I love top-of-the-world feelings. When you’re high up above everything else around you, it gives you a feeling of being so high, so free, and the views are usually quite good as well. One place in northern California that you…
Walk Through Lava Caves at Lava Beds
For a class I took, the students were told that they’d just met a space alien who told us that we had to show it around the western US. Which attractions would you take the alien to? I’ll admit that…
An Awesome 13er: Fitzpatrick Peak
At the end of a recent trip to Colorado, we suddenly realized that we’d climbed mountains that were 10,000, 11,000, 12,000, and 14,000 ft high. We decided that we definitely needed to climb a 13er just to complete our record. …
Colorado’s Undiscovered National Park: Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s north rim has got to be one of the weirdest national parks I’ve ever visited. Typically, national parks are crowded, have lots of services, have lots to do, and have lots of rules, which are…
I think I saw this view in a movie…! – Wind Caves
Recently, a friend saw a picture of an awesomely desolate (and pretty) desert up on my computer screen. She was wondering where it was taken, and we told her that it was a Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. Her…
Unknown, and Rusticly Beautiful: That’s Bisti
Bisti National Wilderness is exactly what the name implies: wilderness. That means that this area doesn’t have the services offered at other parks. In fact, I think that the only service offered is a parking area at the trailhead. There…
Broken Bow Arch Hidden Deep in an Escalante Canyon
In a former post, I mentioned that Corona Arch was a cross between Delicate Arch in Arches National Park and Broken Bow Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Well, here I’ll tell you how to see Broken Bow Arch for…
Walk Across Death Valley on the Badwater Flats!
Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in the USA at 282ft. (86m.) below sea level. Located in Death Valley National Park, CA, it is easily accessible from the park road. However, there’s more to Badwater than getting out of your…