My grandfather’s brother was a National Park Ranger at Crater Lake from the early 60’s until early 80’s. He would visit back to Ohio every few years and had one of those old fashioned projectors that showed slides. At 8 years old, I thought Crater Lake was the coolest place on Earth, but still haven’t been there. Once his kids got out of high school, he moved to Denali and was there until he retired.
#LeaveNoTrace fwiw orange and banana peels don't biodegrade quite as quickly as you might think and they can attract animals
Not sure where you are at yet but save some time for all the beaches South of San Francisco. Between Pescadero and Davenport. Also a few Redwood stops around there too iirc. My favorite stretch of Big Sur is between San Simeon and Gorda. We spent a night in Cambria for a middle ground between Big Sur and Santa Barbara, Sea Chest Restaurant. Before you get to Santa Barbara make sure to drive through the Santa Ynez Valley. Los Olivos and Solvang. Foxen Canyon Road. Combined with Santa Barbara its top quality landscape.
currently in arcata. going to sf tomorrow, probably two days there then sd, back up to la, then towards the grand canyon, phoenix, abq, sa, houston, home
yes, southern washington/northern oregon was the best part yet. definitely fell in love with a small oregon town that i dont remember the name of. would never move there though because pumpijg gas is not somethinf that requires human interaction.
Anybody have any Yellowstone tips? I'm not trying to hit all the tourist spots, so any hidden gems are welcomed
Are you driving in? I wouldn’t go out of my way if you aren’t, but if you are driving in from east, Bighorn National Forest has a very cool mountain road US 14 from I-90 to get to Cody. It’s a switchback road with very nice Mountain View’s on the east side, then a rain shadow set of terrain on the west that follows a snow melt stream down the other side.
Yea we're driving, but I think we're entering a different way since we're staying at a cabin in wind river the day before. I heard entering from Cody is amazing
you guys know of a good trip planning site/app? couple of people have asked about the path im taking but google maps wont allow enough stops
I’ve only been there once. We entered from the east and exited west because the south entrance was closed from a flood. I would not recommend anything outside the west entrance in Idaho. We crossed back over and did Teton/Jackson Hole. It’s beautiful this time of year with the snow melt. Waterfalls are everywhere.
I think that's the plan still. Drive up from Denver and spend one night there before rafting the North Platte then head to Yellowstone and wing it from there
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/05/29/arches-national-park/ Arches NP reopened today. 3 hours later they had to close the gates due to the crowd. Also, Grand County (Moab) wanted to keep some of its lodging restrictions in place, but the Governor denied their request. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/05/28/gov-herbert-denies-grand/
Those Utah parks are on the frontlines of the whole overcrowding issue. Their "Big 5" advertising really put them on the map and they're a victim of that success. BUt now its a detriment.
Absolutely. Most Utahns wish the State Tourism Board wouldn’t hype them as much, but the Parks drive the economies of the nearby towns. So the hype won’t stop.
Any thoughts on going to Glacier in two weeks for the 4th. Am I crazy? Never been and have wanted to go for a long time. Our summer flexibility is very limited and this would give us 4 days there. Looks like a good chunk of the park should be open from what I’ve read.
No idea on safety at the moment but went to Glacier a few years back in early September and loved it. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Downside was the fires were going so the western half of the Going to the Sun Road was closed so to get to the eastern side of the park we had to drive 3 hrs each way.
One of my dads bucket list items is going to as many national parks as they can. Got him this for Father’s Day Has a ceramic marker so he can fill in the parks he’s visited
It sounds like the Going to the Sun road is open to Avalanche Creek and most of the western side of the park is open. Just trying to figure out if there’s good hiking in the western side that would make it worth it.
Went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton 2 weeks ago for a few days. Hit up Bozeman/Big Sky and Jackson Hole too. Took this pic just before Jenny Lake at Grand Teton, almost doesn't even look real. The only Grizzly we saw was at Yellowstone when we were by our car. Was scared shitless hiking near Big Sky because they had an attack already and the bear activity is really high according to locals, had bear spray though. We got really lucky on weather it was 75-80 and Sunny.
Balls McLongcock how much of Grand Teton was open and what were crowd like? That’s the other option I was looking at.
We were there June 5-6 and wasn't too bad then. Probably more people there now and in the coming weeks/months. We took the boat across Jenny Lake Saturday AM and hiked up near Inspiration point and Cascade Canyon. We did see a lot of people hiking up and down during our hike but it wasnt too bad or annoying. We spent a lot more time in Yellowstone than Grand Teton but as far as hiking and stuff everything was open. I think some hotel there was still closed but we stayed in Jackson Hole which is like 20 minutes south of the very south end of the park.
I'm in Grand Teton right now. This was my first full day and I'll be here two more. Everything is open. The visitor's centers were limited and the park stores are limited capacity. I did one harder hike in the morning (Death Canyon) and it wasn't crowded at all. Did an easier hike (Taggart Lake) midday and it was pretty crowded. There seem to be a lot of people here, but probably not a normal summer crowd. On Glacier look at the Blackfoot Reservation's opening status. I know recently that was a problem, because the reservation had closed it's roads and that prevents you from entering the east side of the park. I loved Glacier when I went two years ago, and Grand Tetons has impressed me so far.
I love Seattle and think it’s beautiful, but I would put SF right there as far as natural beauty. Doesn’t have the mountains but the Golden Gate is pretty jaw dropping imo. The view of the city from the bay is very beautiful and I like the unique architecture, but I’m biased of course. The outdoor options are great too. Underrated as a city far as that goes imo. I’ve never done that much of the outdoorsy stuff in Seattle because I’m always there just for the weekend and don’t have the time, but I’d love to on a longer stay. I need to get back up there soon.
Gotta use taxpayer money to spruce up the parks in order to maximize the bids when they begin selling the parks/parcels of the parks to the highest bidders.
Meh fully funding that program is a great thing. Better that those repairs and maintenance are funded that way rather than through privatization.
That looks amazing I did the Taggart hike and took these pics last week My phone sucks but they still turned out great
in a moment of corniness during my first visit to the Marin Headlands, I called the view of the bay/city from there one of the things that makes you proud to be an American. In my defense, I was overcome by the sight, but I wasn't wrong. And since it's overseen by the NPS it fits in this thread
Basically the entire east side of Glacier closed for the rest of the year :-/ Off to the Tetons next week.
just last night I was trying to convince my wife that Glacier would be a good trip for late July. She wins
well now she's decided she wants to go to Glacier (as if it was her idea lol). This is the current closure situation, but if we stay in Whitefish we should be fairly well situated to reach the West part. For those of you who have been, recommendations on hikes/etc? not sure how much of the best parts are in the east vs west. thanks
Just did Zion and Bryce and it was freakin amazing. Highly recommend it to anyone- though the Angel's Landing hike is closed atm. Also if you can get a shuttle pass it's a pretty great time to go. Park is limited to about 1/3 of normal capacity.
I'll have to go through my pictures to remember exactly what hikes we did but some of the ones I remember off of the top of my head: - some of the Bowman lake trail near Polebridge (make sure to stop by the Mercantile for some sweets) - some of the Highline trail - Grinnell Glacier (took the entire day, though we were not moving incredibly fast) - Hidden Lake overlook and St. Mary & Virginia Falls Actually, that might have been all of the trails we did. I recall the first day was Polebridge, then we took an entire day to do Grinnell, and we tossed the other ones into one longer day. They were all amazing in different ways. I would go back there in a heart beat. We decided to take a day off and go white water rafting as well as fly fishing. Also, the Going to the Sun Road was closed when we were there so getting to East Glacier from Whitefish was about a 3 hr trip, each way. We also stayed right around Whitefish (we stayed up the mountain at one of the ski resort areas right above Whitefish). That little town was awesome. Found some good little restaurants and some solid beer choices as well.