There are plenty of places to backpack in Redwood National & State Parks. All backcountry camping must be done at designated campsites – except for Redwood Creek, located in southern Redwood National Park. Along the creek, camping on gravel bars is allowed. We only had time to do one backpacking trip in the park, and Redwood Creek was our choice…
We woke up in our campsite at Gold Bluffs Beach in Redwood National & State Parks refreshed and ready to go. Our plan was to hike to the picturesque Fern Canyon, one of the most popular spots in the park. Ferns line its walls and a stream runs through it. Part of Jurassic Park 2 was filmed there due to its primeval appearance. The trail to Fern Canyon is a 12.1 mile loop linking the James Irvine and Miner’s Ridge…
When I heard about Gold Bluffs Beach Campground in Redwood National & State Parks, I immediately wanted to stay there. I pictured myself sitting on the warm sand, soaking up the sun. I had only been to Northern CA once before so…in my mind, it was a combination of camping and a beach vacation. Reserving a campsite at any campground in Redwood can be a challenge. Back in 2017 when we reserved a site for Gold Bluffs, we were online…
Towering redwood trees. That’s what you think of when you come to Redwood National & State Parks. Our first hike in the park though? It would feature no redwoods. Lyons Ranch, a National Historic Site, has an easy 4.5 mile loop trail and features wide open prairies, dramatic views, and historic structures. You can see more than just trees at Redwood N&SP. Lyons Ranch Trail is in a remote section of the park called Bald Hills, near the park’s southeast…
We’ve explored Shenandoah quite a bit, but there are many hikes we haven’t made it to. The southern district springs to mind, as we usually frequent the closer north and central districts. There are hikes that we haven’t done that are (according to popular opinion) some of the best the park has to offer. If you search for best hikes in Shenandoah, Hawksbill is usually on the list. So, we traded in a humid summer day in DC for cooler…
Our trip to Acadia was wonderful, and we wished we had more time there. This post serves as our reflections looking back on Acadia – our favorite spots, things that we wished we did, tips for traveling to the park, or things we didn’t like. It can also be used as a guide to the park, with links to more detailed posts if you want to dive in. We’ll definitely revisit Acadia someday. But there are a lot of other…
It was our last day in Maine, and we had gone to Schoodic Peninsula to check out the newest addition to Acadia NP. We had already explored the Schoodic Institute and Sundew Trail. Before our trip, we had seen photos of waves crashing onto rocks at Schoodic Point. And a ranger at Schoodic Information Center had recommended hiking up to Schoodic Head, which would be the last hike of our trip. Schoodic Point The drive to Schoodic Point from the…
Sadly, our time on Mt. Desert Island had come to an end. We’d explored, hiked, eaten, and enjoyed ourselves immensely on the island. But we weren’t finished with Acadia yet. There are three districts in the park, and we had visited two of them. The last one, Schoodic Peninsula, awaited us. Schoodic is the only part of Acadia located on the US mainland. From the eastern coast of Mt. Desert Island, you can actually see Schoodic. One way to get…
Southwest Harbor is small town on the southern end of MDI’s west side. Our first taste of it was seeing the harbor itself on the drive in. There are several piers, and one had a small pulloff. It looked so picturesque with boats scattered around, and we just had to stop and take some photos. The harbor is small, so we definitely recommend stopping to take in the views. To us, this was quintessential Maine. Southwest Harbor is also the…
The west side of Mt. Desert Island doesn’t have as many hikes as the east side, and overall the hikes didn’t interest us as much. The one trail that we decided to do on the west side was Beech Cliff Trail. It interested us because, like the Beehive on the east side, this trail features some unique obstacles. In this case, multiple iron ladders. So we woke up in Seawall Campground on our second to last day in Maine, and headed…