Natural Bridge, Maquoketa Caves State Park, August 2024 After nearly spending nearly three weeks out West, it was, alas, time to get on my way across the country to complete my move from the San Francisco area to Washington, DC. From South Dakota, I drove down to stay with a friend in Iowa City, Iowa …
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Saddle Pass Trail, Badlands National Park, August 2024 By now I was nearly three weeks into my cross-country trip, but I was savoring my last couple days out West before the relatively lackluster drive across the Great Plains to the East Coast. After making my way east from the Black Hills to Badlands National Park …
Continue reading Saddle Pass Trail to Castle – Medicine Root Trail Loop (Badlands National Park, SD)
Centennial Trail, Lookout Point Loop, Wind Cave National Park, August 2024 The main draw of Wind Cave National Park in western South Dakota, of course, lies underground. But when the caverns are closed (as they were in summer 2024), the primary attraction becomes the twisting canyons and vast prairies on the surface. This is not …
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Black Elk Peak, Black Elk Wilderness, Black Hills National Forest, August 2024 At 7,241 feet, Black Elk Peak is South Dakota’s highest point and the tallest peak in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The mountain (formerly known as Harney Peak) was a sacred place for the native Lakota and tops a band …
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Tower Trail, Devils Tower National Monument, August 2024 From the Bighorn Canyon area, I set out across the Bighorn Mountains and visited Little Bighorn Battlefield before leaving the Rockies behind. Traversing a whole lot of nothing between Buffalo, Wyoming and the Black Hills, I made it to Devils Tower National Monument in the late afternoon. …
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Bunsen Peak Trail, Yellowstone National Park, August 2024 Heading south and east from the Bitterroot Range, I spent the night at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park and then--in a rather spontaneous move--set out for a day in Yellowstone, America’s first national park. The park, of course, is massive, so I bit off only a …
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Wiesendanger Falls, Wahkeena - Multnomah Falls Loop, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, July 2024 After three days on the Oregon coast, day five of the cross-country adventure brought us to Portland, Oregon—where we happened upon the annual convention of the National Parks Travelers Club—and ventured out on some hikes in the nearby Columbia River …
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Humbug Mountain Trail, Humbug Mountain State Park, July 2024 This marks the first of a long series of posts from a cross-country haul in July-August from northern California to Washington, DC. Alas, after five years in California, it was time to return to the east coast. After heading north from the Bay Area, day two …
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Founders' Grove Nature Trail, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, June 2024 A scenic centerpiece of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Founders’ Grove is the most popular redwood stand in the park and easily explored on a well-trodden ½-mile loop trail. The most famous attraction is, of course, the 364-foot Founders’ Tree, which was once thought to be …
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Bull Creek Flats Trail, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, June 2024 Outside of iconic Redwood National Park, about an hour and a half north on Highway 101, there is perhaps no better place in the world to view California coast redwoods than Humboldt Redwoods State Park, a massive, 53,000-acre tract with about 17,000 acres of old-growth …
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Live and Let Hike 