NPS Unit Count: 80/430 US Unesco World Heritage Site: 14/24
Hey there Adventurers! I have to say I am super excited to recount the next many posts for you all! This trip in June was to check out Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, but there are many national park sites in New Mexico including several #USBarkRangers sites, so I planned a week loop from Albuquerque to do some cool shit! I had been to far southern New Mexico once before, but I left this trip with a new found reverence for a state I didn’t really think about too much. I feel like these sites that I visited should be visited by every single American. And, I also felt like I came back with a degree in all things native southwest!
If you choose to follow this “series,” which will encompass stops to Chaco Culture, Mesa Verde, Aztec National Monument, Pecos National Historic Site, Bandelier National Monument with a short stop at Valles Caldera National Preserve, Petroglyph National Monument, Salinas Puebo Mission National Monument, and Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, you, too, are going to learn about kivas, Pueblos, the Puebloans, missions, etc! Also, since at this point we all know I can be a little long winded, other than Mesa Verde, this will probably be the longest entry of the series! (and it is mostly pictures and videos!)
After I landed in Albuquerque I headed out toward Chaco Canyon and Chaco Culture National Historic site! I took a minor risk on this part of my trip. I had booked a hotel in Farmington, NM, which is all the way up near the NM/CO border, for the evening and Chaco is geographically in between, sort of, but not really, due to the lack of access. But, luckily flights and weather were on my side and I managed to make it to Chaco as planned! It should be noted that merely getting to Chaco is no small task. There is a very large chunk of North/Central New Mexico that is the middle of nowhere and that is where Chaco Canyon is. The GPS will lie to you. The website for the park says as much and they were not incorrect. I wrote down what the park said for directions, but even with that I still had to call en route to clarify. Cell phone signal does not exist, and the gps tries to do its damnedest to take you through small communities where the roads are actually not roads or are blocked off by Native communities. Once you do manage to make the right stop off the highway the NPS has done a good job with signage. But the road is remote bumpy, gravel and dirt, and there is a whole lot of nothing for 20 miles. But in any event I arrived at Chaco at about 3 PM local time.
Surprisingly, there was someone coming down the road behind me and we exchanged picture taking! This is probably one of my favorite signs now!
This is Fajada Butte a towering part of the landscape here, at around 450 feet tall.
Chaco Culture Historical Park is a Unesco World Heritage Site (I am starting to rack up the US ones, so I have now added a counter for that as well!) and let me tell you…this is a very important place to visit. In fact every single one of these sites I visited on this trip are super important and encompass things that are not really taught in schools, and I think every American should visit.
I would say that the first thing everyone needs to know is that the native tribal populations in North America a thousand years ago were neither primitive, nor “savage”. The ancient Puebloans maintained a network of roads, trade and culture that extended as far as Mexico and central America during the the 800 to 1200s CE. This site does have evidence of human habitation dating back nearly 10,000 years as well! Most of what is left in these sites here at Chaco is original, with little to no restoration! Many sites are now being left unearthed to protect them for future generations and hopefully better archaeology techniques. This site is in Chaco Canyon and was the major center of the Ancient Puebloans, is one of the largest native sites north of Mexico, and is one of the most important cultural sites in the United States. The Hopi and modern day Puebloans consider this site their ancestral homelands. That is all I will share, but you could probably spend years learning about this site, so go visit and get started!
Upon entering the park area you will first pass the cool sign, then the campgrounds, then you will come to the visitor center. From the visitor center you immediately have access to hikes that go to some of the ancient ruins as well as ancient petroglyphs. Pretty cool! This area is called Una Vida and I was quite impressed with this area by itself! This is high desert, so altitude, water and exposure are the prime concerns for safety. Upon leaving the visitor center the road through the park is a several mile loop that stops at several key sites.
Fajada Butte from the Una Vida ruins. Taken by me. The visitor is visible in the middle left.
There is more to see here than is easily visible. There are at least three distinct ruins in this area of Una Vida in this picture. . Click on it to see the better view! Taken by me.
Some of the petroglyphs visible near the Visitor Center. There are many more in this area and indeed, through out the park. However, a good eye is needed for many of them.
At some point on this stop I realized that I was woefully unprepared for the educational side of things that this site was going to provide (and, indeed, ALL of the sites to come!). I had no idea what the hell a kiva was. I had a vague generalization of what pueblo meant, and I had no idea about the connection of all of these peoples throughout the now southwest US. Puebloans are basically people who use bricks with mud (no small feat considering the desert environment) to created their villages. And yes this is an obscene generalization, but that’s how I can most succinctly characterize these people. They all spoke/speak a similar type of language but it’s not exactly the same. Their descendants are still actively participating in the Pueblo culture in the Southwest. A “kiva’ is a sacred community center that is usually built into the ground, is round or square, has a roof that is able to support people actively doing people things on top. The entrance is through a ladder from a hole in the top and there is fire inside the kiva where the smoke is diverted up and out of the same hole in the ceiling by means of rocks set up to do this job. If you watch any of my videos, you can tell that I was ignorant because I reference the big round holes in the ground as pits, and I even speculate as to whether they were grain or water storage! Oops! I had no idea of any of this going out on this trip. Bad me. I got lazy, didn’t research, and didn’t know what I was getting into!
In any event, the surviving ruins here at Chaco are amazing in size and complexity. After checking out the sites near the visitor center I headed further into the park. I was amazed at the extent of the preservation of the sites and the limited work the NPS has had to do to preserve these sites. I was also surprised at how accessible the sites are. You are allowed to walk into the ruins, through the doorways, and if you aren’t watching your step you could fall into the kivas! (don’t do that!) Most of the large sites are along the north side of the loop. The first stop is called Hungo Pavi . This is an unexcavated site that contains a Great House with 150 rooms (yes 150), a great kiva and a plaza. What unexcavated means is that the ruins are still partially covered by wind blown sand and vegetation, which actually protects the site. The policy of not excavating would come up more at Mesa Verde and was surprising to my ignorant self.
The entrance to the Hungo Pavi site.
These are the first ruins of Hungo Pavi that you will see upon starting the walk to the site. Taken by me.
Selfie in front of that same site.
Hungo Pavi. Taken by me.
Pretty amazing craftsmanship for a thousand years old! Taken by me.
The next stop is Chetro Ketl which is the 2nd largest Great House here and included a 2nd and a 3rd storey. To get to Chetro Ketl one takes a path from the parking lot to the right, and if you go to the left you arrive at Pueblo Bonito. Chetro Ketl was a step up from Hungo Pavi and super impressive. But despite the impressiveness of Hungo Pavi and Chetro Ketl, well, Pueblo Bonito is why people come here. This pueblo is huge. It was the most important site here with 800 rooms. The site was built between 850 and 1150 CE and was the center of the Chacoan world. Cacao from 1200 miles away in Mexico has been found in jars in the site. Unforunately, the weather started to look suspect and the wind really picked up, so I decided to expedite.
Entrance to Chetro Ketl.
Some of the ruins at Chetro Ketl. Taken by me.
Video of Chetro Ketl.
A kive in Chetro Ketl. Taken by me.
Several kivas seen here. Taken by me.
National Geographic Society plaque for Pueblo Bonito. Take by me.
Approaching Pueblo Bonito
The Placard here gives you an idea of what the site would have look liked in ancient times and also what the site looks like now from above. Being at ground level really does not do any justice to this area. Taken by me.
1000 years old and as far as I known, not restored in any way. Taken by me. The next several pictures are all from Pueblo Bonito.
More of Pueblo Bonito. Taken by me.
Check out this video from Pueblo Bonita!
There were other things to do and see but I was concerned about the wind, which at this point was quite strong…and carrying sand, not pleasant, and the clouds coming in. I surely did not want to get caught in any kind of rain on the road getting out of here. But, the last thing I saw and will mention is the ancient Chacoan roads. This entire area was connected though a very functional and extensive road system. In Chaco Culture the roads are not easily seen other than from above, however, at many of the sites the “stairways” can be seen. Essentially these people built very straight roads and did not like curving or going around, so when it came to elevation changes they essentially built stairways down the cliffs to continue the road in a straight fashion! I stopped to check one out as the weather came in and did it in a hurry and got on my way. It was quite difficult to see, but what cool history!
This is not the only stairway in the park, but it is the one the park highlights. The stairway is right in the center of the picture. It looks like its actually paved. Any it took a minute to see it. Taken by me.
This was a very incredible place to visit if you can make it. Coming in I expected a canyon and some ruins. It was that and so much more! The history in this place is outstanding. You should definitely go, 100 percent! I only spent 2 hours here and could have easily spent an entire day, if not more. Next up will be Mesa Verde National Park!
Hey there Adventurers! We just started 2026, but I am just now catching up on my trips from 2025! First up was a spring break road trip the sidekick and I took to D.C. in March! This was a crazy trip idea to begin with. We drove. In one car – a Toyota Corolla. With two dogs. And we left Thursday morning and came back Sunday. The goal of this trip was to facilitate a #USBarkRangers meetup at the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C. As we only had two days in town it was a short trip but definitely worth sharing!
The first morning in town we met up with a group of our crew at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. This is an NPS unit that has a Bark Ranger program and a neat Bark Ranger tag, which is why we scheduled an event at this location. This is a really neat area to escape to in D.C.! In summer, the gardens are gorgeous, but it was still quite cool in March so the park itself was not spectacular, but the meet up event was great! We had maybe 15 members and their dogs attend and we did some pack hikes and had a large group swearing in with the Park Ranger! So cute! Later we met up with another group of a half dozen or so members of our group for pizza before calling it a night.
The sidekick and her Bark Ranger Lily!
Me and Bark Ranger Maisy.
The whole Kenilworth #USBarkRangers group! Taken by the nice park ranger!
Nicki and me with our Bark Rangers, and the Ranger who did all the cool NPS stuff for us!
This is the gardens area. It was march and obviously the pretty flowers were not ready yet!
But some flowers were starting to come in!
The struggle getting this dog to act right for a picture is real.
The next day we got up early and met up with another large group at the MLK, Jr. Monument in the National Mall. Nicki and I got down there early to park and went to the FDR memorial first to get in some brief sight seeing. Afterward, we met up with our crew and went to the Cherry Blossom Festival location. This event is actually put on by the National Park Service and they did a big group swearing in for us as well! Super cute! The trees were just starting to put out the blossoms, so it wasn’t great for that, but the events were great for our group!
Nicki took this picture…it’s hilarious actually…Maisy never has her ears down like this! But she was NOT having it with FDRs dog, Fala! This is the FDR monument.
The sidekick snagged this of us in front of the Washington Monument.
And her and Lily got the same from me!
The cherry blossoms were just getting started when we were there. Jefferson monument is in the background.
At the MLK monument.
Trying to get this Bark Ranger to pose…
MLK monument. Taken by me.
Some of these trees were trying! They are not all cherry blossoms, but some are. Taken by me.
This was part of the group that came out to get sworn in as Cherry Blossom Bark Rangers.
Check out this super cute group swearing in the Park Rangers did for our group at the Cherry Blossom Festival!
Afterward we actually met up with yet another group of people, some who were not part of either of the two previous events, down in the Potomac Park Area. We set up some chairs and socialized for a couple hours. Overall these were all super chill and fun events for our #USBarkRangers group! Because of the timing of things there was not a lot of D.C. exploring to be had…so I made a decision that I would be coming back. I didn’t really know it at the time, but I would come back just 6 months later, so stay tuned for that post!
This was the first of two official Bark Ranger Events we did in 2025 and I actually met up with another member to do Bark Ranger stuff over the summer. It was really amazing to actually get to do events with people from our amazing group! My next post is going to feature a sequence of parks in New Mexico including Colorado’s Mesa Verde, so stay tuned!
Hey there Adventurers! If you just read my Puerto Vallarta post you may have noticed I mentioned it was my last trip of 2024. That’s true, it was. However, I forgot this brief visit in Indiana earlier in November!
George Rogers Clark NHP is probably the very first NPS unit I ever visited. I grew up in Indiana only 45 minutes from this park, and everyone took a field trip there in elementary school! I already have this in my NPS unit count which is why there is no new count at the top. That being the case the last time I was here the internet did not exist, nor did cell phones, digital cameras, or any such sorcery! I found myself in Indiana in the early part of November and took a quick couple hour trip up from Evansville to Vincennes, IN.
There is a lot of history here. I will give a brief account, and you can fill in the rest. This area was settled before the Revolutionary War (our native bothers and sisters, of course, where here before then). Once the war broke out G.R. Clark was in charge of the Virginia Militia in Kentucky. He was instrumental in the US forces taking Vincennes from the British during the war. This entire area was know as the Old Northwest and part of British Quebec. This weakened the British positions and they ceded all the land to the US in the Treaty of Paris. Essentially, G.R. Clark was the reason we gained the land that would lead to the modern day states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.
The monument here was built nearly 100 years ago and honors the man. The site of the fort is the approximate location of a fort called Sackville, but that exact location is unknown. At the end of his life he was broke and had a tarnished reputation for being a drunkard. The entire site in Vincennes is quite nice and pays homage to his history despite the rough end to his life. This is not a site you would go out of your way to visit. There is no Bark Ranger program here either, but if you DO catch yourself in southwest Indiana, this is a worthy couple hours detour for sure!
It’s really a beautiful monument. Taken by me,
The do live interpretations here, always neat to see! Taken by me.
Another side of the monument and the way inside. There are a decent amount of steps and no way around them either. Taken by me.
The statue of G.R. Clark inside. Taken by me,
The oculus at the top of the monument. Taken by me.
There are several of these beautiful murals detailing the history of the area. All taken by me.
Hey there Adventurers! My last trip of 2024 took me to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for a few days around Thanksgiving. The Sidekick was doing another one of her volleyball vacation trips and I was tagging along for a a few days (I guess I was actually the sidekick?). If you managed to get through my last post, cheers! This one will be much shorter!
This was my second trip to Mexico and my first to P.V. We had a room at the Hard Rock, technically in Nuevo Vallarta, and it was great because it was all inclusive! It was a definitely a nice place to stay and it wasn’t terribly expensive either, considering. The company that hosts these trip is called SOB South of the Border. We got in on a Friday, and the ball stuff didn’t actually start until the next day, officially, so it was a chill day of resorting and beaching. The previous one of these trips I tagged along on was to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. This was much, much nicer (see: more Americanized). I ventured out into the market spaces outside of the resort, and even managed to negotiate prices on goods at the market, all in Spanish! I would not have tried that in Ixtapa. But, as in Ixtapa, there is a level of care and maintenance of their beautiful beach that we seem to lack here in the states.
Taken be me. No trash to be found on this beach. None.
I mean….I can get these pictures every day of my life, but hey…it’s a Mexican pelican! Taken by me.
The view from out room! Not to shabby! Taken by me.
I guess I was technically the sidekick on this adventurer! But anyway, she snapped this of me on the cool concrete marker of the resort!
Taken by the sidekick.
The trip was really chill and mostly hanging around the volleyball events but there were some other big highlights. Although the water was warm, it was quite rough, but I was still able to take a couple hours to go kayaking. We took a super fun afternoon/evening cruise out to my first foreign national park. That cruise was great with cool fruits, all you could drink Modelo and wine, and a return trip featuring the crew really showing out, acting like bad American rockers. It was delightful! The Parque Nacional Marino Los Orcos del Mismaloya is off the coast to the south of Puerto Vallarta. The arches in the name are the main attraction, the Mismaloya Arches. Small boats can cruise through one of the arches, but our vessel was too large, though the captain did take us in as far as possible. The big rock island is a huge bird habitat including the blue footed booby. This is one of the few places on earth you can see these birds and I did manage to snag a picture of one! It’s not great but I will include it! There was also ample opportunity to hang with professional volleyball players, including a few that I have already hung out with a few times prior to this trip, and a new Olympian. And of course, there were some volleyball shenanigans with some old friends from the previous trip!
Great Volleyball Player Savvy Simo. Nicki has known her a couple years now, and I first met her in 2022 and also again in Ixtapa. She’s a great player and a great person!
Selfie on the fun cruise out to the park.
Puerto Vallarta from the Pacific! Taken by me.
Sunset from the cruise. Taken by me.
The National Park. You can see one of the arches on the left. Taken by me.
Another view of the rock formations. Taken by me.
One of the arches.
The blue footed booby! How cool! Taken by me!
Super fun crew on our trip back! Taken by me,
Boat captain took us in pretty close! Taken by me.
Some of our Vball friends! The near right side is an Olympian, on the left are two other amazing pro volleyball players I have known for a few years now! Taken by our server.
I rented a kayak for a while….pretty hard paddling with some big wind and waves, but fun! Taken by me.
So that is all I am going to write about this 4 day trip as it was obviously more of a relax, chill, and enjoy the playa more than anything else! Fun trip: Puerto Vallarta was definitely a cool place and there is a ton more fun stuff to do than I did. I would go back! That was my last trip of a fun 2024! I am really trying to make an effort to get through my 2025 trips in the next month or two. As a preview: my 2025 featured two DC trips; one trip to St. Louis; one to Chicago/Michigan and a brief return stop to the Dunes; a stop at Mesa Verde National Park, which is now maybe landing at number 2 or 3 of my favorite parks, plus many amazing sites in New Mexico; a long visit to Washington State including Olympic, North Cascades, and a very brief afternoon at Mt. Rainier; and a long trip to Australia/New Zealand! And in case you are wondering, I have spring break planned but nothing else yet. Look forward to seeing Big Bend National Park! I am also going to try (again) to summit Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and I am trying to to get to Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona ahead of it possible being made National Park 64 (that legislation is in the works, but who knows)!
Hey there Adventurers! 2024 was the year of some big parks which culminated with a solo visit to the largest National Park in the United States: Alaska’s remote and rugged Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I am going to start by saying this is my new favorite park: 10 out of 10 would recommend!
Wrangell-St. Elias is a massive, but remote park. It is named after the two respective mountain ranges that straddle the US/Canadian Border. Mt. St. Elias is the third highest mountain in North America and second in both the US and Canada, as it sits on the boundary between the two countries. Flight-seeing is the way most visitors see that mountain, but I have already done a flight-seeing tour of Denali so I chose to not do that. This national park is fully larger than the entire country of Switzerland, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks COMBINED. Wrangell-St. Elias is also almost mostly unreachable and untouched. But just almost. Many people consider at stop at the visitor center in Copper Center as sufficient. Off of the extremely scenic Richardson Highway on the far eastern side of the state, with views of the landscape within the park boundaries, the visitor center in Copper Center is on the way to Valdez and where many people stake claim to a visit. Another way many people claim a visit is via cruise ship in a small area called Yakutat. This area is actually on the Alaskan panhandle and relatively close to Glacier Bay NP. However, there is a road in the interior off of the Richardson Highway for those up to the challenge!
Picture of Mt. St. Elias borrowed from connie-fox.pixels.com. From the Copper River Valley, and the McCarthy/Kennicotte area the third tallest mountain in North America is not visible.
I made the long trip from Tampa and arrived in Anchorage at an inconvenient time, but a cab got me to my nearby Airbnb. The following morning, the very, ahem, eccentric owner of A-1 Car Rental picked me up. After a stop at a garage sale (I did say he was eccentric!) we got to his … lot?…and I got a 4WD. Due to some poor reviews and his unwillingness to take any money deposits, I contacted him a few times over the months just to make sure everything was good. He always talked my ear off, but seemed a legit character. Anyway, after he ended up asking for a decent amount of money LESS than he had quoted me months ago, we still had to go to another spot to get a tire repair kit and a jack. Soooo…after all of this, my intended 9 or 10 AM start on the 6 to 7 hour drive didn’t get started until closer to noon.
As I departed Anchorage, I noticed crystal clear skies to the north. I had my Milepost book with me and got a wild hair up my ass…so I pulled over and looked up where the first big viewpoint of Denali could be found. The great news was it really wasn’t that far, maybe an hour out of the way to Willow, 2 hours round trip. So I did it! And, I got one of those spectacular crystal clear shots of Denali that doesn’t even look as if you are seeing a mountain, more a ghost than anything! The viewpoint is still ONE HUNDRED MILES away from the mountain! Anyway, the bad news was that after trekking the 2 hours out of my way, I still had nearly 7 hours to go to McCarthy! I was driving the Glenn Highway, which has many scenic stops but those had to wait until the return trip.
Denali from Willow Alaska, 100 miles away! Taken by me.
The Glenn Highway is spectacular, boring, and then amazing, depending on the weather. I was making a beeline to McCarthy, so most of my sightseeing was on on the way back (read on) but with the clear skies, there were amazing views of the famous Mt. Drum toward the end of the highway. The picture I took is the same as the ones you have probably seen before, but it is mine so enjoy! Mt. Drum is a dormant stratovolcano within the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park boundaries and is the end, or beginning, of the Wrangell Mountains and rises a dramatic 12,000 feet in front of you. The traffic is pretty sparse so I was able to snag the iconic picture on the road!
Mt. Drum, taken by me. This is west of Glennallen, Alaska. I am glad I got this picture this day, because coming back the mountain was hidden!
After driving 180 miles to Glennallen, the last “big” stop before connecting to the Richardson Highway, and fueling up, there was STILL another 125-ish miles left to go. As you can imagine, despite these being highways, this is a remote, sparsely populated area of Alaska, with little in the way of amenities and very little cell phone service. There is a visitor center in Copper City, and this is the one you want to stop at. The visitor center in Chitina looked small and doesn’t even appear to be open. There is a visitor center in Kennecott but it is actually quite small, more of a station, and does not have a sign for the park, so do not miss the Copper Center one!
The sign appears to be made from copper, apropos for the park!
The McCarthy Road is the way to actually drive into this massive park and visit the towns of McCarthy and Kennecott. Really, this was the only part of the trip that required the early planning. The McCarthy Road used to be an old railroad track. The track was covered by dirt and rock a few decades back and became a road. One has to watch for serious potholes and remnants of not only the rail line, but also stray railroad things (like spikes for instance) that can deflate, literally, your dreams of reaching the little towns of McCarthy and Kennecott, both located inside the park, more or less. I will get back to the history of those areas later.
Upon reaching the McCarthy road, the pavement soon gives way to gravel/dirt and a sign warning you that going further is not a good idea. It is roughly 60 miles and 2 hours through a whole lot of nothin to reach McCarthy! This drive is not one you want a problem on. Very few cars come down the road, there is no cell signal, and there are 0 places to stop for anything. Anyway, the road was actually not that bad when I drove it, save for a couple spots. I understand from the locals that it most definitely can be bad depending on rainfall. The Kuskulana Bridge is a super cool bridge that will test your courage if you are not a heights person. The bridge is the wooden, one lane variety, and crosses the Kuskulana River, about 250 feet up. The bridge has access to the under side, although walking across seems to be blocked off. Fun fact, this bridge had zero guard rails until 1988. Imagine driving across that in the Alaskan wilderness with no guardrails!
This is the view just a bit before coming to the small town of Chitina, the start of the McCarthy Road. Hiding in the clouds there is 14,000 plus footer Mt. Wrangell.
Meh.
I snagged this picture of the Kuskulana Bridge from a viewpoint a bit before the bridge.
The underside of the bridge has a walkway but it is closed off. Taken by me.
Bridge selfie! Those guardrails were not there 30 years ago!
Finally, I arrived at McCarthy, AK, population 107, as of 2020. If you are planning a trip to McCarthy it should be known that you are not allowed to drive into the town. There is a paid rocky parking lot, that you can also camp in, along the shores of the Kennicott River. Once upon a time, people had to cross the river in a bucket on a cable! Now there is a foot bridge for tourists. The locals have a separate bridge elsewhere that only they have access to, but visitors must park at the parking area at the end of the road. The town has provided wagons to help with shuttling luggage across if needed, but once across you will have a half mile or so walk mostly uphill, over rough gravel. There are privately scheduled shuttles that will pick you up for a small fee as well. Unfortunately, as I got there late, the shuttles were no longer running so I had to get all my stuff to my airbnb the old fashioned way. It was after 9 PM, but seeing how this is Alaska in the summer, even in late July there was still plenty light for me to get to my Airbnb and settled in for the next 3 nights. My place was right in McCarthy and only a few minutes walk from the main strip. By main strip, you should remember where I am…the main strip was a dirt road, and included the famous hotel in the town, Ma Johnson’s (this one is pricey and needs to be booked early!), an awesome daytime restaurant, The Potato, a late night bar/restaurant, The Golden Saloon, a general store that has wifi if you purchase something, and some excursion outfitter offices, so temper expectations. There are a few other lodging options in McCarthy as well. If you are interested, the AirBnB I booked can be found here! It is relatively affordable, the host was great, there is wifi pretty close, and it’s close to the McCarthy “strip”! Anyway, I walked to the Golden Saloon and had a bite to eat and a drink.
This is the footbridge to cross to access the towns.
The next morning I woke up early to another spectacular day and hopped on one of the shuttles up the road to Kennicott. Kennicott is effectively the ghost town of the old Kennecott mine, a super well known and recognizable historic landmark in the National Park. And yes, the two names are indeed spelled differently although they are interchangeable and there is a story there, but not a very interesting one (also I am not being particular about which spelling I am using throughout the post!). There are some homes up there, some outfitter offices, and there is one big lodge up there as well. Anyway, I had planned for an excursion with St. Elias Alpine Guides, one of the two big outfitters in the area. This day was a hike onto the Root Glacier, including an ice wall climb! As luck would have it, I was the only person doing this particular hike, so it was just me and the guide, which was actually really cool! From the mine, the hike to the glacier is a couple miles. It should be noted that not all that long ago one could walk straight out onto the glacier from the town itself…and that a mere 100 years ago, the glacier was so predominant that the distant mountain ranges were not visible above the glacier. Now, it is quite retreated. In any event, the 3 mile hike to the edge of the glacier involved carrying special boots and crampons to walk on the ice. After gearing up it was off to step foot onto Root Glacier! To walk on the ice required a certain gait and way to step, but it was quick to learn. The ice is not smooth. It is very rough, with a sharp consistency due the surface melting. We trekked a pretty far distance up the glacier before my guide found a suitable wall to prepare the climb. What a neat experience! I was quite nervous about the whole matter. I wasn’t even entirely convinced I was going to do it until I turned up as the only one on this tour, so of course I had to do it! The views on the glacier are pretty killer. To the north is the Stairway Icefall, a 7,000 vertical foot icefall that feeds Root Glacier. This is one of the tallest icefalls on the planet. To the northwest is Mt. Blackburn, a towering mountain 26 miles away. It is the tallest of the Wrangell’s at nearly 16,500 feet. The hike also offered plunges into super cold glacier pools. I declined, and I am pretty sure my guide was grateful for that. He did offer me the chance to rappel down into a crevasse/hole in the glacier. I told him he was nuts and he told me its “pretty safe if done correctly.” Um. No thank you. And I do not regret that decision.
Gnawing on some Root Glacier ice.
The icewall we climbed on the hike.
Ice Climb time!
My guide took this. Mt. Blackburn is off in the distance, the snow covered peak in the center. That is 26 miles away! The root glacier is behind me. It is not just the white part, but also all the gray connecting to it. It is the bulk of the picture actually!
The Stairway Icefall. I had to zoom in a bit, so the picture is not great, but this is the 7,000 foot fall of ice that feeds the Root Glacier.
The hike took up the better part of the day but we got back to the mine around 3 PM. That was time for me to check out the NPS ranger station a bit and walk around the old mine and town. I had a mine tour scheduled for the next day so it was not a terribly thorough exploration. I took the bus back down to my Airbnb. As chance would have it, there’s a member of the #USBarkRangers group that LIVES IN KENNECOTT! She actually reached out to me a couple weeks prior to suggest meeting up and we ended up meeting that evening back up at Kennicott for some outdoor music event (?!). I was unsure if I could go because the buses only run to like 7 PM and I was thoroughly uninterested in the 5 mile walk down the mountain side but my Airbnb host was gracious enough to let me use one of her bikes, and she told me the bus would let me take the bike up, and then I could bike down, so problem solved! Anyway I met up with this lady at this open space on the edge of the cliff at this town event that was amazing and cool as hell! There was a mixture of seasonal residents, and tourists, there is a town food truck up there, and apparently they bring in bands from around the state to play during the summer! This was a random Tuesday afternoon, but was super awesome seeing this band playing in this setting! Afterward, I biked the 5 miles back down to McCarthy. En route, I found a side trail that went off through the woods and gave access to what is called the “toe” of the glacier. This is basically where the glacier is breaking up and poking out of the water. The big mounds of dirt here are not actually dirt but still parts of the ice just covered in gravel. If you look closely enough you can still see the ice and even hear the creaking of the ice! I was the only one out here, it was dusk, and this is grizzly country, so I didn’t linger but I wanted to check it out as the next morning’s excursion was a paddle in the same area.
Find me better live music venue! Taken by me.
This area is called the toe of the glacier. I am stadium on solid ground, but everything on the other side of the water is actually ice. If you look carefully Kenecott is visible on the right side at the bottom of the mountain.
I got back to my Airbnb and made dinner with what I had brought in my cooler. I later went to the bar anyway, because one cannot miss out on Alaskan beer! A couple came in at about 11 PM and provided a very useful reminder of the preparation needed for these Alaskan trips. They sat down and immediately asked if they could order food for the family. The bartender explained that the kitchen was closed, the cook was already gone, and they only had some boxes of cereal sitting around but no milk. The lady was beside herself. They had come in the same way I did, but apparently did NOT stop to get food at that Glennallen Gas Station because they though this bar’s kitchen was open later than it was. The bartender reminded her where she was and that any hours she saw on the internet are not firm. However…another Alaskan lesson….these people are friendly. The barback working offered to run to her house or wherever she was staying, and bring back mac ‘n cheese to make in the kitchen for the family. A great ending to the story, but don’t neglect to take advantage of every chance you get to stop for supplies when you visit Alaska!
The next day I woke early for my paddle…and as forecast, it was cold and raining heavily. I walked to the outfitter, still St. Alpines, and low and behold…once again I was the only person on this tour. I told my guide that she could take the morning off if she wanted….to her credit she was like, naw this is cool, it’ll be nice and easy only worrying about one person. Meanwhile…it was like 45, maybe colder, and pouring. There was a dry suit involved and I was wearing TWO supposedly water proof layers, to be sure so ok! The paddle was actually quite a good workout and interesting. The views were not great as the area was fogged in, but the eery and quiet calm of the water at the toe of the glacier was super neat. Three hours later I was chilled to the core, discovered that water proof is apparently a subjective term, and was under a blanket for the next hour with the heat cranked in the cabin as high as it could go!
I rallied, went to lunch at the Potato, and headed back up to Kennicott for my afternoon tour of the mine mill. To tour the mine you must book with St. Alpine Guides. There is another outfitter in town, but St. Alpine is the only one with access to the mine. This time there were other people, like maybe 15, s it was a decent sized tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of this mine. I am not going to get into the ins and outs of the mine operations and how this mine was pretty revolutionary in how it worked, but I will take a minute to give the history of the area now. Roughly 130 years ago some men where doing Alaska pioneer things and came across natives talking about land where the ground was green. The men were intrigued and trekked to this area and found this green land. The green was actually copper strewn about on the surface. So, capitalism happened. A railroad was build where none had any right to be built and brought access directly up to Kennicott where this gigantic mine was constructed over the next couple decades. The mine was very lucrative as the deposits here were unusually pure. Thousands of workers set up shop here. Many were immigrants and part of the experience was going to school to learn to be American, or at least speak English. The mine town was a full functioning town but pretty much nothing fun was allowed, so that’s where McCarthy came in. The town at the rivers edge at the bottom of the mountain was were a miner could find bars, brothels, etc. Kennictott was for work, and McCarthy was for fun!
This is the famous Kennicott Mill. Taken by me.
Most of the mine site is in terrible ruin and some of the buildings are collapsed. Some are still in great shape and used by the NPS as displays open to the public during operating hours. The large 14 story mill is the iconic structure of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It is also in quite a bit of ruin in certain places, but the NPS does allow tours conducted by St. Elias Guides. The NPS is actively working to preserve the structures so they will hopefully be around for decades to come. The mine tour begins at the road level and then goes up an uphill trail behind the mill so that the mill tour actually begins at the top of the 14 story structure and then the tour works its way down the 14 levels of the mine. Without getting too technical here, the mine is an engineering marvel, considering where it is located. The copper came in the top and basically, depending on how pure it was, worked its way down the various levels. As time went on the really pure ore disappeared and then this facility pretty much pioneered a new way to extract copper from what would have been considered waste. The mine was in operation for about 30 years and made the equivalent of nearly 2 BILLION dollars in profit in the early part of the 20th century. Around 1940 the mine was abandoned. Wrangell-St.Elias National Park was founded in 1980 and the NPS acquired Kennecott in only 1998. The mill is the only part of the mine that requires a tour. Many of the buildings are open and functioning as museum pieces, though some are still labeled as private residences. Some are standing but closed due to disrepair. There are several long hikes around to get to different mining areas further up the mountains. I did not do any of those. But there are guides that will lead you.
The video I took may contradict my typing, but I think this was the school and also a lodging building. Taken be me.
This is the road between the mil to the right, and the facility where poor quality ore was sent to be processed for profit. Taken be me.
These two buildings were bunkhouses. Both are unopen. Taken by me.
One of the ruined structures.
This is the top of the mill where the tour starts. It looks a little suspect. Taken by me.
View to the north from the top of the mill. Taken by me.
Selfie at the top of the mill.
Walking tour of Kennicott, narrated by me. It’s 15 minutes long, and may not be entirely accurate, but if you are bored give it a go!
After the tour I explored the entire area not part of the tour, and then I had to rush to make the last van as I had not brought my bike along. And let me tell you…I was in the front, wedged between seats in a thoroughly bad way. There was not going to be another shuttle…so it was that or walking! The driver said that the driver of the the other van that was supposed to be operating decided to stop working for the day sometime earlier! So, if you go, understand the shuttles are super helpful and convenient…but it’s Alaska! That evening I grabbed my borrowed bike and went around the town, back across the footbridge, back to the toe area, just to kinda get the last visuals in. The weather had vastly improved in the afternoon so it was a beautiful early evening!
View of the Kennicott River from under the footbridge. Taken by me
Weird collection of old cars just sitting on the main strip in McCarthy. Taken by me.
The next morning I got up early and packed out my stuff and hit the road. I feel like this drive back to the Anchorage area took nearly 12 hours…because it did. Remember, on the way out, because I stopped to see Denali, I did not have time to stop and really view anything, so coming back to Anchorage I did stop often. The big thing to see along this high way is the Matususka Glacier. This is a huge draw for tourists as its only 2 hours or so from Anchorage. Again, the glacier, which is visible for miles and miles of this drive, has retreated so much that is used to be easy to drive up to and walk on, but now requires a lot more effort and a required ($$) guide. I drove down the road to the entrance area, but there isn’t much to see, so skip unless you are hiking the glacier. Pro tip…there is an elementary school off of the highway that actually has killer views of the glacier.
Finally, I arrived back to Anchorage, and it was only 6ish so I drove down to Girdwood, to make a repeat visit to Girdwood Brewing. I love their beer and I needed a new glass! A couple hours later I sat down to dinner at 49th State Brewing back in Anchorage and called it a night.
The following day was my last day of this trip but it was a full day. I did not have any real firm plans for this day so I ended up checking out Eagle Lake Discovery Center, Lake Eklutna, and Thunderbird Falls. All of these were in the same area about an hour north of Anchorage. They were nice for what I was looking for, but nothing too special. When I got back into Anchorage I called the A1 dude to return the vehicle. He asked what I was doing the rest of the day, I told him I was planning on some Moose’s Tooth Pizza. Being the every interested party as he was, he strongly suggested I go to the sister restaurant, Bear Tooth Grill instead. He then offered to drive me AND pick me up if I would just give him a slice or two! Anyway, I got back to the Airbnb (I had rented for the night even thought I would be leaving at midnight). I decided I was not quite done yet, so I called a cab and went to Matanuska Brewing for my last Alaskan beer (sadly it seems that at least the Anchorage location I visited has closed). And with that, it was a trip!
Overall Impressions: This is about as great of a National Park trip as you can take. I am writing this entry more than a year later and I have really enjoyed reliving this trip. This park is my favorite now, and I would love to go back!
Hey there Adventurers! I know I have said this before, but I am really trying to get caught up on my trips! Summer of ’24 included two amazing trips to see two parks, both of which have claimed the title of Crown of the Continent. We will start with Glacier National Park, National Park 41 for me!
To begin with, one should know that this park is widely considered to be the best park in the NPS system and the visit here generally happens in a small window in the later summer. A trip to Glacier National Park cannot be discussed without first discussing the ordeal that is planning, scheduling, and paying for a visit to this pinnacle park! The Sidekick was in tow once again. Southwest flies to the northeast, southeast, northwest, and almost every thing in between, but there is a sizable void in the north central part of the country. One could fly into Bozeman but there is a lengthy drive up to Glacier. So, we actually ponied up and *gasp* purchased tickets on other airlines to fly directly to Kalispell, MT. That was the easy part. The tough part was lodging. Camping was out of the question. She needs a proper bed for back issues, weather is suspect as hell that time of year, and I am not tenting out in grizzly country anyway! So the options are the in-park lodging, which isn’t cheap and is not easily available, or you lodge outside the park, which is also expensive, and requires lengthy drives in and out each day. We settled on in-park lodging, which was a hassle! I started booking the three main lodges in June of 2023. For the next roughly 6 months I kept canceling and rebooking, looking at the schedules nearly every day to achieve the goal of 5 consecutive nights in the park between the three main sections of Glacier National Park: Lake McDonald Lodge, Many Glacier Lodge, and Rising Sun Motor Inn. By around January or February, I FINALLY got our 5 nights! Those were 2 nights in the Rising Sun on the East side of the park, 1 night at Many Glacier, and then 2 nights at Lake McDonald. Stay tuned for a very big problem at Lake McDonald Lodge!
For the route we took on this trip we came in from Kalispell from the west to West Glacier, then followed the southern route around to Two Medicine, up to St. Mary, up to Many Glacier, and back down to St Mary, past Logan Pass to Lake McDonald, the large lake between Logan Pass and Apgar, and then back out through West Glacier.
Ok, so its June and GO TIME! Our very first night in the area was in Kalispell. Upon landing we grabbed the car, got supplies, checked into the hotel and took the nearly 45 minute drive up to the visitor center in West Glacier just to get a lay of the land up there. We would not be back until the end of the trip and just wanted to make sure we actually got a chance to get to that visitor center during operating hours.
The sign in West Glacier, taken by the sidekick.
The next day we got up early and headed toward the east side of the park. We did not take the famous Going to the Sun Road for this segment. Rather, we took the highway that goes around the south of the park. I had read it was a neat drive, and we were going to an area of the park called Two Medicine in the southeast quadrant. The most sensible route was the one we took. Of course, being late June in summertime Montana, we ran into temperatures in the 30s and ice/sleet on the way! But once we got to Two Medicine the weather was a bit better. We took in the stunning views and then had a boat ride across Two Medicine Lake. This ride is a short cut to Twin Falls. After departing the historic boat it is about a mile or so hike to the falls. I have to say this area of the park was stunning, and I think more so than the rest of the park, maybe an unpopular opinion! When we got back to boat dock we ran into a cute goat family, the first wildlife of the trip! We also talked to a ranger in the small station here who had a legit Bark Ranger with him! After spending some money in the gift shop, we were off to our lodging at the Rising Sun Motor Inn in the St. Mary area inside the park’s East Entrance.
The Sidekick snapped this on the shore of Two Medicine Lake.
On the boat ride in front of Sinopah Mountain..
Quick video on the boat ride across Two Medicine, with the Sidekick acting foolish.
The appropriately named Two Falls. Taken by the Sidekick
This goat family was hanging out by Two Medicine Lake. Taken by me.
I want to spend a quick moment to point out that this side of the park is adjacent to the Blackfeet reservation. They are very much active in the administration of this part of the park and the names here are still their names. For instance, Two Medicine is a Blackfeet name, as is Sinopah Mountain in the same area. Blackfeet flags are present in this part of the park, and the visitor center actively makes reference to the Blackfeet tribe.
Display inside the Visitor Center on the east side of the park, near the Blackfeet reservation. This was not in the other visitor centers. Taken by me
Closer view of the previous picture.
The three flags of the park. The Canadian flag is displayed because Glacier is a combined park with Waterton National Park right next door, across the border. The park unigrid designates the park as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
After checking out the visitor center here, we headed into the park to our lodge at Rising Sun. The lodges in the Rising Sun Motor Inn are very spartan, as expected. There is no cell signal, also expected. If you are driving a large vehicle, parking at your individual room might be tricky but there is parking at the restaurant and store and you can also find some sweet spots in that building to get wifi and/or cellular signal. (If you want more reliable cell signal, there was a good spot in St. Mary Village but you had to walk around a bit to find it!) What wasn’t really expected was how cold it was! Over night I about froze! Our lodge was a one bed, and I had brought along an air mattress, so part of that was being in the nook between the bed and wall with the heater on the other side of the room which did not allow heat to get to me, but the room was quite drafty, as well. It was late June, and I have been to Alaska earlier and later than this and not been that cold overnight!
The St. Mary Lake area is quite splendid! If you are on the east side of the park you aren’t going to miss it. There are plenty of great viewpoints of the lake and then as you go further up some amazing views of the mountains and the valley. There are waterfalls everywhere and even a viewpoint of a glacier along the road. Fun fact, there is a tiny island in the lake called Goose Island, which was the location used in the opening scene of the original TheShining movie!
A shot I took of St. Mary Lake looking west. The boat is one of the four boats operating across the lakes in Glacier.
I really like this shot I took of the east side of St. Mary Lake.
The iconic Goose Island, taken by me.
Even though we were to traverse the Going to the Sun Road to Lake McDonald a couple days later, we got up the next morning and went ahead and drove up to Logan Pass anyway. Despite being late June, there were still many feet of snow at the pass and the spectacular Highline Trail was snowed in and closed. The pass sits at around 6600 feet elevation and is on the continental divide. The parking here is notoriously limited, and the visitor center and parking lot were jammed, despite the trail closures, so be sure to arrive early! The road only opened a few days prior to our visit, and it seems everyone was rearing to drive through even if they couldn’t hike. Despite missing the hikes here, the drive and the views are spectacular! We had lunch on a roadside pullout with maybe the best scenery one can find!
Jackson Glacier is visible in this picture, one of the few remaining glaciers visible from the road. Taken by me.
There are many waterfalls in the huge valley along Going to the Sun Road on the east side of Logan Pass. Taken my me.
The snowpack still at the pass. It was June 29! Taken by me.
Another parkgoer was nice enough to snap this picture of me and the Sidekick at the Logan Pass sign.
Clement’s Mountain towers over the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Taken by me.
Coming back to Rising Sun we hiked to the awesome St. Mary Falls, ran into a bear and her baby, and found a really amazing and super easily accessible spot that gives killer views at sunrise. This is the Sun Point Nature Trail area. We stopped here this afternoon and then came back for that sunrise view the following morning! The Guide Along app was once again an MVP on this trip, but even it didn’t offer this site as a stop. Don’t miss this spot! Literally, the best views of St. Mary Lake are found here!
The Sidekick took this of me in front of St. Mary’s Falls
Adorable baby! Taken by me.
And a good shot I took of mama. Apparently, they were often in the Rising Sun area.
We did not utilize a tour on one of these, but these are iconic and old tour busses which still operate in Glacier! Taken by the sidekick.
Our next day was the trip up to Many Glacier. After catching sunrise at the Sun Point Nature trail, we headed that way. We had some mail to drop off and found a small post office in Babb, MT, but we were early and drove up to the border to wait for the post office open. After an awkward but brief drive onto Canadian soil with a Canadian border agent escort to fill in the time, we found ourselves at the Many Glacier Lodge. We immediately ran into goats and amazing views. Somehow, despite paying a reasonable price, we had a room with a balcony, lake side, on the second floor, pretty much the best room you could get! As we were only here that afternoon, this part of the trip was short but no less great! That afternoon we hiked around the lake a bit and ended up at Fishercap Lake to go looking for moose. Apparently moose frequent this lake and we found one! We were hiking and came across her (assuming a her, no rack in June) in the woods and followed her out to the lake and watched her swimming across. So cool! (also, a friendly reminder to stay back a good bit as moose are not to be trifled with!)
Sunrise at the Sun Point Nature trail. I did edit out an annoying shadow, but other than that, what a gorgeous spot! Taken by the Sidekick.
The same spot as above.
The Sidekick snapped this one of me in front of a Blackfeet Nation Art installation just south of the border outside of Babb, Mt. The Two flags on the right are the Montana and Blackfeet flags.
Many Glacier lodge, taken by me….was hoping to find a better vantage point.
In front of Swiftcurrent Lake, the lake the Lodge sits on.
This was the view from our room balcony in the lodge! This was actually only an hour or so later than the picture above, so weather can change in a hurry! Taken by me
Came across this one hiking around Fishercap lake. Taken by me.
Followed her into the lake. Pretty cool! Taken by me.
The next morning we had to ad lib. You can hike from the lodge to the Grinnell Glacier or take a boat as a shortcut. Well, getting those tickets was tough. I managed to get one persons worth of tickets, but we could not get the second set. You can standby, but there were a ton of people trying to do that. From the lodge, one boat crosses Swiftcurrent lake. From there you hike a bit to Lake Josephine and catch another boat. Then that boat takes you to a much shorter section of the Grinnell Glacier hike across Lake Josephine. However, as we only had one persons worth of tickets, we were told that we could hike all the way out and then both of us could one way back on the boats. So we hiked from the lodge all the way to the back end of Lake Josephine on the Grinnell Glacier Trail! It was about 3 miles or so. It was awesome. We ran into people coming the other way who were warning of a grizzly on the trail, so we decided to only go to the boat dock and come back. The remaining part of the Grinnell Trail was still snowed in anyway, and while on the boat coming back we could see bears very near that section of the trail, eek!
Cool photo op along the trail, taken by me.
The Sidekick got this one of me at the same spot as above.
We departed Many Glacier early in the afternoon and made our way to the Lake McDonald lodge on the west side of the park. To make this trip we drove the much lauded Going to the Sun Road. We had suspect weather along the drive, but this is definitely a great drive, and well worth all the accolades! The only gripe was the weather had a lot of the drive fogged in, but when there were clear sections, it was spectacular. There were many view points along the way, and we stopped at a noteworthy spot called Red Rock Point, which gave awesome access to the raging creek running through, a cool spot to not miss!
A photo op near the famous “Weeping Wall” on the GTTSR. Taken by the Sidekick.
There are a crazy number of waterfalls in Glacier National Park! Taken by me.
Lunch along the Going to the Sun Road. This spot was east of Logan Pass Visitor Center.
The Sidekick snapped this of me in front of the creek at Red Rock Point. The spot is right along the GTTSR just north of Lake McDonald.
So, this is an unaltered picture. Those rocks are famously photographed and almost always over saturated…but yeah that can look pretty spectacular, especially with that gorgeous water! Taken by me in that Red Rock Point area.
We got to the lodge and had some problems. Not to get into things too much, we were in one of the buildings on the property, not the main building, but our room door would not open. A lodge employee was only able to get in by breaking through the window and even after that, was unable to fix the door. Additionally, another party was there and thought they had the entire building to themselves, and they were not particularly friendly about it. After a couple hours of waiting around (which we had intended to be spent exploring) we were told we would be moved into another building and given this huge area, essentially the entire second floor to ourselves, but we could only be there one of the two nights and then the lodge was to move our luggage to another room inside the lodge proper for the second night. It was a little more of a fiasco than what I wrote, but that is how it was resolved. It is probably an issue that rarely happens, but I feel like it should be known.
Inside Lake McDonald Lodge. Taken by me.
Lake McDonald. This trip gave so many reflection photo opportunities! Taken by me.
The Lake McDonald Lodge boat dock. Taken by me.
Despite losing the time that evening, we were still planning on hiking the Avalanche Lake Trail the following morning. This is a great trail, in fact the number one rated trail in the park, with an amazing payoff after 3 miles, making it a 6 mile roundtrip. There is also a nice walk of a mile or so at the start, the Trail of Cedars. Both make it a 7 mile trip. The Avalanche Lake Trail follows a really cool and scenic creek. Be mindful, as there were selfie induced fatalities on that creek around the time we were there. Avalanche Lake is spectacular. We didn’t have sun, but even so, it was still beautiful! Afterward we worked our way back to the lodge, hit some cool side spots on the way back, and did an evening hike along Lake McDonald before settling in to prepare for the trip home the following day.
The Sidekick snapped this one of me alongside the Avalanche Creek. That water is really moving!
In front of Avalanche Lake, taken by fellow hiker.
Taken by the Sidekick.
We got a little better sky and light before we left. Taken by me. I think its an awesome shot of a beautiful spot!
Overall Impressions: This is a huge park with a ton to see and do. There was an entire gravel access part of the park that we were not able to visit due to weather and time (even in a 5 day visit!) and then a visit to the adjacent Canadian Waterton Park would push the trip to probably at least 10 days to do everything. Despite our trip being the end of June and top of July, weather and snow is still a consideration you must account for. And yet, even so, there are plenty of humans around to remind you how popular the park is. Overall Glacier is a gorgeous park and absolutely one of the great parks in our country. Must see and experience and I would absolutely go back.
Hey there Adventurers! May of 2024 saw the Sidekick and I take a Memorial Day weekend trip to Tennessee to check out the Smokys and some other awesome spots in Tennessee! Included in this trip were stops at a mountain top amusement park, a couple state parks, another NPS site in addition to a return visit to the Smokys, and an intense white water rafting trip!
Once again taking advantage of Southwest Airlines, we took a free flight from Florida to Nashville. The drive from Nashville to the Knoxville area is not bad, and there are several nice Tennessee state parks close to the interstate. Our parks’ goals were to explore places that had Bark Ranger programs, or at least had Bark Ranger items for sale, to check the info on the handy dandy map we provide over at #USBarkRangers! We stopped first at Cummins Falls, in Cookeville, just a bit off of I-40. The park highlights a nice waterfall and a gorge. Unfortunately, due to recent heavy rains we were unable to go down to the gorge, so the visit was short. But we did buy Cummins Falls Bark Ranger tags for our Bark Rangers!
Cummins Falls.
Closer view of the falls. Taken by me.
As we neared Knoxville, we took a detour to check out Obed Wild and Scenic River, one of the NPS units in Tennessee, and one that offers a Bark Ranger program! The visitor center can be found in Wartburg, TN, though the NPS land is lengthy along the river, of course. The visitor center is dog friendly, as well! This site offers a free tag, a certificate, and swearing in of your Bark Ranger! Big South Fork, another nearby NPS site, is under the same administration and offers similar dog friendly amenities, but we were unable to make the trip to that site.
The Obed River near the NPS visitor center. Taken by me.
We managed to get into our AirBnb in Maryville early enough to still make it to the nearby section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, specifically the Cades Cove area. This marks my second trip to this park. My first trip was part of a roadtrip with another friend, and we were only in the Smokys for one mostly rainy day. Our early evening visit into Cades Cove was great! The history of the people living here in the Cades Cove area and the NPS is quite interesting. In a nutshell, there was a community here that was slowly but surely absorbed by the NPS through lengthy agreements with the people living there, and when the last resident left, in only 1999, the area all became part of the National Park. We stopped at some of the old structures there including the church. We made our way around the loop road and saw many bears, making this a very worthwhile evening excursion into the park!
Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church. The church was organized in 1827. Taken by me.
Inside the church.
Taken by the Sidekick.
A black bear cub. It’s mom and siblings were near as well. Taken by me.
Another Cades Cove native. Taken by me.
Black bear cubs in the trees in Cades Cove!
The next day we got up early and headed for the obligatory sign picture. We entered the park through Townsend and drove up to Clingman’s Dome. (After this trip Clingman’s Dome was renamed for the old Cherokee name for the mountain: Kuwohi). As in my previous visit the dome was pretty fogged in, though some glimmers of distance could be seen in some directions. We stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center close to Gatlinburg, and ended up having a conversation with the ranger in charge of the Bark Ranger program there! It was a great 30 minute or so talk! It is important to note that Bark Ranger programs in the parks are an entirely voluntary outreach by the park. Some parks place more emphasis on this program than others and some parks are naturally less dog friendly than others. Great Smoky Mountain National Park falls into the latter category (bears). They do have a cool tag you can buy and a great certificate that the rangers will fill out. They will even do a swearing in, IF THEY HAVE TIME. This is the busiest National Park in the country and if the visitor center is slow, they will do the swearing in. However, it is rarely slow, so temper expectations! As far as dog friendly areas, there are two trails, one by each of the visitor centers, that are dog friendly. Other than that your pups are best off (and required) in the car or only outside on the pavement portion of overlooks!
This view was found in one direction from Clingman’s Dome. Taken by me.
But, this was most of the view from the top of the mountain. Taken by me.
However, just down a bit, near where you turn to go up the dome, you can find this view while the top is fogged in!
The visit to the Smokys was only a part of this trip, not the focus, so that was about the extent of the Smokys part, but there was plenty more fun to be had! The next day saw an early breakfast at Sunliner Diner, a cool diner in Pigeon Forge, with convertibles you can eat inside of, before heading to the great tourist trap known as Gatlinburg, TN. But, in this case, the visit was well worth the money! We checked out a park called Anakeesta. After taking a tram up the mountain, you can access this amusement park. You will find some killer views of the surrounding mountains, plus some beautiful themed landscaping, restaurants, live music, and of course, some mountain roller coasters! After finishing up here we took a roundabout way back to our Airbnb, which took us past Dig’n Zone, a construction theme park in Sevierville. I am not going to say much about it except that the tickets were way too expensive. But we stopped in the parking to see what was going on. The Sidekick narrated a video I took, so we’ll let that do the ‘splainin!
Wait staff was kind enough to get this pic of the me and the Sidekick in one of the cars in the Sunliner Diner.
Posing in front of the tram to get up and down Anakeesta.
This is the observation tower at Anakeesta. Taken by me.
The Sidekick took this one of me on the observation tower.
This is a video that Anakeesta makes of your ride down the HellBender Coaster! Pretty cool! They use their own sound track however.
The Sidekick gives a great narration at Dig’N Zone.
The next morning was an hour or so drive down nearly to Chattanooga to grab a rafting trip on the Ocoee River. The sidekick and I have both been entertained for years by watching videos of a hillbilly river guide named Fast Fred (be sure click the link to get a sense of the man). He operates on that stretch of river and we managed to get him as our guide! The Ocoee is a dam release river and was also the site of the 1996 Olympics white water course! This stretch of river goes up to class IV, which are pretty significant rapids, both in danger and intensity. As expected, this trip was full of both! At one point the Sidekick got sucked out into a recirculation, but she was quickly rescued by another raft. She was, and continues to be, pretty upset by the whole ordeal, and cannot be blamed. Fast Fred made a mistake and told us to lean one way, and it was the wrong way. He acknowledged his mistake at the end of the day, but that just highlights that it is a dangerous activity and even the best and most safe guides can make mistakes! As for me, I can say that the beginning of this run had me skittish, then I was super stoked after going through the hard parts. Then seeing the Sidekick go for a swim was rattling.
This is a 360 degree video, the fun stuff starts about 1.30 in. This is the stretch of the river that was used for the ’96 Olympics.
This is the section where the Sidekick went for a swim. It wasn’t long but this stuff is definitely extreme!
Being silly at the Ocoee Adventure Center.
Posing with Fast Fred.
Later that evening we ventured out an explored some of the Foothills Parkway which is a part of the Smoky Mountains National Park. If you are a driving enthusiast, you might know this road as an extension of the famous Tail of the Dragon drive. It had been an exhausting day and also the weather was suspect, so we did not venture too far down this road, but I did want to mention it since there is a sign there and I had actually not even heard of it until this trip!
The Sidekick took this.
This area on along the Foothills Parkway really emphasizes why these mountains are called the Smoky Mountains. Taken by me.
Our last day in Tennessee was the drive back to Nashville, but there were still some stops to be had! We made stops at Cumberland Mountains State Park and Burgess Falls State Park. Both of these are close to each other and pretty close to I-40. Other than a lake and a neat damn, Cumberland Mountains State Park was mainly a nice picnic and walk through the woods type of park. Burgess Falls was more of the hiking to a cool waterfall payoff park. After this trip, I can say I am impressed by the Tennessee State Parks. The ones we visited were very clean, well maintained, the staff were very friendly staff, and of course, beautiful scenery.
I took this picture of this neat bridge you have to drive over in Cumberland Mountain State Park.
Burgess Falls, taken by me.
Overall Impressions: As my first real exploration of the Tennessee nature scene, I am a fan! It’s a pretty state with lots of fun things to do! Once again, be prepared for weather to play a role. The TN state parks are a real nice supplement to a trip through the state for sure.
Hey there Adventurers! The Sidekick and I went out to Texas to catch the Great American Eclipse in April last year. AND IT WAS AMAZING. The US was blessed to have easy access to not one, not even two, but THREE amazing eclipses between 2017 and 2024, and I got to see all three of them! The eclipses in 2017 and 2024 were both total eclipses, sometimes referred to as a “diamond ring” eclipse and the one in 2023 was an annular eclipse, also referred to as a “ring of fire” eclipse. All were awesome, but the diamond ring eclipse just hits a lot different that the ring of fire. The reason for the difference is the the moon is further away from the earth during the annular eclipse and does not entirely cover the disc of the sun, whereas the total eclipse sees the moon closer to the earth and it will cover the sun entirely. Apparently I did not make an entry on my 2017 eclipse experience. But you can find my entry on the 2023 annular eclipse here.
To be sure, this trip was complicated. Firstly, I could have went up to my family in Indiana, which was in the path of totality. However, being April, and having spent 22 Aprils in Indiana, you never know what the weather will be like. I also entertained other areas in totality served by an airport that Southwest flies to. However, there was the same basic problem: April weather. In the end we settled on almost the exact same area we caught the 2023 Annular Eclipse: Texas. The appeal here is it is south, meaning probably better weather. It was also close. With the eclipse being on Monday afternoon and both of us needing to be back at work the following day, there was a non stop flight between Austin and Tampa that left after the eclipse and got in that evening at a reasonable hour.
NASA’s graphic of the path.
Months ahead I started looking for lodging. The path went though the San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas areas. The best flight pattern was to Austin, so the search was mostly there. I was sorta letting the price of lodging lead the way. And it wasn’t good news at all. Seriously, hotels and Airbnbs were advertising in the THOUSANDS of dollars PER NIGHT for that weekend. It was looking pretty bleak. But then we found and booked two spots in the Waco area. One was an RV on the eastern side of the city. The other was about 45 minutes to the west of Waco and out of the path so we would have to drive a bit. Waco was directly in the path, and in fact, almost the best place in the US for the eclipse. Because both of these places were coming up at like $150 bucks a night I booked both in case the hosts forgot what that weekend was and decided to cancel on us and then re-list with the jacked up prices. Coming into Friday before the eclipse, lodging was looking good, and in fact I canceled the western one and let people in an eclipse group know about it. The next problem: car. I had booked a rental car months in advance. On that Friday, I got home from work in the early afternoon and noticed the Facebook groups were starting to grumble about rental cars. Then I saw people saying that the Austin area was entirely out of cars. I immediately made a call to my rental agency. While on hold, I opened up Turo and found a car with an hour or two cancellation policy and booked it. It was reasonable…like maybe $400 for the 3 days. After being on hold with the rental agency, I was indeed told that they had no car for us! But I had the new Turo booking! It was a a little pricier but wow…super fortunate!
Meanwhile, the weather was not looking great. The forecast was pretty overcast but allowed for some uncertainty. So, Saturday morning we got on the plane. Even though everything logistically was a “go”…it was still a great big question mark if our lodging or car would actually be available to us when we got there. Literally, we were in for maybe 6 or 700 dollars for an event that it seems everyone was paying thousands. And who knew how the weather was going to go! But, we landed, the car was delivered in person to us, and we got to the Airbnb, an RV in an RV park on the banks of a river on the Eastern edge of Waco. We were there, with a car, and beds to sleep in!
During the day on Saturday we stopped at a National Park Site in Waco called Waco Mammoth National Monument. This is a mammoth excavation site and is mostly indoors. In the planning for this event, we thought it would be really cool to check out the eclipse here! This site has a Bark Ranger program to boot! We got there and the place was packed. The line for tickets to get inside was like maybe an hour or two long. So we made a real quick decision that we were not going in. We did however find a ranger, the one who was in charge of the Bark Ranger program, and we spent a good long time chatting! So it was still a worthwhile visit! We got eclipse passport stamps and some swag. But it became very apparent that this was not going to be the ideal place to catch the eclipse due to crowding. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really a whole lot to take pictures of other than the sign.
Got a passeryby to snap this.
I don’t do the Junior Ranger thing, but I did snag this one!
A cool eclipse stamp at Waco Mammoth.
After leaving Waco Mammoth we went exploring. Some Google researching was done, and after driving around a while we found the spot: Cameron Park, specifically Lovers Leap, which overlooks the Brazos River from 100 feet above. There isn’t much parking, but it is a beautiful area up on the cliff overlooking the surrounding area. And, if it were to not be available for the eclipse, there were a whole bunch of other spots along the road through this area that looked like they would do. After an evening hanging out in Waco we turned in. Oddly enough were were staying very close to the Branch Davidian compound, of the David Koresh cult fame. On Sunday we drove out there to take a peak. The compound is still there and the Branch Davidians still live there. How bizarre!
The Sidekick snapped this at Lovers Leap in Cameron Park.
Found a cool eclipse beer!
The entrance sign for the Compound.
The place is actually open to visit during the week, but closed when we were there.
So, Monday arrived. The weather forecast had indeed improved, but it still wasn’t great. It looked like there MIGHT be a chance of some open skies during totality. We drove up to the park early on Sunday, maybe 9 or 10 AM. We found a great parking area and got our spot set up and staked out! We popped some beers and wine and chilled, chatting with those that wanted. The cloudiness was there, but honestly was not nearly as bad as I had feared, and I was optimistic. The eclipse started. I had my phone set up with a filer and tripod. During the lead up to totality I got some awesome shots! The sky had cleared enough to actually see the eclipse! There were occasions where the clouds obscured the sun. But the big question was…what happens during the time totality! The 2017 eclipse was glorious but there were wispy clouds interfering. As totality grew closer, there were some big clouds lurking around…and to be honest, it was looking like it could go either way. If those clouds moved past it would be great, if they didn’t it would not be visible. At precisely 1:38 PM the total solar eclipse began. It was mostly cloud free, and the small clouds that were there, seemed to fade away. You can see this in my video and apparently it is a “thing” that this can happen with the thin clouds as the temperature changes. For 4 minutes and 13 seconds there was nearly nothing to obscure the eclipse. It was amazing and totally awesome. Although I had been lucky enough to see this 7 years prior it was not nearly as clear and glorious as this one was! Absolutely jaw dropping. The temperature change, the quiet, the weirdness of the shadows, the city lights turning on, the energy from the people. Amazing. From the total uncertainty if this trip would even happen just 3 days prior, to seeing this rare and glorious natural spectacle, it’s almost as if we were meant to see it. And for 4 minutes and 13 seconds we existed in this ethereal environment. And then just like that, it was over. 99.9 percent totality is not 100. It’s not fully bright, but its not at all 100 percent. And within a few minutes, 98, 97, 90 percent: the day was basically back to no different than 100 percent sunlight. As we had a plane to catch, and there was a thunderstorm approaching we cut out a little bit after the total eclipse ended. The timing was impeccable. The video below is the lead up, totality, and after. It is a 360 degree video that I look with my Insta 360 camera. Please watch! Make sure to click and drag around for the full scene. All photos were taken with my phone, unless otherwise noted.
Be sure to click and drag around for the full 360 degree experience!
Pre-eclipse at 12:20. The eclipse started moments later. That is a sunspot in the middle.
12:27. The discoloration is due to clouds.
12:41
1:02.
1:24.
1:33
1:38 and totality. You can see a feature called Baily’s Beads
Not the best image, but you get what you get using a phone camera!
1:42 and the end of totality. I didn’t want to miss the start of the eclipse by being bothered with camera stuff. So this is the diamond ring effect at the end of totality. You can see a solar prominence on the right side.
I consider myself exceptionally blessed to have been able to see two total solar eclipses and one annular solar eclipse in my lifetime, let alone in a 7 year period! In case you are wondering…the next total solar eclipse visible from the US will be in 2044 but you’ll have to be in Montana, and some small parts of North and South Dakota to see it. There will be a coast to coast total solar eclipse crossing the continental US the following year. The next annular eclipse in the US will be in 2077. I’ll be sure to check out that 2045 one!
Hey there Adventurers! To cap off the trip the Sidekick and I took to Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks, we stopped at Lake Mead National Recreation Area to check out the Hoover Dam along with a stop in Sin City!
We flew into Palm Springs, CA via a handy, free Southwest flight and flew out on another free Southwest flight from Vegas. I had driven out of Vegas once to go to Zion, but never spent time in Vegas proper. To end this trip we spent an evening in Vegas, but first we went to the Hoover Dam to sightsee!
Having seen the dam in books for decades, seeing it in person was pretty cool! Despite my nerditude of national parks, I actually didn’t realize the dam was part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We “did” the dam two different ways. We first stopped to walk on the Pat Tillman Bridge which gives a great overlook of the dam from not too far away. Then, we drove down to, and over, the damn itself and then checked it out from the AZ side. The water level at the time of this trip was alarmingly low!
Taken by the Sidekick.
The Hoover Dam taken by me from the Pat Tillman Bridge. This is a great spot to see the dam!
These buggers have some damn good camouflage. I almost cropped out the third one!.
Taken by the Sidekick. The Pat Tillman Bridge is in the background.
The white rim there is where the water level usually is. Taken by me.
Afterward, we remembered that amazing interactive #USBarkRangers map we have created and thought to check where we were and discovered that Lake Mead has a Bark Ranger program with a cool tag! So, of course we had to stop at the visitor center and talk to the rangers about Bark Ranger stuff!
I took this on the grounds of the Lake Mead NRA visitor center. They have a really nice garden of local plants set up.
Afterward it was off to Vegas! I am not going to go on a long while about – this just some quick thoughts! It is very, very smoky there. The strip is not at all easily walkable. Apparently, it used to be, but now the city has basically prevented people from walking across intersections and built pedestrians bridges over them instead. This sounds like a good idea, but the problem is that many of those bridges do not go back down to street level on the other side, but force you across the street and/or lead you directly into a casino whether you wanted to go in or not. Annoying. We stayed at the Rio, and stopped at the Bellagio, had dinner directly across from the Bellagio fountains at a place called Mon Ami Gabi (it wasn’t cheap, but also didn’t break the bank, plus, we didn’t have to make reservations AND got an outdoor balcony seat to see the Bellagio fountain show!) and then checked out The Venetian, which was a really cool place in terms of architecture and design! Later in the evening, we cabbed up to Fremont Street and the downtown Vegas area. That was easily my favorite part of Vegas! There is a big section of that street entirely covered by a roof with lcd screens, there are zip lines hanging from that roof, tons of cool neon lights, and really, much more of what I was looking for my Vegas experience to be!
The Sidekick snapped this from the Bellagio.
I took this inside the Bellagio. This casino is beautiful and full of these stuff.
Gooding around somewhere! Taken by the Sidekick!
This is Fremont Street. Despite how it looks, this is outdoors, and the street is covered by that LCD roof. You can see the zip lines and a person zipping!. Taken be me.
And with that it was back home, and another big trip down. All in all, this trip hit two National Parks, 2 additional NPS sites, the Hoover dam, a ghost town, wild burros, a cool aerial tram, and my first Vegas experience. It was a great trip!
Hey there Adventurers! It’s April 2025, and Facebook sent me a memory of this trip a couple weeks ago, which is now a year old, so I figured I better get on with catching up! This trip was a tandem park trip with Joshua Tree. Be sure to check out that entry if you’d like!
After wrapping up our Joshua Tree visit, we headed north toward Death Valley. It’s a decent little haul between the two, at about 4 hours, with a whole lot of nothin’ in between. We did technically enter Mojave National Preserve and took a sign picture, but between the two there is not a whole lot going on…if you like brown, dry, and desert, this is your jam! But don’t mess around here. Once you leave Baker, CA…its about 60 miles through the desert before you run into anything! This being March, it wasn’t hot, but I can imagine if you came during the summer it could be brutal!
Neat sign pic here, taken by me.
I know I have mentioned this before in a couple other posts, but it is more accurate here than anywhere else: This place looks like another planet. You could tell me Death Valley was Mars and I would 100 percent go with it. But you didn’t have to tell that to George Lucas! He filmed several landscapes for the Original Star Wars Trilogy in Death Valley National Park, when that was allowed. We did not make it to all of them, but I will point out the locations we did stop at that were used in the first and third movies!
Before getting into the trip, a brief bit of logistics is needed. Death Valley is the largest of the US national parks outside of Alaska. It is actually quite a bit bigger than Yellowstone. If you are in a traditional vehicle, there is relatively little road access. Think of the park’s paved road system as a big x, with the cross about right in the middle.
The top left of the X is very remote, but it is a nice paved road that leads up to the volcanic area of the park. If you have the proper vehicle and want to tackle the full day drive to get to the famous sliding rocks, you would go that direction (we did not). Just be sure not go off the road if you do not have the proper vehicle! (More on that later – didn’t affect us!) The top right of the X goes through to Beatty, NV, where we stayed. The bottom right goes to the section of the park that most people will drive as it goes to some of the big attractions, most notably Furnace Creek and Badwater Basin. You can barely see that road in this map. That road is also paved. There is a paved shortcut not seen in my map, that connects Beaty Junction, almost due north to the upper right of the X, bypassing the middle. The bottom left part of the X leads out past the sand dunes, to Stovepipe Wells, and out to Panamint Springs. If you were to draw a straight line from the heart on that map to the west to intersect with the left of the X, you would also come across another road that leads to the old kilns and the Telescope Peak area. It seems this road is often closed due to snow, and it was when we were there. I will reference the roads/parts of the park by their quadrant of this X. As for lodging, you can find expensive and limited availability lodging near Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Beatty, and Panamint Springs. Beatty was our choice due to is being far cheaper and still pretty close. Despite being the gateway town to park, which hosts over 1 million annual visitors, this town is a wreck. More on that later.
We happened to pick a weekend in Death Valley that saw cold, and very windy weather, with snow! Who’d have thought? Come to the hottest, driest place on the planet and be freezing and driving through snow! After fearing the very bouncy AirBnb RV we stayed in the first night would flip over in the wind if the windows didn’t blow out first, we got up and drove in to the park from the top right of the X while it was still dark. We wanted to catch a sunrise at Zabriskie Point, noted to be among the best sunrise spots in the park. It was about 45 minutes from Beatty to the point, which is found a little past Furnace Creek off the lower right part of the X. It is a really neat spot for sure. You are not really catching the sunrise per se, as much as you are catching the sun coming up on the opposite mountains, across from Badwater Basin, and continuing up on the rocks near the point. You definitely want to catch this if you are in Death Valley! Bear in mind its a pretty popular spot and the parking lot is limited.
Me at Zabriskie Point, taken by the Sidekick.
Sunrise over Zabriksie Point, taken by me.
This is the view opposite, taken by me.
And this is sun coming across the beautiful striped rocks found here, taken by me.
After sunrise, we headed further down this branch of the X until we found one other small paved road that went up to Dantes View, a spectacular view point of Badwater Basin sitting at 5500 feet elevation. On a clear day there are views of Mt. Whitney, which means one can look at both the lowest spot and the high spot in the lower 48. While we were there it was 30 degrees and extremely windy – we did not stay too long! In the original Star Wars, this is the Mos Eisely overlook!
View of Badwater Basin from Dantes View, taken by me,
Just a fun panorama taken by the Sidekick!
From Dantes View we headed back toward the Furnace Creek area and stopped at the visitor center to get the required thermometer picture: it was a very pleasant 62 degrees! Then, we took the road down to Badwater Basin. This is the lowest spot on the continent at 282 feet below sea level! This is usually a super dry salt flat type of area, but we were lucky enough to be able to dip our feet into Lake Manly, the lake that forms there rarely, when conditions are right – a super neat thing to see!
Taken by the sidekick, at a pleasant half the temperature when many people take pictures here!
282 feet below sea level. Taken by the Sidekick.
This is the “shore” of Lake Manly. This lake only forms sporadically, depending on rainfall. Taken by me.
The Sidekick got this picture of me in Lake Manly.
On the way out of Badwater we made our way for the small paved, one way road up to Artists Palette. There is a nice spot at the start of this road that gives some decent higher elevation views of the rocks in front and the basin behind. It was incredibly windy here! Then we made on to Artists Palette proper. This is a really interesting area. There are many lower canyons and access to the tops of them. None of these are deep or anything like that, but you can see the beautiful blues and pinks in these rocks. This is a really pretty area! I suggest staying high to see the best views. Going down into the canyons is interesting, but you could probably get lost pretty quickly! This location was used in the original Star Wars for several shots at the beginning of the film.
I took this picture of some pretty flowers near Artists Palette.
Maybe the prettiest part of the park: Artists Palette, taken by me.
A closer view, taken by me.
I took this selfie down in the canyons of the Artists Palette area.
We headed on back to the middle of the park and a bit on to the bottom left of the X. Here, we found several neat areas! First up was a stop at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. This is a pretty popular area near Stovepipe Wells. This was also a shooting location for the original Star Wars film. We didn’t spend a lot of time here as it was…well…sandy. And windy.
The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. Taken by the Sidekick.
After a stop at the nearby Stovepipe Wells we headed to do one of our bigger hiking opportunities at Mosaic Canyon. With an elevated chance of rain during the day (right?) we scaled down hiking plans for fears of flash floods through the canyons. But at this point is was beautiful and sunny out, so we decided to take a very rough and rocky 2 mile or so road out to the Mosaic Canyon trail. This is a nice hike. Not hard, but an interesting canyon trail clocking in at 3.5 miles out and back. The name comes from the composition of the canyon walls being very mosaic! The trail “ends” at a boulder jam, at least for us. There is more trail to be found behind if you
I snapped this somewhat useless photo to show the reason this canyon is named Mosaic. The further in you get the more polished the rock becomes due to flash flooding over the ages.
The beginning of the canyon starts off with a gravel surface. I guess as it lets out from flash flooding up canyon? Taken by me.
The canyon changes color quite a bit as you further in as well. Taken by me.
After finishing our hike we trekked back toward the general direction of Beatty. Note that this was all in one day, and coming in from Beatty was in pitch black, so this was a new visual on the way out and was quite interesting to see how one gets into/out of the valley. There is a very significant temperature change you experience on that road between Beatty and Death Valley. I do not remember exactly, but I think there was a 20 or 30 degree drop on the road. I remember we stopped to get the necessary sign picture, the last time we were outside was quite warm, but for the sign it was quite chilly! Not far past the sign was the ghost town of Rhyolite, where we stopped next to explore.
The Sidekick got the obligatoy
Rhyolite by itself is a pretty cool place to visit. This is a ghost town, and I believe the first I have ever visited. The town ruins are on a mix of BLM and private lands, not in the park proper. Being that is definitely a must stop off the road into Death Valley I felt it prudent to add here. The place got its start in the early 1900s and was abandoned not long after. There is a weird, quirky “museum” and several outdoor art installations at the front of the drive into the ghost town. Check out the link for more info on the art. It is quite interesting, if weird. We stopped in and then explored the town a bit. It was really interesting to see that this place was actually a pretty populated place with schools, homes, stores, post office, etc, only 100 or so years ago. Most buildings left are in a very minimal state. The exceptions are the train station and the bottle house. The bottle house is very interesting. Apparently building houses using glass bottles with mortar was a thing where wood was scarce. Afterward it was back to Beatty!
This is called Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada. Taken by me.
This is the Last Supper. Taken by me.
This is the train station, which is very well preserved. The fence is newer I think, but keeps people from messing around inside. Taken by me.
One of the banks in the town. Taken by me.
This is the HD and LD Porter Mercantile. Taken by me.
The old school house remains. Taken by me.
This is a very neat house. I had never heard or seen of bottle architecture before. Taken by me.
So here we are back in Beatty. I have generally tried to be overly positive about the gateway towns when they have had obvious challenges. Beatty is a disaster, that to me, is lacking an excuse. The town is essentially the best place to access the park, and should be thriving with 1 million visitors a year. The first night the sidekick and I “explored” a bit. We found a really smoke infested (sorry smokers) casino, a newer seeming BBQ place with 0 veg options other than mac n cheese, a really grungy and smoke filled bar, and one seemingly ok place that was not open that night. That place was open our second night. It had a non smokey bar, and even though it had a decent sized menu, almost everything was out except the frozen Walmart French bread pizza…. And that was it for hospitality in the town. We saw no gift shops, no excursion operators, nothing. It is almost as if the town doesn’t realize it is next to one of the planet’s most unique spots. And yes, it is a bit remote and only around 700 people call Beatty home, but Las Vegas is only 90 minutes away, and everyone driving from Vegas to Reno has to pass through. One of the positive things Beatty is known for is a population of wild burros that like to hang around the town and that was super cool! We found them, got out to take some pictures with them, and some of them even came up to the car to let me pet them from inside the car! Now THAT was cool! Like, seriously, one of the most unique memories of my trips!
The sidekick snapped this one. It is a really neat sign for the town!
Checking out the car.
The Sidekick hanging out with some asses!
These fellas wanted a treat!
After a blessedly less eventful night in our bouncy Airbnb trailer we were off again but first we needed breakfast. We found the one gem in Beatty, a great breakfast spot called Mel’s Diner. There is no website or social presence I could find, but the food was great and was not expensive! Then it was back into the park. This time we began our day by heading up the remote upper left arm of the X. There are many warnings about not messing around in Death Valley. This day we saw the truth to that. After making the turn down that road, we stopped at a lonely restroom and ran into a park ranger. He asked us in a roundabout way what our plans for the day were. The road here is actually pretty new looking and in perfect condition. However, this road goes up to Ubehebe volcano crater, which is 40 miles up the road. Obviously, not knowing the condition of the road I asked, and the ranger said the road was fine, don’t go off the road. He also informed us that there was a lady up there stranded with a flat. I got the general impression that the Park Service wasn’t going up there to help out. So don’t mess around. The drive up there was simple and easy. There is nothing for that 40 miles or so. Near the “end” of the road there is an unmanned ranger station which has a phone. We actually came across this lady. The ranger station had a sign up with a phone number for tire repair in Beatty…I am pretty sure the sign had a price tag for that service which I am pretty sure was more than 1000 bucks. Someone can fact check me on that, I am surprised I didn’t photo the sign!
As a side note, there is another attraction up here that has been closed for some time and who knows if it every reopens. There is a large house called Scotty’s Castle. From the ranger station you make a right and the road here goes all the way out to the highway that runs out of Beatty, making another entrance in to the valley. But several years ago flashfloods damaged the house so it is closed. Also, the floods damaged the road and it is not open to the public anymore. Anyway, heading to the left takes you down through this really interesting and vastly different section of the park, that has a volcanic history. This is the Ubehebe volcanic fields and where we found the Ubehebe Crater. As an aside, we found the stranded car, it looked to me like the lady tried to take her sedan down one of the jeep roads and destroyed a tired. Don’t do that.
The Ubehebe crater is merely one of many, but it is the largest and youngest of them. It is only 2000 years old, about a half mile across, and 500-700 feet deep. It was incredibly windy, and the trail around the rim is very exposed and steep… parts that are visible look very narrow as well, so we decided to nix hiking. There is a second crater adjacent called the Little Hebe. Fun name! This area is sacred to the Timbisha Shoshone, which is where I gather the name comes from.
The Sidekick got me in front of the Ubehebe Crater.
In this photo I took the “Little Hebe” is actually just rising above the trail in front of the snowy mountain in the background. Taken by me.
The National Park actually urges caution for wind on this trail. It was very windy that day, so we did not hike the rim. You can see it is pretty narrow! Taken by me.
We actually found some great wildflowers in this area. Death Valley can occasionally have a superbloom. If you look up those pictures, it’s gorgeous! We were not there for a superbloom, but there was a lot of rain the previous fall (see Lake Manly, for instance) so there were plenty of beautiful wildflowers to be found!
Near Artists Palette. Taken by me.
The Sidekick snapped this near the Ubehebe Crater.
Some type of colorful plant. We also found this near the Ubehebe area. Taken by me.
The valley is not lifeless! Taken by me.
This was in the Ubehebe area also. The picture doesn’t really do justice. It was like a light yellow carpet down through this part of the valley. Taken by me.
Forty miles up to the crater meant 40 miles back down to the middle of the X. We still had the length of the southwest part of the X to explore. Although we had made it to Mosaic Canyon the day before there was more to check out! There is a road over here that I really wanted to take called Emigrant Canyon Road. The road was damaged from flooding the previous fall from one of the Pacific hurricanes (!!!) and it was unavailable at a certain point, but snow had closed the open portion when we visited. Snow. In Death Valley. Anyway, obviously we couldn’t even go down any of the road, so we decided to trek to the far western side of the park, an area called Panamint Springs.
If you wonder how close the national parks are to each other and how VASTLY different the landscape is in such close proximity, the western entrance to Death Valley is only 70 miles from the main entrance of Sequoia National park. Which of course is all forest and those gorgeous huge trees! Honestly, there wasn’t a ton of things to do out here other than stop at the “Resort” for a snack and a drink. Nice stop to be sure. There was one other hiking spot I was looking into, but it was washed out and closed. Bummer. Anyway, we kept going on and made spot called Father Crowley Point our terminus. This was not quite to the western exit/entrance, but pretty darn close. This spot gives a view of what is called Rainbow Canyon. This canyon used to be a military test flight site until recently, but there are not more fighter jets going through the canyon. And…it was here, that at a mere 4500 feet elevation, that it began to SNOW. Talk about a surprise! A serious surprise! Come to the hottest and one of the driest places in the world…find a rare lake, rain, and snow! Anyway, driving back down toward Panamint was an adventure. It is a very windy and fairly steep road. Of course there was a semi trying to drive up this in the snow. As we made out ways back down to the Panamint Valley there is a great opportunity for a very long road picture which was cool. After this it was time to head out and getting out of Panamint brought an awfully hazardous situation that we were not expecting. The drive up and out saw snow and very slick roads.
This is the Rainbow Canyon at Father Crowley Point. Taken be me.
The Sidekick got this shot of Highway 190 outside of Panamint Springs looing back toward Death Valley, which is on the other side of the mountains.
Overall Impressions: This is a huge park with a ton to see and do. That being the case, we were there probably about the prettiest time of the year, and rocks and sand have their own beauty, but it isn’t necessarily my favorite terrain. There is a harsh beauty here, to be sure! This is a park I would probably consider coming back to, because there were some cool things to do with an off road vehicle if one has the ability to do them and I would enjoy exploring those.
The Parks Adventurer 