Visiting Crater Lake National Park in late July means dealing with snow. Yes, somewhat hard to believe, but it’s true. When we arrived in the park, some hikes were still closed due to snow. Luckily for us, a park ranger we met on our lake tour mentioned that Watchman Peak had opened two days ago! So that’s where we headed that afternoon. Watchman Peak Trail is a 1.7 mile out and back hike with views of Crater lake, including the…
Our intention was to visit as much of Saguaro National Park as we could. Crisscrossing desert trails in the northwest corner of the Rincon Mountain (east) District are known as the Cactus Forest. We wanted to hike somewhere up there, so we reserved a full day for it. Our initial plan was to do a longer loop, but we were exhausted after backpacking to Manning Camp, so we decided on a shorter hike. A ranger at the Rincon Visitor Center recommended a 4.0 mile out-and-back on Garwood Trail…
Choice is a good thing. But with so many trails to choose from, researching ahead of time doesn’t always paint a clear picture of which trails are worth our time. On our last day in the Tucson Mountain (west) district, we only had a half-day, since we planned to drive to Benson, AZ to begin a backpacking trip the following day. With a limited amount of time, and only an inkling of which trail we wanted to do, we went…
What’s the first thing you do after flying to Bangor, renting a car, driving to Bar Harbor, and then checking into your hotel? For us the answer was obvious: Take a hike on Bar Island, then explore Bar Harbor in search of great food. We visited Bar Harbor numerous times over the course of our trip; this post catalogs our adventures there. Bar Island Trail Bar Island, north of Bar Harbor, is part of Acadia National Park. If you find…
We live relatively close to Shenandoah, but I wish we lived even closer. It can be a long drive, and sometimes we’re lazy and get a late start. Thankfully, those are the times when you can hike a shorter trail and it turns out to be pretty great. That’s what happened with Bearfence Mountain, a 1.1 mile loop. The hike has a short rock scramble that we’ve heard is good to prepare for hiking Old Rag. As we drove up…