self and Sky

Self and Sky. Resting in the wilderness.

Lanie and the sunset

Lanie and the sunset – A last look at the sunset before we head back. 2

Recent Posts

  • Rockslide over the trail

    View from the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail. Day 7 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    There was one point where a rockslide had covered the trail.

    I took this picture on the way back. It didn’t take me long to hike the entire trail, and I was surprised to find a fairly big parking lot at the start. I carried on, found where the Colorado Trail crossed the road, and started up the trail a short way before turning back. That’s tomorrow’s hike. I reckoned by the time I hiked back up the Narrow Gauge Trail, and got to the campground, I’d have gone six or more miles. Quite enough for my second hike in three months.

  • View from the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail

    View from the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail. Day 7 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Chalk Lake — from the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail

    Chalk Lake — From the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail. Day 7 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Driving up Chalk Creek Canyon, you don’t realize how quickly you’re gaining altitude. Hiking down and back up the road yesterday, I got a better idea. Even so, I was surprised how quickly the trail gained height — well, actually, how quickly the ground dropped away — from where it started out just above the road.

  • Narrow Gauge Trail #1432 — Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad

    Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Trail. Day 7 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Today’s hike is an out-and-back hike on the Narrow Gauge Trail #1432, which runs along the bed of the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad, Chalk Creek Grade, of the line that linked Buena Vista to St. Elmo. It was a narrow-gauge railway used to provide passenger, mining and logging transport within Chalk Creek Canyon.

    The line closed in 1926, and was later converted to a trail, variously known as the Chalk Creek Grade Historic Trail, Narrow Gauge Trail, and officially by the U.S. Forest Service as the Narrow Gauge Trail #1432.

    I’ve got warm clothes as the trail hugs the western — shady side of the Canyon. It should be a nice easy hike of around 5 miles, though I might extend that a little by checking out the start of my planned hike for tomorrow on the Colorado Trail.

  • Chalk Creek

    Chalk Creek — There’s no water available at the campground, so I got mine from Chalk Creek. Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The Cascade Campground was good, but I don’t like the sterile ‘modern’ tent pads and the lack of screening between sites. When I stayed, there was no camp host, and no water.

    As there weren’t many people staying, I think there was a maximum of five sites occupied while I was there, the lack of a host wasn’t a problem. Despite the government shutdown, I noticed a ranger drove through at least once a day.

    Water might have been a bit of a problem, but I’d packed my water filter and pouches, so I just went and got my supplies from Chalk Creek.

    One thing to be aware of, if you consider staying here, is how cold it gets when the sun is lower in the sky. That’s because there’s effectively a 2,000 ft. high cliff immediately to the west, so the campground is in shadow for a good part of the day.

  • Entrance to Chalk Creek Campground

    Entrance to Chalk Creek Campground. Mt. Princeton in the distance. Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Agnes Vaille falls from Chalk Creek Campground — Mt. Princeton in the background. Good luck spotting the falls! Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The Cascade Trail is relatively short, so I extended my hike by going further east along the road and then exploring some unmarked trails.

    The two other campgrounds here are already closed for the season. I took a stroll around the Chalk Creek Campground to compare it to Cascade Campground.

    Taking a picture of the entrance, I realized that the Agnes Vaille Falls could be seen from here.

    For my first ‘high altitude’ hike I went a modest 5.33 miles with 665 ft. of elevation gain. The actual Cascade Creek Trail is the loop just below Agnes Vaille Falls on the map below.

  • View from the Cascade Creek Trail

    Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Gary on the Cascade Creek Trail

    Gary on the Cascade Creek Trail — Chalk Creek Canyon, San Isabel National Forest, Colorado. Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • View from the Cascade Creek Trail

    View from the Cascade Creek Trail. Looking across Chalk Creek Canyon towards Mt. Antero (not visible). Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • The trail was steep in places

    The trail was steep in places — Cascade Creek Trail. Day 6 – Road Trip October 2025. Copyright © 2025 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
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