After our success on the Wilderness Loop in Petrified Forest National Park, it made sense to try out one or two of the other “official routes” in the park (they’re not really trails, but they’re also usually pretty easy to…
Climbing Fern’s Nipple
I finally found my favorite hike in Capitol Reef National Park, but it has a ridiculous name: Fern’s Nipple. So the story goes, Butch Cassidy named it after one of his girlfriends. I prefer the story of an early settler…
Waterfalls along the Firehole Canyon Drive
The Firehole Canyon Drive is a somewhat overlooked one-way scenic drive just south of Madison en route to more famous parts of Yellowstone, including Midway Geyser Basin and Old Faithful. So it’s on the way for anyone staying in West…
Exploring Paradise Park and Beyond
Paradise Park has been on my bucket list for hiking every time I visit Mt. Hood, and every time, we don’t do it. That’s mostly due to poor weather (why hike to views of the volcano when the volcano is…
Mt. Hood Views from the Zigzag Overlook
If you’re looking for a hike on the side of Mt. Hood that poses only minor challenges and you want a big reward at the end, I highly recommend the trail to the Zigzag Overlook. While views are limited on…
Gloria Falls in Little Cottonwood Canyon
I needed a short hike on a rainy day south of Salt Lake City that didn’t have an entry fee. That’s a lot of specifics for a single hike, but three different waterfalls hit the spot: Gloria Falls, Hidden Falls,…
Day Hiking the Famous McAfee Knob
They say that McAfee Knob is the most-photographed point of the Appalachian Trail. Even thru-hikers stop to get their picture taken on the little point of rock that hangs over the edge of the cliff face – it’s almost a…
Explore Willow Springs Canyon
Willow Springs Canyon is a mostly-unknown scramble of a hike near the western border of Arches National Park. You’ll need 4×4 to get to the trailhead, but with high clearance, you can get close enough to the trailhead to walk…
Scrambling up Lake Hill (aka the Chocolate Drops)
In my perusals of unofficial routes in Death Valley, I ran across three hikes that seemed fascinating (to me, anyway!) in Panamint Valley: Panamint Dunes (which is actually an official route, though its trail is pretty much invisible in many…
Lake Tahoe from the Basalt Overlook
To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if the trail I took from Skyland to the Basalt Overlook (just off the Tahoe Rim Trail) is all that official. But I found it on AllTrails, so that counts for something, right? …