Just got back from my first trip to Rocky Mountain NP. Did a nice 11 mile hike. Absolutely incredible views, several lakes, and a really great waterfall near the end. It was incredible and I enjoyed it much more than my trip to Great Sand Dunes.
In Denali NP for the weekend, driving all the way in to wonder lake on Sunday. Saw two moose and a grizzly just 3 miles in so far.
In 2017, I posted back on page 10 about a project my son and I did in SW Ohio planting American Chestnut trees with hybrid blight resistant genes. Genetically, they are 94% similar to the American Chestnuts wiped out 100 years ago. We were back out at the site this weekend doing another round of planting. According to the Ohio Forestry guy in charge, we had a nearly 100% survival rate through 2019 of the trees planted in 2017. These chestnuts were once a dominant tree around here in full old growth climax forests, but they have been extinct here since the 1920’s. Cool stuff.
Owsley I’m curious, are Alabama and neighboring states doing any similar reintroduction of chestnuts in state/national forests down there on the southern end of their historic range?
Keep us updated on this. The ones we used to plant in UGA's experimental forest always started to decline around year 2, so your results are very promising
state chapters of the American Chestnut Foundation are doing a lot of the heavy lifting https://www.acf.org/ I TA'd under this Prof when this article was written, I believe his research is ongoing https://www.redandblack.com/news/ug...cle_1e48fb8a-e29d-5297-b7a2-623d70891da1.html
I’m not sure how old our trees were when they were planted in 2017, but they were several years old already. The trees we planted were about 4-5 feet high when we put them in the ground. Now they have been out there two full Summers. This one isn’t a chestnut, but it’s about the size we are planting in 2017.
Took the girl for her bday last week for her first Yosemite trip. Got her to old Inspiration Point on the stage coach road and old glacier point for the standard epic shot. Good trip just before the storm hit. God I love that place.
Heading to Zion in March -- looks like March is when they stop letting private vehicles into the park and you have to take the shuttle. Is that right'? We're renting a car in Vegas and driving. What's the situation with using the shuttle? I see it's free, and has X number of stops. Are all the hikes really accessible from the shuttle? Does it have certain hours? Get pretty crowded? Hopefully not too bad in March. We're definitely doing the Narrows on Friday (renting waders), and then Angel's Landing on Saturday morning before driving back to Vegas. The Narrows will take all day, correct? racer
The shuttle is meant for the hikes, so should have no problem there. You can drive part of the park year round. This is called the Zion Mt Carmel Highway. it goes from the south main entrance to the east side entrance/exit, and heads off toward the Grand Canyon. We did that during shuttle season. The road was fairly empty inside and we were able to pull off and look at goats and stuff on the drive. There is very limited parking inside the park gates, so a lot of people park outside and walk/shuttle in for hikes.
Yes save a whole day for the narrows. It's magnificent and you'll want to take your time and soak it all in. I wore waders in May - lots of people weren't wearing them but it was still really cold to me. Go early every day you plan on doing something. When we started our narrows hike, there were just a few folks on the path, but when we got back there were hundreds of people. Same thing for angels landing. Earliest shuttle was 7am and we got on it every day we were there. I hear parking can be limited but get there early and it won't be an issue. March may not be a busy time so it may not matter. All hikes in the canyon are easily accessible by the shuttle and even if you are able to drive into canyon it still may be easier to use shuttle for certain spots/trailheads. Observation Point and Hidden Canyon are great trails too. Hidden Canyon is much shorter so if you only have two days you can squeeze this one in with Angels Landing. You could do Observation Point with another one too, but it's much harder and has similar view to Angels Landing.
Have a quick road trip from Tampa back to Maine in mid-April. We are planning on doing one day in Great Smoky and one day in Shenandoah. Any great one day itineraries in each/either?
If you are driving anyway, take Skyline Drive in Shenandoah. https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/driving-skyline-drive.htm
thanks dudes. Right now our plan is: Thursday: fly Seattle to Vegas early in the AM, hopefully get to Zion around noon - try and do an easy one that afternoon - Canyon Overlook/The Watchman/Hidden Canyon Friday: The Narrows, super early. Hopefully get waders the day before Saturday: do Angel’s Landing first thing Saturday, drive to Vegas afterwards, have a night in Vegas before flying back questions: would you do something besides Hidden Canyon/Canyon Overlook on Thurs, if doing Angel’s landing on Saturday? Since the views are similar Angel’s landing is a short hike, right? maybe do Observation Point on Saturday before driving back?
I'll get back to ya about Shenandoah when I get home. Day hikes only or overnight? Short hikes or all day.
It’s my favorite Utah NP after Arches. Stay in Torrey. It will be very cold at night there, and cold during the day. Favorite hikes are Hickman Bridge, Frying Pan, Grand Wash and Navajo Knobs. There’s a good campground in the park and one in Torrey. I don’t know how many restaurants will be open in late October. Plan your itinerary to include one of the most scenic drives anywhere: Torrey to Boulder to Escalante, or vice-versa. Also, the drive to Fish Lake would be worth it, especially with the Fall foliage. If you will have 4WD I have further recommendations.
That looks pretty similar to the itinerary my wife and I had two years ago. Yes, Angels Landing isn’t long but get up early to be the rest of the hikers to the chains. An area of Zion I really enjoyed since there was almost no one there is Kolob Canyons. You can see most of it just driving through but it’s a nice place to escape to if you’re sick of people and want to see the sunset somewhere more secluded since it has its own separate entrance and road.
I will have 4WD and am looking for seclusion. Really want to camp as far from people and light as possible. Car camp a night or 2 and the rest of the time camp backcountry.
Agree with this. Spent a little bit more time over in this area during my second trip to Zion. The Subway, Bottom Up may be my favorite hike I’ve done in Zion at this point and I’ve done Angels Landing and the Narrows multiple times.
Down for either- we will need to stay the night in the area anyway, so a nice hike to a cool campsite would be good. Alternatively, a nice out and back or loop day hike would also be cool. Any preference between Big Meadows or Lewis campgrounds? Sounds like those are the only two typically open in April.
I would enter Shenandoah via the Rockfish Gap Entrance. It's a straight shot from Charlottesville which is a cool town with good eats/drink. Also South of Rockfish Gap in the George Washington National Forrest is White Rock Falls. About 3 mi round trip with a cool waterhole in the rainy season. Very cool hike and the falls/waterhole can be secluded because it's not real easy to find. Most stop short of it at lower falls. Also the entrance to the falls is at a switchback and the trail so it can be missed. Don't get suckered into Crabtree Falls. Great falls but way crowded, like tour bus crowded. In Shenandoah the Wildcat/Rip Rap loop is awesome. About a 10 mi loop with great views and good camping spots in the valley. A favorite. Big Run Loop to Big Run Portal is a good out and back with great camping in a hollow. Maybe 6 mi roundtrip. Doyles River Falls is short and easy and across Skyline Drive from Big Run, same parking lot. There is also a cabin you can rent pretty cheap off this trail that is badass. http://www.patc.net/PATC/Cabins/Individual_Cabins/Doyles_River.aspx I prefer Loft Mountain over the others due to preference to the area but I haven't been overnight in either of the other 2. You can't go wrong with just driving Skyline and stopping at trailheads and hiking a mi in and out. Lemme know if you need any other info.
If you have 4wd my favorite thing in Capitol Reef was the Cathedral Valley loop. It's a 50 mile dirt road, and in peak season I saw less than 10 other people. In October you may have it to yourself. There are some great vistas with a few short hikes off of the road to different viewpoints. As a whole Capitol Reef is very under rated compared to the other Utah parks. And yes drive from Torrey to Escalante, it's beautiful.
Cathedral Valley is spectacular. It’s one of my recommendations. Fargin' Icehole another is the road between Escalante and Bicknell. It’s actually well maintained and can be driven in a 2WD. You can camp anywhere on BLM land, and the entire region is mostly BLM land. The forest service has campgrounds on the Torrey to Boulder highway. I’m not sure about backcountry camping in the park and the National Forest. Check with them to find out. Be aware that the deer hunt will be going on and you might run into more people in the backcountry than normal. Also keep a close eye on weather forecasts. Major snowstorms are not unusual in that part of Utah in late October.
Wife and I are headed down to Texas for two weeks in September, 6 days of which will be spent on the west side at Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carlsbad Caverns. Anybody have some favorite hikes, advice, or must dos for Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains? We'll have our 7 month old son with us so preferably more family friendly stuff.
Do y'all have a guidebook you would suggest? I work with a Japanese ex-pat who is going back to Japan at the end of this year. However, before that, he is planning to take a week or two and visit some National Parks out near Las Vegas. He's been an awesome coworker so I would like to give him a little gift in the form of a guidebook of the National Parks. Any suggestions on the "best" one?
We’ve never used them for inside the US, but for every International vacation the wife and I take we buy a Lonely Planet book for that country and they’re fantastic. We don’t use them to choose hotels or restaurants, but they’re great for history, background, culture, etc. I bet this one would be just as interesting. In fact, I just talked myself into buying it.
Today, on disaster battle, we watch as a pyroclastic flow goes head to head with a corona virus pandemic hotspot! (Said in the voice of the croc hunter, rip)