If you read my last post, you’ll know that we were in the middle of Death Valley, following routes instead of trails and having a marvelous time hiking off the beaten path. We were about to have even more excitement…
Exploring Petrified Forest and Death Valley – With Very Few Trails!
I recently returned from an amazing trek across the country! We drove nearly 6,000 miles, hiked around 160 miles, and saw some truly amazing scenery both by foot and by van. Of course, we also slept under brilliant stars, watched…
Colorful Desolation Canyon
If I were to be honest (and I try to be!), I like Desolation Canyon better than Golden Canyon in Death Valley National Park. There’s nothing wrong with Golden Canyon per se; I’ve hiked it several times. But Desolation Canyon…
Exploring Goblin Valley: Valleys 1, 2, and 3!
If you spend much time on forums about hiking in Utah, you’re sure to hear about Goblin Valley State Park. It’s doubly true if someone is asking about hiking with kids in Utah. You see, while there are trails (Caramel…
Pinto Arch near Moab, Utah
I’ve hiked to Corona Arch twice. But I’d never even heard of Pinto Arch until I was researching hikes in the Moab Area a couple of years ago. It was marketed as an off-trail trek diverging from the Corona Arch…
The Route to Billings Gap Overlook
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…
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…
French Spring above the Maze District
French Spring is one of the minimal number of attractions to see along NP-633 (the road between Hans Flat and the top of the Flint Trail) in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park.* It’s one of the more difficult…