Chilling on the California Coast
Glaciers that drifted across the upper Midwest tens of thousands of years ago bypassed the southwestern corner of Wisconsin. Instead of the flatlands that distinguish much of the region, a land of rugged bluffs overlooking shallow river valleys survived – Driftless Wisconsin.
Continue reading “Architectural Genius & the Bizarre in Driftless Wisconsin”
Duluth and Minnesota’s North Shore may rank among the Midwest’s best kept secrets.
Dan and his brother visited in 2018 as a diversion on a trip to North Dakota . A stop in Fargo netted Dan and his brother their 49th and 50th states, respectively. (Find that post here.) Smitten by Duluth, less so by Fargo, Dan returned to the North Shore with Dawn on their 2023 Great Lakes road trip for a second helping of “Minnesota nice.”
Continue reading “Duluth and ‘Root Beer’ Cascades on the North Shore”
Shipwrecks have taken some 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives on the Great Lakes over the past 250 years. The maritime museums that dot the shorelines are replete with tales of fierce storms and dense fog, bravery and bravado, negligence and incompetence. Divers can explore the remains at more than a dozen watery sanctuaries. And several glass bottom boat vendors offer glimpses of wrecks located in lakeshore shallows.
The itinerary of our three-week visit to the Midwest last spring did not include getting wet. So, we confined our shipwreck explores in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to a morning at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, MI, and a pasty-fueled cruise aboard a glass-bottomed boat in the shallows of Lake Superior near Munising, MI.
Continue reading “Pasties Fuel Great Lakes Shipwreck Explore”
Looking for something completely different from the National Park Service? Head for the Great Lakes to see the three national Lakeshores – Sleeping Bear, Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands. And stop by Indiana Dunes National Park while you’re in the area.
Continue reading “National Lakeshores Boast Dunes, Crags, Cliffs & Color”
Seeking spectacular desert landscapes or ocean breezes? You won’t find them at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Looking for amazing mountain vistas? Look elsewhere. Hoping to get away from it all? Not here. But you can find a nice selection of walks in the woods with food and lodging nearby.
Continue reading “Falls & Ledges at Cuyahoga, Ohio’s Only National Park”
Quick. Think of a national park in California. Did Pinnacles National Park in the Gabilan Mountains east of the Salinas Valley come to mind? Probably not. We paid a visit.
A national monument elevated to national park status in 2013, Pinnacles is roughly three hours of bad traffic southeast of our home on the San Francisco Peninsula. Fractured volcanic cliffs, talus caves and California condors comprise the most prominent features. The park is hot in summer and cold in winter. Nearby lodging is scarce.
Continue reading “Props for Underappreciated Pinnacles National Park”
Cape Flattery stretches into the Pacific Ocean from the Makah Reservation in the northwest corner of the contiguous 48 states. The indigenous people call it “The Beginning of the World.” The geographic distinction alone sold us on a visit. But we found lots to do at this remote outpost on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula:
The 70-mile drive on State Route 12 from Port Los Angeles along the Strait of Juan de Fuca is slow and sometimes winding. The natural, cultural and culinary points of interest made it well worth the effort.
Continue reading “A Visit to the ‘Beginning of the World’ at Cape Flattery”
Some people bag peaks. We bag lighthouses. The New Dungeness Lighthouse off the coast of Sequim, WA, poses a unique challenge.
The light station sits in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the end of the Dungeness Spit – the longest sand spit in the United States. Lighthouse visitors must make the 10-mile round-trip trek at low tide or get swamped in a jagged thread of tumbled rocks and driftwood that crown the spit’s high water mark.
Dungeness Spit Trail (Aug. 25, 2022) – 10.2 miles
Continue reading “A Hike to the Light at the Tip of the Dungeness Spit”
A glacial valley that boasts 140 inches of rain per year cradles the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. Moss and lichen-covered spruce, hemlock, fir and other native tree varieties rise from the valley floor along the banks of the Hoh River and its South Fork. A layer of ferns and shrubs undergirds the canopy. The South Fork Hoh Trail is a less-traveled alternative to the Hall of Mosses and other trails located near the Visitor Center on the Hoh River’s main branch.
South Fork Hoh Trail (Aug 20, 2022) – 8.1 miles, 265 feet of elevation gain
Continue reading “A Trail Less Traveled in the Hoh Rain Forest”
We will remember our visit to the North Cascades as one of formidable hikes, breathtaking vistas and mind-numbing commutes to trailheads.
Continue reading “Touching the Sky in Washington’s North Cascades”
A green meadow frames Kings Creek as it meanders from a forested trailhead, over the namesake falls and into the Dixie Fire burn scar at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Nearly a year after the fire, the meadow contrasted sharply with the gray cinders and blackened conifers that dominated the landscape on the loop trail to Bench Lake. Signs of recovery were sparse.
Kings Creek Falls and Bench Loop Trail (Aug. 6, 2022) – 4.3 miles
Continue reading “Hiking the Dixie Fire Scar at Lassen National Park”
The trail to Bumpass Hell at Lassen Volcanic National Park gently rises along a lightly wooded ridge with views of Lassen and other iconic peaks before plunging into a steaming geologic cauldron. Acidic water boils. Mud belches. The stench of sulfur hangs in the air. We brought the grandsons.
Bumpass Hell (Aug. 5, 2022) – 2.7 miles
Continue reading “A Hike to Lassen’s Bumpass Hell … and Back”
Planning a fall color tour at Rocky Mountain National Park is an exercise in timing and luck. We started late, which added to the challenge. After consulting the online foliage forecasts, we chose the last week of September 2021 for our visit. With Labor Day already past, we scrambled to snap up one of the last remaining rentals in Estes Park, made a set of suboptimal timed entry permits, and drove east via Southern Utah. We got lucky.
Continue reading “Fall Color on the Trail at Rocky Mountain National Park”
The Devil’s Garden loop trail at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument passes beneath a collection of hooded hoodoos located at the end of 15 miles of suboptimal gravel road. Bring an AWD vehicle.
Devil’s Garden Trail (Sept. 21, 2021), 1 mile
Continue reading “The Devil’s Garden Less Traveled at Grand-Staircase Escalante”
The Fairyland Loop Trail at Bryce Canyon National Park begins with a lengthy walk along the canyon rim overlooking the canyon’s fantastical limestone walls, curtains and columns. The trail offers a close-up view of the pastel-colored formations and desert scrub as it descends steeply into the canyon to Bryce Creek and back up to the rim.
The sandy trail to Lower Calf Creek Falls at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument begins at a popular campground along Utah State Route 12. The first half of the trail winds up the side of the canyon above a reedy wetland. As the canyon narrows, Boxelder shade the trail as it moves closer to the creek bed and arrives at the falls.
We stopped at Zion National Park on a late September drive from San Francisco to Estes Park, CO. Unfortunately, we booked late and could not find a satisfactory hotel room within 50 miles of the park. Instead of back-country hiking, we settled for a drizzly stroll above Kolob Canyons and the scenic drive on Utah State Route 9.
You’re Never Far from the charm of Main Street when you hike the Mendocino Headlands.
Continue reading “Overwhelmed by Mendocino Charm? hike the Headlands for a Dose of Rugged”
Every hike begins with great expectations. And while the redwoods at Russian Gulch State Park proved less grand and the fern canyon less lush than expected, we still found plenty to enjoy. Continue reading “Great Expectations on the Trail at Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino”
If visiting an uplifted riverbed choked with 150-million-year-old dinosaur bones isn’t enough of a thrill at Dinosaur National Monument, be sure to hike the gouged and twisted landscapes of the Sound of Silence Trail. Continue reading “A ‘Wall of Bones’ and Tortured Landscapes at Dinosaur National Monument”