U.S. National Parks thread

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  • darwinstheorydarwinstheory LaPorte, IN Posts: 5,692
    That's some pretty neat...and scary looking stuff. Thanks for sharing. 
    "A smart monkey doesn't monkey around with another monkey's monkey" - Darwin's Theory
  • Made it back from Death Valley National Park. A very awesome place. Beautiful views, hikes, and landscapes. I highly recommend a visit.  A high clearance 4x4 vehicle is a must though.

    An added bonus to the trip was getting to witness a very rare occurrence, RAIN. It made the first day of the visit a little rough, but it provided a different look at the park.

    also took in some of the weirdness the area has to offer. Spent a night at the Armagosa Opera House and Hotel. Hands down the strangest place I’ve ever slept at. Took a side trek on the way out of the park to the ghost town of Ballarat. Charlie Manson’s old truck is there, and the Barker Ranch is near by.
    Did you see Seldom seen Slims gravesite in Ballarat?!?

    Also I thought Charlie and company were in Panamint?!?
  • hauntingfamiliarhauntingfamiliar Wilmington, NC Posts: 10,217
    The wife is the picture taker, but here are few:

    These pictures are breathtaking. It reminds me of how much catching up I need to do in these parks. What is the brilliant blue/turquoise in the mountains from?
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    Made it back from Death Valley National Park. A very awesome place. Beautiful views, hikes, and landscapes. I highly recommend a visit.  A high clearance 4x4 vehicle is a must though.

    An added bonus to the trip was getting to witness a very rare occurrence, RAIN. It made the first day of the visit a little rough, but it provided a different look at the park.

    also took in some of the weirdness the area has to offer. Spent a night at the Armagosa Opera House and Hotel. Hands down the strangest place I’ve ever slept at. Took a side trek on the way out of the park to the ghost town of Ballarat. Charlie Manson’s old truck is there, and the Barker Ranch is near by.
    Did you see Seldom seen Slims gravesite in Ballarat?!?

    Also I thought Charlie and company were in Panamint?!?
    I probably did, but really wasn’t looking that closely. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the place till after we left and looked it up on google. 

    The Barker Ranch is just down the road from Ballarat, which just outside of Panamint. Also, the breakfast burrito with sausage gravy at the Panamint Springs Cafe is delicious.
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    The wife is the picture taker, but here are few:

    These pictures are breathtaking. It reminds me of how much catching up I need to do in these parks. What is the brilliant blue/turquoise in the mountains from?
    I believe it is chlorite. The rain really made the colors in the earth pop. That was up in the Artist’s Pallet/Golden Canyon area. Lucas used the area as a set for some of the desert shots in Stars Wars and Return of the Jedi.
  • hauntingfamiliarhauntingfamiliar Wilmington, NC Posts: 10,217
    ^ Interesting :plus_one:
  • The wife is the picture taker, but here are few:

    These pictures are breathtaking. It reminds me of how much catching up I need to do in these parks. What is the brilliant blue/turquoise in the mountains from?
    I believe it is chlorite. The rain really made the colors in the earth pop. That was up in the Artist’s Pallet/Golden Canyon area. Lucas used the area as a set for some of the desert shots in Stars Wars and Return of the Jedi.
    Copper and hematite also.
  • Made it back from Death Valley National Park. A very awesome place. Beautiful views, hikes, and landscapes. I highly recommend a visit.  A high clearance 4x4 vehicle is a must though.

    An added bonus to the trip was getting to witness a very rare occurrence, RAIN. It made the first day of the visit a little rough, but it provided a different look at the park.

    also took in some of the weirdness the area has to offer. Spent a night at the Armagosa Opera House and Hotel. Hands down the strangest place I’ve ever slept at. Took a side trek on the way out of the park to the ghost town of Ballarat. Charlie Manson’s old truck is there, and the Barker Ranch is near by.
    Did you see Seldom seen Slims gravesite in Ballarat?!?

    Also I thought Charlie and company were in Panamint?!?
    I probably did, but really wasn’t looking that closely. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the place till after we left and looked it up on google. 

    The Barker Ranch is just down the road from Ballarat, which just outside of Panamint. Also, the breakfast burrito with sausage gravy at the Panamint Springs Cafe is delicious.
    OK that makes sense.  We used to go all over the desert in those areas and all the books we had said the bus/compound was at the foot of the panamints.

    Lots of really neat things to see and do out there!
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    Made it back from Death Valley National Park. A very awesome place. Beautiful views, hikes, and landscapes. I highly recommend a visit.  A high clearance 4x4 vehicle is a must though.

    An added bonus to the trip was getting to witness a very rare occurrence, RAIN. It made the first day of the visit a little rough, but it provided a different look at the park.

    also took in some of the weirdness the area has to offer. Spent a night at the Armagosa Opera House and Hotel. Hands down the strangest place I’ve ever slept at. Took a side trek on the way out of the park to the ghost town of Ballarat. Charlie Manson’s old truck is there, and the Barker Ranch is near by.
    Did you see Seldom seen Slims gravesite in Ballarat?!?

    Also I thought Charlie and company were in Panamint?!?
    I probably did, but really wasn’t looking that closely. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the place till after we left and looked it up on google. 

    The Barker Ranch is just down the road from Ballarat, which just outside of Panamint. Also, the breakfast burrito with sausage gravy at the Panamint Springs Cafe is delicious.
    OK that makes sense.  We used to go all over the desert in those areas and all the books we had said the bus/compound was at the foot of the panamints.

    Lots of really neat things to see and do out there!
    The area is awesome. My in-laws have officially made Palm Springs their winter residence, so I’m out there a couple times a year.  I love all the odd stuff out there. Next year the plan is to spend a few days down at the Salton Sea and spend a night in the Gram Parsons room at the Joshua Tree Inn.
  • Made it back from Death Valley National Park. A very awesome place. Beautiful views, hikes, and landscapes. I highly recommend a visit.  A high clearance 4x4 vehicle is a must though.

    An added bonus to the trip was getting to witness a very rare occurrence, RAIN. It made the first day of the visit a little rough, but it provided a different look at the park.

    also took in some of the weirdness the area has to offer. Spent a night at the Armagosa Opera House and Hotel. Hands down the strangest place I’ve ever slept at. Took a side trek on the way out of the park to the ghost town of Ballarat. Charlie Manson’s old truck is there, and the Barker Ranch is near by.
    Did you see Seldom seen Slims gravesite in Ballarat?!?

    Also I thought Charlie and company were in Panamint?!?
    I probably did, but really wasn’t looking that closely. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the place till after we left and looked it up on google. 

    The Barker Ranch is just down the road from Ballarat, which just outside of Panamint. Also, the breakfast burrito with sausage gravy at the Panamint Springs Cafe is delicious.
    OK that makes sense.  We used to go all over the desert in those areas and all the books we had said the bus/compound was at the foot of the panamints.

    Lots of really neat things to see and do out there!
    The area is awesome. My in-laws have officially made Palm Springs their winter residence, so I’m out there a couple times a year.  I love all the odd stuff out there. Next year the plan is to spend a few days down at the Salton Sea and spend a night in the Gram Parsons room at the Joshua Tree Inn.
    You want an adventure?

    Hike up to Panamint city via Death Valley.  You'll need two cars but it's one hell of a trip.
  • one of the coolest hikes ive done was in hawaii, the big island
    down the one side of a dormant volcano, walking across the crater and then back up the bank of it to the top on the other side
    it took a few hours and walking on the volcano crater was like out of this world...imagine being on the moon
    Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Big Island Of Hawaii


  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    one of the coolest hikes ive done was in hawaii, the big island
    down the one side of a dormant volcano, walking across the crater and then back up the bank of it to the top on the other side
    it took a few hours and walking on the volcano crater was like out of this world...imagine being on the moon
    Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Big Island Of Hawaii


    I have done that hike. It’s really awesome. I also did a night hike out to the crater during a new moon. I have never seen stars like that before, or since. 
  • ^^^^
    very cool that someone else has done that hike!! and during a new moon...wow! that 4 hour crater hike was one of the most incredible life experiences i have had and i have also horse back rode and hiked other volcanoes on maui and done the sunrise there as well. all incredible+
    and like u said the stars are unreal there. i know ed mentioned the stars in telluride being like hawaii and i get that also...
  • not sure if anyone has hiked to crater lake at maroon bells in colorado, just outside of aspen
    the hike is also about 4 hours and not that easy, yet incredible. when we did it we went through 4 different weather/temp zones. on the hike it hailed, rained, snowed and was sunny and warm...crazy good times...especially in colorado where the hippies have a lot of fun  ;)
    https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g29141-d2292499-Reviews-Maroon_Bells-Aspen_Colorado.html
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    Looking forward to knocking off the Crown Jewel of the National Park system, the mighty Sequoias, Cathedral and Range of Light known as Yosemite.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    In practice, I'm a huge fan of National and State Parks.  I've long renewed my National and California state parks pass every year and, as a "senior", now have a life-time National Parks pass.

    However, after reading Richard Manning's excellent book (he's written a bunch of them and they are all excellent) Inside Passage, I question the whole idea of parks.  As wonderful as they are, what they tell us is, We'll draw a little line around these small, select parts of the state or country where people can cram together to enjoy a little "nature" and that way we can ravage the rest of the land for our own short-sighted, greedy needs.  If we worked with the land and with greater regard to nature's ways, we would need no parks.  This is how the aboriginal and indigenous in the north west of America see it.  They find the idea of "parks" as rather absurd. 

    But as long as things are the way they are, I will continue to support parks, visit them, and dream of a world in better harmony.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
    I was at the North Rim for a few days in October 2015.  Left the day after the lodge closed, so there weren’t a lot of people there. Which was nice. Camped in a van outside of the park in the dispersed camping sites for two nights, then one in the park. Dispersed camping isn’t for everyone, and I’ve heared a few horror stories...

    Did the North Kaibab hike into the canyon to Roaring Springs. Park Rangers don’t recommend going further down than that on a day hike, cause you got to go back up. Beautiful hike. I got very hot the further down we went, and hiking out was a lot of work. 3000’ of elevation drop in roughly 4 miles.
  • I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
    I was at the North Rim for a few days in October 2015.  Left the day after the lodge closed, so there weren’t a lot of people there. Which was nice. Camped in a van outside of the park in the dispersed camping sites for two nights, then one in the park. Dispersed camping isn’t for everyone, and I’ve heared a few horror stories...

    Did the North Kaibab hike into the canyon to Roaring Springs. Park Rangers don’t recommend going further down than that on a day hike, cause you got to go back up. Beautiful hike. I got very hot the further down we went, and hiking out was a lot of work. 3000’ of elevation drop in roughly 4 miles.
    I'm reading that you should take a siesta during the hottest part of the day.
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
    I was at the North Rim for a few days in October 2015.  Left the day after the lodge closed, so there weren’t a lot of people there. Which was nice. Camped in a van outside of the park in the dispersed camping sites for two nights, then one in the park. Dispersed camping isn’t for everyone, and I’ve heared a few horror stories...

    Did the North Kaibab hike into the canyon to Roaring Springs. Park Rangers don’t recommend going further down than that on a day hike, cause you got to go back up. Beautiful hike. I got very hot the further down we went, and hiking out was a lot of work. 3000’ of elevation drop in roughly 4 miles.
    I'm reading that you should take a siesta during the hottest part of the day.
    After a few beers, I slept very well that evening.

    I definitely want to do the rim to rim hike before I kick off though. 

  • I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
    I was at the North Rim for a few days in October 2015.  Left the day after the lodge closed, so there weren’t a lot of people there. Which was nice. Camped in a van outside of the park in the dispersed camping sites for two nights, then one in the park. Dispersed camping isn’t for everyone, and I’ve heared a few horror stories...

    Did the North Kaibab hike into the canyon to Roaring Springs. Park Rangers don’t recommend going further down than that on a day hike, cause you got to go back up. Beautiful hike. I got very hot the further down we went, and hiking out was a lot of work. 3000’ of elevation drop in roughly 4 miles.
    I'm reading that you should take a siesta during the hottest part of the day.
    After a few beers, I slept very well that evening.

    I definitely want to do the rim to rim hike before I kick off though. 

    Rim to rim is 25 miles.  That IS a hike, lol.

    Did you actually pack beers with you?!?  I was just thinking of packing  a bottle.  More bang for the buck!
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!
    I was at the North Rim for a few days in October 2015.  Left the day after the lodge closed, so there weren’t a lot of people there. Which was nice. Camped in a van outside of the park in the dispersed camping sites for two nights, then one in the park. Dispersed camping isn’t for everyone, and I’ve heared a few horror stories...

    Did the North Kaibab hike into the canyon to Roaring Springs. Park Rangers don’t recommend going further down than that on a day hike, cause you got to go back up. Beautiful hike. I got very hot the further down we went, and hiking out was a lot of work. 3000’ of elevation drop in roughly 4 miles.
    I'm reading that you should take a siesta during the hottest part of the day.
    After a few beers, I slept very well that evening.

    I definitely want to do the rim to rim hike before I kick off though. 

    Rim to rim is 25 miles.  That IS a hike, lol.

    Did you actually pack beers with you?!?  I was just thinking of packing  a bottle.  More bang for the buck!
    No. Had some at the lodge.

    When I used to go on my annual kayaking trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, I had an extra camelback bladder that I’d fill with booze. Light weight, flexible, and packs better than an actual bottle.
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    I am trying to set up a North Rim Grand Canyon trip.

    Has anyone here done that?

    I'm also looking into the possibility of doing a Rim ti Rim trip.

    Any help on this would be appreciated!

    The North Rim is awesome!  We stayed at Lee's Ferry and did North Rim, Vermillion Cliffs White Pocket, Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell back in '10.  Highly recommend all of them.  We also did an unknown trail to the left before coming to the entrance gate on a whim, and it may have been the best view we got!  It overlooked the east end of the GC, you couldn't see down in at all, but you could see across that dead flat plain for untold miles.  The Colorado Canyon was like a razor blade gash, it has such impossibly vertical walls.  We called the view "Scar of the Earth" and then got ripped and forgot to take a picture at the trailhead.

    No interest in the R2R, myself.  I get why some people want to crush it though.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • darwinstheorydarwinstheory LaPorte, IN Posts: 5,692
    We wavered back and forth on Glacier and Ireland for quite some time. We are traveling 8/17 - 8/24 this year. And the winner is:

    GLACIER!

    Tell me what you folks know about it. Let me be transparent here: we are not the most physical couple and definitely will not be scaling cliffs and the sort. But we will push ourselves and go on hikes/trails that 90% of people would pass by. Sure some of the pull-offs provide great views, but I love taking a couple hour hike to see a really great view that most people do not get to see. 

    Obviously, the Going to the Sun road is a must do out there. But what other recommendations do you folks have that may NOT make the first 3 pages of a travel brochure? I have also heard that the park really is even more astonishing on the Canadian side of the border. We are going to start our passport process tomorrow! We will be flying out there instead of driving, so that will allow us a couple extra days of sightseeing. Too bad it isn't closer to the Tetons. 

    Any ideas you folks may have are greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to PM, email or text me if you'd like to.

    Thanks,

    Chris (and Julie)
    "A smart monkey doesn't monkey around with another monkey's monkey" - Darwin's Theory
  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,399
    edited March 2019
    A friend of my wife quit his job a few years ago and travelled to all of the US National Parks. He put together a blog that has some good info on each park. Might be helpful for folks on here planning summer adventures. 

    http://59in59.com/

    His Facebook has more info. He’d also probably answer your questions as well. Goofy guy, but he’s very knowledgeable about the parks. His dad was a park ranger.
    Post edited by jerparker20 on
  • darwinstheorydarwinstheory LaPorte, IN Posts: 5,692
    Thank you @jerparker20

    Think of how crazy such a trip would be! Except all the biking and running. Ugh!
    "A smart monkey doesn't monkey around with another monkey's monkey" - Darwin's Theory
  • tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 38,852
    A friend of my wife quit his job a few years ago and travelled to all of the US National Parks. He put together a blog that has some good info on each park. Might be helpful for folks on here planning summer adventures. 

    http://59in59.com/

    His Facebook has more info. He’d also probably answer your questions as well. Goofy guy, but he’s very knowledgeable about the parks. His dad was a park ranger.
    I wish I was wealthy enough to not work and go travel, lol!
  • darwinstheorydarwinstheory LaPorte, IN Posts: 5,692
    Bump
    "A smart monkey doesn't monkey around with another monkey's monkey" - Darwin's Theory
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    Glacier is a Biggie, good luck and have fun Darwin!

    Holy crap, in 3 months I'm going to Yosemite!!  The Undisputed King of National Parks and one of the top 10 natural wonders of the world!  I really can't wait to stand under those GodTrees and gaze on the faces of the mighty El Cap and regal Half Dome.
    16,000ft of elevation change over 4 days of hiking with my 40lb son on my back, at 4,000ft above my home elevation...yeeeee haw time to ratchet up the cardio!
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,592
    While picking up stuff around the house, I came across a book I'd purchased recently by Terry Tempest Williams.  I'm just finishing up Eric Burdon's marvelous wild-ride memoir, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood; A Memoir, and was curious as to whether or not moving on to a book by Williams would be too jarring a transition.  Well, no, how could I think that?  This is Terry Tempest Williams after all, one of our greatest contemporary American authors.  There's never a bad time to read any book by her.

    The book is called The Hour of Land and it's "part memoir, part natural history and part social critique... a meditation and a manifesto on why wild land matters to the soul of America."  All of it's thirteen essays revolve around our National Parks.  I read the first brief chapter and am already hooked.  I fully suspect this book will send me back out into our National Parks on adventures not yet experienced, and hope both the reading and the explorations help to sooth my soul in a time when the world feels to me like an insane asylum.  
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













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