Rocky Mountain - National Park of the Week #6

Rocky Mountain National Park
Location: Northern Colorado, 80 mi. NW of Denver
Area: 275,761 acres
Major Attractions: 72 peaks over 12,000 ft., high alpine lakes, tundra, the Continental Divide
Miles of Trail:  300+
My Favorite Parts: Marmots, Swimming in cold lakes after backpacking

Getting There: Drive west on 34 or 36 from Estes Park to reach the main entrances.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/romo/


Named for a mountain range that spans the continent, Rocky Mountain National Park always feels smaller than it should be.  It is way down the list of national parks ranked by size, and this can make finding a longer backpacking route a little tricky.  The park does have lots of great day hikes and some longer trails that leave the park.  The mountains and high alpine lakes are the main attraction here and they can be enjoyed all seasons of the year.

Thunder Lake

"Path" to the Pass - Continental Divide

Bighorn Sheep near Continental Divide - By Rob Waeger

Thunder Lake

Smoke over Thunder Lake

Trails of Arkansas Doing a Handstand - By Katharyn Daniel

Everglades - National Park of the Week #5

Everglades National Park
Location: Southern tip of FL. West of Miami, SE of Naples.
Area: 1,508,538 acres
Major Attractions: Huge wetlands, prairie marls, mangrove swamps, unique wildlife.
Miles of Trail:  150+ (Land and Water)
My Favorite Parts: Seas of grass.  Alligators! Campsites on platforms in the water.

Getting There: Drive west on US-41 from Miami or east on US-41 from Naples.  You can't miss it!
Website: http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm

With an average elevation just above sea-level, put this park on your to-see-soon list.  Like Glacier National Park, its main attractions could disappear in our lifetimes due to climate change.  Everglades National Park is the tenth largest national park in the United States.  Most of the park is inaccessible except by boat or fanboat, but the views from the roads and few trails are pretty spectacular.  Waterfowl are everywhere and alligators often sun on warm paved surfaces.  The canoe trails along the coast that lead to camping platforms in the middle of the water are some of the most unique trails in the country (the platforms provide for relatively mosquito, snake, and alligator free camping).  Expensive efforts are underway to restore the Everglades, while invasive pythons, agricultural runoff, and rising sea-levels threaten to destroy the park at least as we know it today.  Next time you visit The Keys or Miami, spend a day exploring this amazing park before it is too late!  

Pelicans, Everglades National Park

Trail at Shark Valley, Everglades National Park

Yosemite - National Park of the Week #4

Yosemite celebrated its 123rd birthday this week and is one of my favorite parks, so it was the natural choice for this week's NPOTW.

Yosemite National Park
Location: Eastern CA.  190 mi. E of San Francisco, 100 mi. N of Fresno
Area: 748,000 acres
Major Attractions: Massive granite domes, scenic glacier-carved valleys, stunning waterfalls, sequoia groves
Miles of Trail:  750+
My Favorite Parts: High Sierra Lakes, Backcountry Vistas, Granite Domes

Getting There: From Fresno: 2 hours - Drive north on CA-41
From Bay Area: 3 hours - I-580 E, I-205 E, I-5 N (short!), CA-120 E
Website: www.nps.gov/yose/

Established as the third National Park in the country, Yosemite is one of our country's most iconic parks.  Its jaw-dropping glacier-carved valleys with their incredible waterfalls and huge exposed granite faces and domes are hard to beat in terms of sheer scenic beauty.  Besides the summer traffic, my main complaint about the park used to be its lack of wildlife, however, after my last trip there I can no longer make that complaint.  The most famous views in the park are in Yosemite Valley and from Glacier Point.  I think Hetch Hetchy Valley and views of Mono Lake from the eastern edge of the park are just as spectacular.  If you hate crowds and traffic, Yosemite has an enormous backcountry/wilderness area.  With the exception of the hike to and up Half Dome, my general rule of "once you hike two miles into the wilderness the crowds disappear" holds true.  For this reason the backcountry is my favorite part of the park.  Views often look better when you have to work for them (and when there are no crowds of strangers in the way); and for that reason I find the views around Ten Lakes, Parker Pass, Cathedral Peak, and Clouds Rest to be some of the best in the park.

Yosemite is beautiful year-round, but late spring is probably the best time to visit to see the waterfalls in their full glory.  If you are looking to backpack and want to avoid crowds, high temperatures, and walking on snow, the fall is probably ideal.

My other piece on Yosemite can be found at:
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2013/06/hetch-hetchy-yosemite-national-park.html

Near Ten Lakes

Near Ten Lakes

Dome Near Cathedral Peak, Yosemite National Park, California

View Near Medlicot Dome

Waterfall - Yosemite

Cathedral Peak

Unhappy about Backpacking on Snow

Glacier Point

Hetch Hetchy Valley

Trail to Ireland Lake, Yosemite

Ireland Lake

Looking Towards Townsley Lake and Vogelsang from ridge near Ireland Lake

California Readers: Interested in getting paid to unplug your laptop or turn off a light for an hour? $20 just for joining OhmConnect, learn more at: https://login.ohmconnect.com/ref/30315

Big Bend - National Park of the Week #3

Big Bend National Park
Location: SW Texas.  320 mi. SE of El Paso, ~100 mi. S of Marfa and Alpine
Area: 801,000 acres
Major Attractions: Incredible cliffs and views in Chisos Mountains, Sheer canyons on Rio Grande
Miles of Trail:  150+
My Favorite Parts: South Rim, Ernst Tinaja, Santa Elena Canyon, Javelinas (I haven't seen any yet)

Getting There: 4 hours from Midland - W on I-20, S on TX-18, S on US-385
5 hours from El Paso - E on I-10, E on US-90, S on US-385
Website: http://www.nps.gov/bibe/

Big Bend lies in the Chihuahuan Desert and contains the entire Chisos Mountain range.  The park is named after a large bend in the Rio Grande, which makes up its southern border.  Major attractions at the park include floating the Rio Grande, taking in spectacular desert scenery from the South Rim, climbing Emory Peak, and getting in some of the best stargazing on the planet.  My favorite time to visit the park is in the spring when cacti are in bloom and temperatures allow for comfortable backpacking trips.  You will miss out on much of the park unless you take a vehicle that can handle the rough dirt roads that traverse the southern portion of the park.

My less formal piece on Big Bend can be read here.

South Rim

Sunset

Cacti in Bloom

Sequoia/Kings Canyon - National Park of the Week #2

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are actually two national parks, but they share a long border, a website, and are managed together.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park
Location: SE California in the High Sierras.  200 mi. N of Los Angeles, 70 mi. east of Fresno
Area: 868,000 acres
Major Attractions: Most massive trees on the planet, Incredible canyons, Beautiful alpine lakes, Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the Lower 48), Pacific Crest Trail, John Muir Trail
Miles of Trail:  800+
My Favorite Parts: Rae Lakes, Hell For Sure Pass, Giant Sequoia Trees

Getting There: Roughly two hours east of Fresno on CA-198 or CA-180
Website: http://www.nps.gov/seki

Kobuk Valley - National Park of the Week #1

Shortly after I got into backpacking, I received a National Parks Guidebook detailing all the national parks.  I immediately wanted to go to almost all of them, but I remember one in particular stood out largely due to its remoteness, isolation, and unique features:

Kobuk Valley National Park
Location: NW Alaska above the Arctic Circle.  500 mi. NW of Anchorage, 370 mi. NW of Fairbanks, 260 mi. NE of Nome
Area: 1.7 million acres
Major Attractions: Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, Baird Mountains, Kobuk River, isolation
Miles of Trail:  0
My Favorite Part: Sand dunes, no trails, have to get dropped off by plane.

Getting There: By plane from Bettles, Ambler, or Fairbanks.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/kova/

New Regular Features

I will be trying out some new regular features on the blog in an effort to get back into book writing mode.  These posts will be more formal and provide descriptions, maps, and photos with out all the "Last week Buddy and I decided to..." narrative.

The features I plan on introducing are:
1.  State Park of the Week.  These will be limited to Arkansas State Parks and should boost the amount of Arkansas content I have on here, even when I'm out-of-state.

2.  National Park of the Week.  These will somewhat obviously not be limited to Arkansas.  While outside the scope indicated by the title of this blog, National Parks are amazing places and I like visiting and writing about them so I will!

Both will have their own labels/tags (SPOTW & NPOTW) so if you enjoy this style more than my typical articles, you can easily access only articles done this way.

I also plan on getting back into more policy related pieces. I haven't done any recently, but have some good ones planned on a variety of issues relating to hiking, biking, and paddling in Arkansas.