Calumet Bluff Trail, Gavin's Point Dam area, July 2022 During the first summer of the famed Lewis & Clark Expedition in 1804, the travelling company camped for four nights at the base of a high bluff along the Missouri River, described by the party as “composed of a yellowish red, and brownish clay as hard …
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Gavin's Point Nature Trail, Lewis & Clark Recreation Area, July 2022 Created by the Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark Lake spans more than 31,000 on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota. While the massive reservoir conceals the original river embankments, it is paralleled on both sides by Niobrara chalk …
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Circle Trail, Pipestone National Monument, July 2022 Pipestone National Monument in southwest Minnesota preserves the site of an active pipestone quarry used by the Sioux and other American Indian tribes to craft famed “peace pipes” popularized by groups in the northern plains of the United States. The Sioux Quartzite that predominates in the park dates …
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Summit Rock Trail, Interstate Park, July 2022 Centuries upon centuries of freezing, thawing, and riverine erosion have carved the Dalles of the St. Croix, a basalt gorge that is one of the main natural attractions on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border and a popular destination for visitors from the Twin Cities and beyond. The St. Croix River …
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West Bluff Trail, Devil's Lake State Park, July 2022 It’s not too often that visitors are able to walk in a mountain range with rocky bluffs dating to 1.6 billion years ago, in addition to a rare freshwater endorheic lake—a body of water situated in a natural depression with no external drainage. And yet one …
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Empire Bluff Trail, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, June 2022 What happens when a combination of glacial recession, wind, and erosion produces a perched dune atop a glacial moraine atop geological debris from the most recent Ice Age? The result, in Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, is the Empire Bluffs, a 400-foot headland overlooking …
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Dune Succession Trail, Indiana Dunes National Park, June 2022 Arguably the most impressive sight in Indiana Dunes National Park, the moderately tall sand dunes at West Beach can be explored on this short, 0.9-mile loop. The Dune Succession Trail—one of three loops in the West Beach area—traverses coniferous and deciduous forests, cottonwood stands, and high …
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Mott Lake Trail, John Muir Wilderness, August 2021 Generally less frequented than nearby Yosemite or Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, the John Muir Wilderness spans 650,000 acres of mostly unblemished mountain terrain in the heart of California’s Sierra Nevada. The region is dotted with hundreds of alpine and subalpine lakes, each of which shimmers …
Garnet Lake, John Muir Trail, Ansel Adams Wilderness, August 2021 Note: This is the fifth in a series of five posts describing the John Muir Trail (JMT), a scintillating, multi-week hike through California’s Sierra Nevada that extends more than 200 miles from Yosemite National Park in the north to Mount Whitney and Sequoia National Park …
Marie Lake, John Muir Trail, John Muir Wilderness, August 2021 Note: This is the fourth in a series of five posts describing the John Muir Trail (JMT), a scintillating, multi-week hike through California’s Sierra Nevada that extends more than 200 miles from Yosemite National Park in the north to Mount Whitney and Sequoia National Park …
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