I keep having this recurring nightmare: Paul and I are standing on the edge of a canyon. One after the other, we fall in. Paul falls in, then I fall in. I fall in, then Paul falls in. Over and over. Sometimes we fall in because the wind blew a little too strongly or because the rock gave way under our feet or because we couldn’t keep our footing on […]
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I’d made my peace with saying goodbye to the desert at Dinosaur National Monument. Then we made a last minute swing through Colorado National Monument and my composure was shaken; my closure was ruined. You know how it is: you’re moving out of town and leaving behind a good group of friends — that last night, you have a big party, have a great time, a bunch of fond farewells, […]
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Yes, Dinosaur National Monument has dinosaur bones. The best bones have long been removed and placed in museums, but they’ve left a few in place to illustrate the amazing forces that made these bones find-able in the first place: first, lots of animals and dinosaurs died in a river bed. Sad. The smaller animals and dinosaurs were washed away by the river but the bigger ones settled down and were buried by […]
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Like Guadalupe National Park, Great Basin National Park is an island in the middle of the desert. The Great Basin desert, to be exact. Great Basin National Park covers part of the Snake Range, a mountain range running close to the Nevada/Utah border, and the tallest point is Wheeler Peak, at 13,063 feet. At treeline on Wheeler Peak and a few other high points you can find Bristlecone Pine trees […]
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Ansel Adams ruined Yosemite. Well …. somebody did. Probably, a bunch of people had a hand in it, collectively ruining the park by popularization. Ansel may have just kicked it off. The cool climbers that flock here just sealed its fate. Honestly, though, why even try to take a picture of Yosemite? Ansel’s already taken a better one. You can buy a print at the gift shop. Of course, you can […]
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The most famous view of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park is the vista from Glacier Point. That’s where everyone heads, and you’ve got to see it, but try this first: stop at the Sentinel Dome trailhead and hike the 4.9 mile Sentinel Dome/Taft Point loop trail. Head towards Sentinel Dome first and scramble up its bald, granite head for an amazing, 360 degree view of the granite-coated park. Then […]
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Honestly, they’re just embarrassing. As a state, California should be embarrassed by its parks. They’re shit. They’re just too expensive. Yes, people pay the fee, but they pay grudgingly, because there’s no alternative. They’re not nice-expensive, not cleaner than other parks (they seem dirtier), not packed with amenities in some awesome way. Hell, most have pay showers instead of free showers. They’re expensive in the I-think-I’m-getting-ripped-off-but-I-don’t-know-what-else-to-do way. They’re terrible. In […]
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Some people call this California’s Lost Coast. I prefer to think of it as the Saved Coast. Plenty of this section of California’s coast has been tied up by ranching and grazing for generations and is closed to public access, but there are also long, lonely stretches of coast in the public domain. Together, the King Range National Conservation Area and the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park cover about 50 contiguous […]
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If you want to see some big trees, aim for the Avenue of the Giants in Northern California, a road created so that through-traffic isn’t stuck behind gawking tourists on the 101 (my theory, since it mostly parallels the 101). The Avenue of the Giants is a great road, but the best road goes perpendicular (to the west) and into Humboldt Redwoods State Park. You don’t have to pay a fee to drive into […]
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We’re fans of Champagne and potato chips. They’re great together. Champagne and popcorn is good too, but we really like the chips (“crisps” for our British readers). This duo is just as good. Got a bottle of sweet wine but don’t want to wait until dessert to drink it? Grab some chips and salsa. Here’s why it works: the sweetness of the wine takes the edge off both the saltiness […]
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