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*** Official National Parks Thread ***
- Thread starter Joshua2415
- Start date
We did 4 nights in Tetons, right near Jackson, 3 nights in Yellowstone, 1 night in Missoula, and 3 in Glacier NP. Was supposed to have another week in Oregon but got I covid in Idaho
, so bailed straight home from Hood River, OR.Jackson is crazy busy but lots of good food. Grand Tetons was our favorite NP, because of all the rad hikes to swimmable glacial lakes. Saw moose, bald eagles, osprey, nighthawks. Epic.
Yellowstone is like a wild animal park with geothermal craziness everywhere. Saw bears, giant elk, bears chasing young elk, eagles, and bison traffic jams. Very cool but more of a driving park. Hikes were cut short because of grizzly closures. Hard to find places to swim but we hit up Yellowstone lake each day for a dip.
Missoula is cool; very Santa Cruz like, with more dispensaries than restaurants.
Glacier is epic but with only one road through it, everyone is all together, all the time. Plus, all the hikes up at the top of the pass were closed because of so much snow. Did some fun hiking and rafting and swimming.
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How cold are the lakes? Sounds brrrly. I started taking my wetsuit with me on some hikes in the Sierra high country so I can swim comfortably in the icy lakes and streams.We did 4 nights in Tetons, right near Jackson, 3 nights in Yellowstone, 1 night in Missoula, and 3 in Glacier NP. Was supposed to have another week in Oregon but I covid in Idaho
Jackson is crazy busy but lots of good food. Grand Tetons was our favorite NP, because of all the rad hikes to swimmable glacial lakes. Saw moose, bald eagles, osprey, nighthawks. Epic.
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Yellowstone is like a wild animal park with geothermal craziness everywhere. Saw bears, giant elk, bears chasing young elk, eagles, and bison traffic jams. Very cool but more of a driving park. Hikes were cut short because of grizzly closures. Hard to find places to swim but we hit up Yellowstone lake each day for a dip.
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Missoula is cool; very Santa Cruz like, with more dispensaries than restaurants.
Glacier is epic but with only one road through it, everyone is all together, all the time. Plus, all the hikes up at the top of the pass were closed because of so much snow. Did some fun hiking and rafting and swimming.
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Ha, well, they weren't super warm. There's one at Teton, String Lake, that's real nice to swim in for a long while. The rest range from pretty cold to absolutely freezing (Avalanche Lake, in Glacier). Air was warm though and a swim is a must for us, after a hike.
That bottom photo is Lake McDonald, at Glacier NP. It's pretty warm. You can swim for a long time.
Waaatt?? Subway has a Cave now?? ggeeeez--sus fricken - keee..ricest!Finally got around to uploading photos. Went up to Lassen last week Wednesday through Friday, camping with the family up in Manzanita Lake. Nice campsite but was a wee bit spoiled from Siskiyou. Got the campsite and family situated and went for a hike/run to the Chaos Crags crater. Still had to go back and build fire to cook dinner but after all the chaos, was awesome to just breathe, even for 10 minutes with a coldie perched on a rock in the crater with absolute quiet, zero noise. Except for rockslide above me but it was miniscule, which made it crazy that I actually heard it. Sunset there would have been nice but had to hustle back so did a quick run downhill.
Spent Thursday all day up in the park, we hiked to Bumpass Hell via Cold Boiling Lake. Bitof an uphill for the kids and my mom but we were all rewarded with the beautiful stench of sulfur as we approached all the mudpots. Pretty neat, like a Yellowstone Jr. From there, heading over to the base of the Lassen Peak trail (I'll come back for that another time along with Cinder Cone) where there was still some snow. Warm day so snowball fight in mid-July was quite awesome.
Decamped next day and stopped by Subway Cave and Burney Falls on way back. Hot day in 90s but cave was in 60s or so; super refreshing. Giant lava tube. And Burney Falls was just badass. Too bad they don't let you swim; super clear water. Did the trail up and around the falls and it was well worth it. Cool seeing several PCT thru-hikers passing through. Ice cream there hit the spot all right.
Lassen from Manzanita Lake
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Chaos Crags - normally a pond at bottom but not today
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Lassen again
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Boiling mudpots in Bumpass Hell
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Cold Boiling Lake - Dixie Fire devastated almost as far as eye could see in places.
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Snow at trail base. Apparently they had to close the trail for a while before because of excessive donkeys on the 4th cutting switchbacks, causing rockslides, alltrails has the scoop. Note to self - only do on a weekday and start EARLY. Snowpatch was site of aforementioned snowball fight.
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Emerald Lake
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Kids exploring Subway Cave
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Burney Falls
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Burney Falls from the other side
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1st, an Administrator here and now a dam Cave??
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Back in March, but here's a couple pictures from Canyonlands and Arches. We're going to run the White Rim trail in Canyonlands first weekend of October
Take your Jeep to the Needles area of Canyonlands for rock crawling. We're planning on going next spring (camping and hiking, not rock crawling).
12 Amazing Things to Do in The Needles, Canyonlands National Park
Learn how to plan your perfect visit to The Needles, Canyonlands National Park.
www.earthtrekkers.com
Starts at 1:53. Post your pics if you do go.
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I canoed down the Green River through Canyonlands for a week once. It's the river that cut that canyon. No rapids but amazing being in that canyon, 1000 foot cliffs and all! Outfitter was in Moab.
That’s the plan…Take your Jeep to the Needles area of Canyonlands for rock crawling. We're planning on going next spring (camping and hiking, not rock crawling).
12 Amazing Things to Do in The Needles, Canyonlands National Park
Learn how to plan your perfect visit to The Needles, Canyonlands National Park.
Starts at 1:53. Post your pics if you do go.
I meant rock crawling in general. Needles will be another trip
Moab is only 6.5 hours from me so I plan on going a couple times of year from now on
There's a couple ways to get into Arches without dealing with the front gate if you have a 4x4
Last time I was there, I too went through the desert road from the backside. But beware, there are gates on those roads too, and sometimes they are closed.
Nothing but lies here, the Green River is not the river you want to book in 2023, please continue to book Grand Canyon trips until after summer of 2023.
My 2023 vacation plans thank you.
PS
Once swam across the Green River. When I got out, was covered in red clay fines. Took a few days of showers to get it all off.
PPS
Can recommend Islands in the Sky for fall and spring, and in summer, night time hikes for stars ( be sure to have headlamp with red LEDs).