Olympic National Park is definitely unique – sea stacks and tide pools give way to temperate rain forests, which melt into alpine valleys and steep-sided mountains. This is perfect environment for seaside strolls, forest hikes, waterfalls, and high-alpine hiking in…
The Clatsop Loop Trail in Ecola State Park, Oregon, is certainly a trail of diversity. Starting out are views of surfers on the nearby beach, with sea stacks a short distance away. Then the hike winds upward through a true…
Through the little town of Macedon, NY runs the reconstructed Erie Canal. The canal is mostly for pleasure crafts these days, paid for by your New York Thruway (I-90) tolls. The canal path is also well-used by cyclists (that would…
It’s crowded, it’s dangerous, it was cloudy, and it’s about as touristy as the Oregon Coast gets. But somehow I totally enjoyed visiting Cape Kiwanda along the Tree Capes Scenic Loop off of US-101 south of Tillamook, OR. Maybe it’s…
Who would be crazy enough to visit the lowlands of Northern California in the middle of July? Someone who really wanted to visit NorCal, I guess! Last summer we took a little detour through California on our way to the…
Southern Utah packs so much beauty into a small area. Arches, rock formations, turrets, towers, spires, mountains, canyons, cliffs, meadows – there’s so much to see, and often so little time to do it. So here are some of the…
A highlight along the Oregon coast last summer would be exploring the area around Devil’s Punchbowl State Natural Area north of Newport. The area isn’t really that big, but low tide explorations are exciting (especially with the tide coming back…
I really like the Oregon Hiker’s website. Because although most the driving directions are from Portland (and it’s rare I’m coming from that direction), the trail descriptions tend to be complete, there are pictures and sometimes maps, and it’s great…
How about a little bit of adventuring? It’s awesome to follow trails, but every once in a while, it’s also really fun to adventure: no trail, no social trail, just a map and a willingness to venture into the unknown.…
The Southern Oregon Coastline isn’t all rocks and sea stacks. In fact, Floras Lake Beach is very much as sandy as the east coast. It’s also nearly empty of people, unlike the more northerly sand beaches. Still, it offers sights…