Going to take the fiancé to Zion for a day at the start of May. Gonna also do a day at Bryce Canyon. Just got keep an eye out as they release tickets for the Zion shuttle and campgrounds. Super excited to get back out there
longshot, but does anyone know when they post availability for campgrounds on Recreation.gov? https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/272266?tab=campsites They open up a day 14 days ahead of time. Thus, if I want to book for May 1, I can check back on April 17. My question: Does anyone know when they are posted? Midnight eastern? 6 AM?
I do not know for sure, but I think it varies park to park. I had to apply for a road permit in Denali last summer through recreation.gov and the park manually opened up the system at the start of the business day 14 days in advance, which was like 9 a.m. Alaska Time. I didn't get the permit until the third try.
Did Zion this past weekend with trips to Mt Charleston and Death Valley as well. Incredible weather and amazing hikes.
Got my national park pass and all my reservations. Ready for next weekend. anyone else got NP plans in May?
I may try to do Shenandoah in July. Not sure if I’ll have time. I haven’t been there since I was a kid.
I’ve never been through that area. I have a friend who is an amateur climber and he says the Cascades were brutal for him.
I went there last summer and the highest rated hikes were far more difficult than any other park I’ve been to
I’ll be in Yellowstone over Memorial Day Excited to hear about Stehekin, we put in backcountry reservations there for late September. Have 3 trips planned to N Cascades this summer, they release results May 15
We were originally planning for September as well, but a work trip to Seattle the week before popped up so we took advantage
What was the timing for the opening of reservations. I’m planning a trip in September and will need that info.
unless I'm mistaken, most parks don't require them for admittance. Yosemite is one that does, and they opened up for reservations last week. So you'll need to pay the regular entrance fee plus have a reservation to enter. I expect the super popular ones like Zion, Yosemite, Yellowstone may be doing this to stop the glut of visitors this year from all showing up at once.
Yea, I was referencing specifically the shuttles and campgrounds that he was booking. There was some question if it was midnight on the designated date or some other time? I just want to make sure I’m first in line because I’m a weirdo planner that has the trip already mapped out and need to book specific shuttle dates/times.
It is. Unfortunately can’t do the normal trail (which I’ve done once before) because of the rock slide. Hiking from east Mesa was not very crowded. Obviously a little out of the way and the trail isn’t as good, but the view point is always worth it.
Leaving for Olympic and Mt Rainier NPs on Friday. Still bummed we can't stay in the BamaNug Airbnb but I'll attempt to get over it. Looks like Mt Rainier is still snowy as shit at lower elevations. Bringing our crampons but people on AllTrails make it sound like that may not be enough. Hopefully we can find some trails that aren't under feet of snow and require snowshoes.
Did you deal with the shuttle? We are flying into Vegas on 5/20 and will hit up Zion, Bryce, North Rim before flying back out on 5/25.
based on our multiple experiences with May hiking at Mt Rainier, I would expect everything around the Paradise Visitor Center to be fully snowed over and possibly closed due to avalanche danger. Even Narada Falls was pretty dangerous with melting snow when we went two years ago on Memorial Day weekend. The road to Mowich Lake probably won't be open for another few weeks either. From the Longmire Visitor Center the Rampart Ridge Trail is fun, and you can make it a loop by joining the Wonderland Trail. Our only visit to Olympic was several years ago in mid-May and while the drive up to Hurricane Ridge was cool, only the parking lot was plowed and there was still 8-10 feet of snow all around. Lower elevations closer to the coast may be clear though...
Yes. You have to have a shuttle pass to hit up the major hikes. Although you can do observation point without it as referenced above
I think I actually prefer to do it from east Mesa. No shuttle, smaller crowds, less elevation gain, and as you said, same viewpoint.
Yep. Don’t disagree with that, although we had to park and walk 10 minutes to the trailhead due to the terrain of the road. Plenty of cars made it to the trailhead though. certainly an easier hike
I did Rainier at the end of May and ran into snow problems few years ago. One hike I really liked that was lower elevation was Silver Falls. It's short, but the falls are nice and scenery is pleasant along the way. I did do the walk to Narada Falls through 2-4 feet of snow. It probably wasn't the best decision, but I had the view to my self.
Will be checking out Yellowstone and grand Teton national park first week of June. For those that have been there how crowded are they going to be?
I'm going to be there at the same time Arrive at Yellowstone Sunday night May 30, stay 3 nights. Wednesday June 2 drive into the Tetons, stay there for 3 days/2 nights. We're camping the last 2 nights, probably going to be a little chilly. I don't expect the crowds to be bad, but the weather is going to be a wildcard.
I’m not sure you can accurately predict the crowds due to Covid. At both parks, there are normally tons of foreign tourists who won’t be there now, especially Yellowstone. A lot more Americans are driving and trying to stay outside though.
Nice. I’m staying in Jackson. Also get in the 30th and there until the following Saturday. The weather has me real confused on what to bring. I’m not nearly as outdoorsy as you so just doing day trips but hoping the crowds aren’t terrible in the parks. Mixing in city slicker activities as well and trying to figure out some kind of activity on the snake river.
Not sure about Yellowstone specifically, but I do know tourist numbers are up across the Black Hills. Custer State Park (bison) has said they're already at normal summer traffic numbers
At Teton, there is a great 7-8 mile trail along Jenny Lake that takes you to the bottom of a very intense vertical trail. The bottom has an excellent waterfall that is easy to hike. If you take the ferry across Jenny Lake, it’s no hike at all and they drop you right by the falls.
I tried to get a site on the beach at Assategue in Maryland three weeks ago and every site for the entire month of July was booked in both the state and National campgrounds.
Knocked out a Rim2River this week. GCNP is still ridiculous with their mask policy. Certain things still closed, a few bus lines not operating, so that made logistics a pain. Spoiler
It's a unique park. The dark canyon walls are unlike anything I've seen anywhere else, especially compared to red rock in the rest of that area. It's mostly pull offs with short walks to canyon rim. I only spent one day there, and felt like I saw enough of it. At the end of the main park road there was one main trail that is probably 4-6 miles round trip. It takes you to a nice vista point. You can take a steep, winding road down to the river. It's a nice experience to drive it, but the area around the river is at a dam and the not that special. I wouldn't go out of my way to make Black Canyon the feature of a trip, but its a nice stop if you are in Western Colorado/ Eastern Utah. In western Colorado some other stops you could combine with Black Canyon: Dinosauer National Monument (very under rated, but also remote) Colorado NM (another nice canyon with cool rock formations) The San Juan Mountains in general are beautiful. The Million Dollar highway from Ouray to Durango is one of the best drives I've been on anywhere. Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs is very pretty. It's also super crowed. Independence Pass on the East side of Aspen is also a beautiful drive. Seeing the Maroon Bells in Aspen at sunrise is awesome.
Might as well add in a trip to Mesa Verde picturesque in a much different way than most of Colorado. When we went 4 years ago a lot of it was still burned out from a series of fires but the dwellings are cool to see, especially the ones that require a hike/descent and are slightly less touristy. Plus as a horse person my wife loved coming across wild horses grazing along the trails
Mesa Verde is awesome. Anyone who gets near there should go. As a head’s-up, some of the paths are pretty steep.
Wife and I stopped by there last year. I loved it, one of my favorite parks for the views but definitely doesn't require much time. It's pretty much entirely just driving along the rim and pull offs to walk out to viewpoints. We didn't take the road down into the canyon as we didn't have a ton of time and most things I read said it's not a must. Like tspa said the walls are stunning compared to most canyons.