national parks
-
Hiking Devils Garden Loop – Arches National Park, Utah
One really nice thing about Arches National Park is that many of the arches are easily accessible. A couple can be seen from the road, and a handful of others can be reached via a short, relatively flat and easy walk. But way up in the northernmost reaches of the park is a trail to… Continue reading
-
A comprehensive guide to Arches National Park
When I was a kid, there were a couple girls in my school whose families would head to Moab, Utah every single year for spring break. I never really understood the allure of returning to the same place over and over again when there are so many other things to see, but in retrospect that… Continue reading
-
A guide to visiting Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico
Never go to New Mexico and Arizona in July. This isn’t a lesson we’ve just learned. After previous family summer vacations to southern Utah and the Grand Canyon, we weren’t at all unfamiliar with the unpleasantly high temperatures and dehydratingly low humidities of the southwestern US in the middle of summer. In fact, we initially… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park: winter hiking in Glacier Gorge
I’ve hiked in Glacier Gorge in the summer. I’ve also hiked in Glacier Gorge in the winter. A lot, in fact. Winter in Glacier Gorge is one of my favorite things in Rocky. And while I’ve published posts on Sky Pond in summer and Sky Pond in winter and Black Lake in summer and Black… Continue reading
-
A comprehensive guide to visiting Rocky Mountain National Park
(Updated May 2025) Looking back, I realize I always took for granted that I used to live relatively close to a national park. Then I moved to New England, where the nearest “mountains” weren’t really mountains and the nearest national park was a full day’s drive away, and I realized how much I missed it.… Continue reading
-
The best views in Glacier National Park: Sperry Glacier and Lincoln Peak
Well. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally reached the conclusion of my Glacier National Park series. And boy did we ever save the best for last. I’m so glad we were able to end our trip at Sperry Chalet. It was a wonderful place to stay, and it afforded us the opportunity… Continue reading
-
Glacier National Park: a scenic boat ride and a hike to Dawson Pass
When my mom was a teenager, her best friend’s family invited her to join them on a three week cross-country road trip, from the flat expanse of the midwest to the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana. It was her first time ever seeing mountains and, as she tells it, she knew then that she was… Continue reading
-
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin (part II): touring the sea caves
Geologically speaking, the Apostle Islands were formed through glaciation and erosion. Over thousands of years during the last ice age, the glaciers advanced and deposited layer upon layer of sediment, and then carved out the enormous bowl that is now Lake Superior as they receded. In the years since, the constant action of the waves… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Lake Haiyaha
Up until June 2022, Lake Haiyaha looked like this. On June 28, 2022, there was a rockslide on the mountainside above Lake Haiyaha. On this peaceful, sunny morning, a large section of the landscape broke free and began to tumble down Chaos Canyon. Rocks ranging in size from small pebbles to apartment-sized boulders began to… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Upper Glacier Gorge Lakes
You know how sometimes you’ve been wanting to do something for so long and you’ve built it up in your head, and then you finally get to do it and it’s not as amazing as you were hoping, and you end up being really disappointed? This was not that. It was, however, something I’d been… Continue reading
-
Pioneers on the Plains – Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming
Ask anyone who has ever gone on a road trip with me, and they’ll tell you I planned far more things than we could possibly fit into the time we had. They wouldn’t be lying. I’m not exactly what you’d call a relaxed vacationer. But every once in a while – usually accidentally – I… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Cub Lake
The Cub Lake trail is one we neglected for years. It wasn’t intentional. It just never seemed to be at the top of my list. In the summer, I prefer to take advantage of the nice weather and hike in the tundra. In the spring, this trail is a muddy mess. And shortly after I… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: winter at Sky Pond… again
Is it possible to hike a trail too many times? In some cases, the answer to that question might be ‘yes.’ When the hike in question is Sky Pond, though, and it’s wintertime, I would argue that the answer is very clearly ‘no.’ Back in December 2020, we hiked to Sky Pond with our friends.… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Lumpy Ridge Loop
Calling anything “lumpy” is… well, usually not intended as a compliment. But in this case it’s an apt description of the haphazard rock ridge rising above the northern edge of Estes Park, Colorado. Nestled within a low spot amongst the rocks is Gem Lake, the first hike my fiance and I did when we moved… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: East Inlet Trail to Lake Verna and Spirit Lake
A while back, my mom and I were signed up for a summer solstice group backpacking trip on East Inlet Trail, with Lake Verna and Spirit Lake as our ultimate destination. Unfortunately, the first day of summer was marked by a massive snowstorm that forced a last-minute change of plans. Fast forward a couple years,… Continue reading
-
Landmark on the Oregon Trail – Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska
Back in May, Chelsea and I headed to the Dakotas for a long weekend to do some highpointing. Since we were driving all the way up there, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to detour through Nebraska along the way and visit some national monuments in the western part of the state. Our… Continue reading
-
Castle on the plains – Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
Bent’s Old Fort was in fact not a fort in the traditional sense. It may have resembled military fortifications, but it was actually a trading post. Brothers Charles and William Bent and their business partner Ceran St. Vrain built the fort a few miles outside La Junta in 1833, choosing this particular place because it… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Sky Pond (the winter version)
Frozen alpine lakes have become one of my favorite things since moving to Colorado. I just love the icy winter scenery so much. It’s already become an annual thing for us to hike to some of the more easily accessible lakes in Rocky every winter. But this winter, my friend and I had a more… Continue reading
-
Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Deer Mountain
It’s not every day that you hike a trail and find yourself nearly face-to-face with its namesake animal. But such was the case on Deer Mountain. (Better than coming face-to-face with a bear on Bear Peak, I suppose.) There were four of them, and they couldn’t have been more than 15 feet (4.5 m) away.… Continue reading
-
Exploring the Needles – Canyonlands National Park, Utah (part I)
Years ago, I set foot in Canyonlands for the first time, a stop on a summer national parks road trip. We spent a full day in the park, seeing as much as we could. But we knew we’d barely scratched the surface. This time around, I was determined to see more of this beautiful red… Continue reading