National Parks
Part 2
This
past spring I had the pleasure of continuing my National Parks tour.
I
flew into Fresno and started in Yosemite in early May. The area received some of the highest
snow totals in history. The snow
pack while I was there was still very high. This was perfect for viewing
waterfalls and getting wet on the mist trail.
Yosemite
Falls
Upper
& Lower Yosemite Falls From 4 Mile Trail
I
spent most of the time hiking around the valley and stayed in a canvas tent in
Half Dome Village.
My
next stop was Grand Sequoias and kings Canyon parks. This is where the worlds largest tree by volume grows.
The
trails are well maintained and you can walk and drive through some trees.
After
a few very enjoyable days at sequoias and Kings canyon, I flew to Cody
Wyoming. My next stop was
Yellowstone National Park.
Old
Faithful
This
place felt like I was on another planet.
Grand
Tetons is just south of Yellowstone.
I lucked out with the weather while I was there. I was lucky enough to get these
pictures on a perfectly still morning:
One
afternoon, I visited Jackson.
There is a tram that takes people up to the top of Rendezvous
Mountain. I took it up and the
winds were so high, the tram shut down and wouldnÕt run for about an hour until
the winds died down. Thankfully
there is a nice warming hut on the top of the mountain. They serve really good waffles and hot
beverages.
I
had to drive through a snow storm to get back to Cody. When I arrived in Cody, that afternoon,
I visited Buffalo Bills Wild West Show Museum. I highly recommend visiting the place if you are ever in the
area.
I
then traveled from Cody to Salt lake City Utah. There were some places I wanted to
visit that I didnÕt get to the first time around. After spending the week-end exploring what Salt Lake City
had to offer, I headed south to Goblin Valley State Park.
Grand
Staircase Escalante was my next to last stop in Utah. ItÕs the largest national monument in the country at 1.9
million acres.
There
are no established trails I was told at the visitors
center. There are paths and other
unofficial trails that lead to some amazing sights:
The
water was cold, but felt great on the 90 plus degree day.
Slot
Canyons
The
slot canyons were a highlight. Definitely worth exploring.
I
revisited Capital Reef for a couple of days and was able to get some great
trail runs and hikes.
My
final parks that I visited were in Arkansas. Crater of Diamonds State Park and Hot
Springs National Park. Hot
Spring is the smallest national park in the country. ItÕs also one of the most unique. There were old bath houses that are still in operation
today. Also, there are spigots
around the park where you can fill up your water jugs with hot or cold spring
water. I didnÕt take too many
pictures at these parks, but they were still well worth the trip.
I
canÕt say enough about these experiences and I hope I inspired others to get
out and explore.
Thank
you for reading.