2022 Parks Road Trip: Reflections

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Summary

After almost three months, the road trip is finally over! It’s time to retrospect on everything that happened and what I learned living with such a different lifestyle.

Big Bend NP, TX

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 78-81

Big Bend National Park is situated right next to the Rio Grande in the southwestern dip of Texas, and is home to the Chisos Mountain Range as well as a couple impressive canyons carved out by the river. It is not easy to get to by any means, but it really has some unbeatable attractions. If you’re on a road trip in this area already and don’t mind the extra driving, even coming out here just for the hike up to Emory Peak is worth it.

Saguaro NP, AZ

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 77-78

Saguaro National Park, on the outskirts of Tucson, AZ, is home to a vast collection of cacti. Most notably, it has what is for many of us the prototypical cactus: the Saguaro. On our trip we only really passed through this park, so I’m not sure this post will do it justice, but I can say with confidence that its cacti truly were grand.

Sedona, AZ

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 73-77

You only need to drive into Sedona and immediately see the 360-degree red, green, and blue to understand why it is such a popular destination for nature tourism. It’s not a national park, but its trails are well maintained and their quality easily rivals that of any park in the US. Having the city of Sedona and all its conveniences right smack in the middle of it all makes it feel like the desert version of Banff or Estes Park.

Joshua Tree NP, CA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 71-73

Joshua Tree exists at the intersection of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, and is known for its distinctive rock formations and of course, its Joshua Trees, the spiky-looking half-cacti, half-trees. We only spent a little more than a day at this park, but a climber could probably enjoy ages here looking for paths up all the massive piles of granite boulders.

Death Valley NP, CA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 70-71

Death Valley: it’s the hottest place on earth (by record high temp). Most people don’t visit in the middle of summer, instead preferring the winter months when it’s a more bearable place. But we didn’t know when we’d be back here, and didn’t want to miss it! And plus, we once camped in Bryce Canyon in November when it was 15 ℉ there, so I’m sure we could deal with the other end of the spectrum?

We planned two nights here but only lasted for one. This is not something I would subject myself to ever again.

Sequoia / Kings Canyon NP, CA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 66-70

Kings Canyon and Sequoia are technically two separate parks, but they’re adjacent and have similar attractions, so as a visitor it feels like one place. It’s known for – you guessed it – its giant sequoia trees. It’s also where the tallest mountain in the continental US, Mount Whitney, resides. Though we stuck to other smaller peaks during our time there. 😮‍💨

Pinnacles NP, CA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 64-66

Pinnacles is a small and only mildly popular national park a few hours south of San Francisco. I never made it out there back when we lived in SF, so I was looking forward to seeing what I missed out on! The answer: lots of wildlife, some interesting caves, and a swimming pool! But probably more than anything else, I will remember this park for our nightly standoff with its raccoons.

Lassen Volcanic NP, CA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 59-64

Everyone knows about the eruption of Mount St. Helens, but did you know that there was just one other big volcanic eruption in the mainland USA since the 1900s? Lassen Peak (in 1915)! Since then the area was preserved as a national park mainly for the study of the dormant volcano. We’re just here to hike up whatever the eruption left behind.

Crater Lake NP, OR

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 56-59

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the USA. It’s what you get when a volcano explodes and leaves a huge crater behind in a very snowy place. All of its water is provided directly by precipitation, unlike most lakes, which are fed by rivers. While there’s not a ton to do in the park, it’s really quite a sight to behold.

Vancouver, Canada

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 54-56

After Olympic NP, we traveled to Vancouver to finally do our meetup with our friends who came there from SF. Being with friends, I mostly put the camera away, forgot about this blog, and just hung out with them. So, our time in Vancouver isn’t as well documented, and this post is short. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least share a few pics I snapped!

Olympic NP, WA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 50-54

Olympic National Park is a large place, its mountains and forests covering most of the Olympic peninsula in Washington state. It is home to lots of interesting wildlife that benefits from the unique weather patterns caused by the park’s proximity to the Pacific coastline. Between foggy mountain vistas, a rock scramble that was too hard, and a walk along the beach, we merely sampled the park’s diversity in the three days we spent here.

Mount Rainier NP, WA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 45-50

Mount Rainier National Park, with more glaciers than Glacier National Park, is a snowy place known for its alpine wildflower meadows, great views of the cascade range, and ice climbing backpackers hoping to summit its 14,417 ft peak. We’re just mere day hikers, but that didn’t stop us from playing in the snow a bit. 10,000 ft can be fun too! ⛄️

This is a long one. Rainier had so much to offer!

North Cascades NP, WA

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 43-45

North Cascades National Park seems like a great continuation of all the sweet hiking trails we’ve come to associate with this part of North America, but sadly due to closures and a tight timeline we were barely able to scratch the surface of what this park has to offer. We only spent one day here, but we know exactly what we’ll be doing when we come back!

Canada Part 3: Glacier NP

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 39-43

Glacier National Park of Canada isn’t very big; its main campground, Illecillewaet, is also the trailhead for the majority of the park’s popular day hikes, and that’s about all there is! But it is pure quality. The trails all lead to summits with breathtaking views, and each is one hell of a vertical challenge.

Canada Part 2: Jasper NP

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 37-39

Jasper NP is similar to Banff in many ways: still in the Canadian Rockies, has similar hikes, and paired with a nice touristy town of the same name. Though it’s also adjacent to Banff NP, it’s a three hour drive between Banff and Jasper’s town centers. I think it is often skipped because it’s more difficult to get to and offers much of the same as Banff. My reaction to that: Jasper’s like getting a second season of your favorite TV show!

Canada Part 1: Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay NPs

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 32-37

Banff itself is one of my favorite touristy mountain towns, right up there with Queenstown, NZ. I knew this ever since our prior 2019 trip here, and this time it was certainly reaffirmed. If you are into hiking at all, live in North America, and you want to be wowed by nature, this is the place to go.

Glacier NP, MT

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 27-32

Truly a hiker’s paradise. This was easily our favorite park up to this point. New challenges, new achievements – I certainly left feeling like my hiking abilities had leveled up.

Yellowstone NP, WY

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 22-27

Yellowstone: America’s first, largest, and most frequently visited national park, known for its various geothermal features and its murderous numerous bison. As our guide book says, rather dramatically, “Touch it. Smell it. Feel it. It is Yellowstone.”

Grand Teton NP, WY

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 17-22

Grand Teton National Park, home of the classic Teton Range. We got in some great hiking here, and had our first bear encounter!

Rocky Mountain NP, CO

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 11-17

Rocky Mountain National Park is a top-tier national park in the US. It’s got plenty of challenging but rewarding hikes, glacial lakes, and cool wildlife (elk!). This place was poppin’ over the fourth of July weekend.

Great Sand Dunes NP, CO

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 9-11

Great Sand Dunes National Park: not just a tan version of White Sands. Surrounded by greenery on all sides, it felt like the world’s biggest sandbox.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, CO

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 7-9

At no other point in our entire road trip did we receive a fifteen minute lecture on how to not get lost on a hike. But apparently this is needed when you descend into the Black Canyon. (cue scary music)

Mesa Verde NP, CO

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 6-7

We didn’t get the full picture of Mesa Verde due to some closures. Still, making the climb through the canyon walls was fun when you imagined yourself as one of the ancient peoples living one of the cliff dwellings, making the daily hike up to the top to get some farming done.

Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 4-6

If you want a taste of desolate with a solid dose of weird, Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness is the place for you.

White Sands NP, NM

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 3-4

The name White Sands unsurprisingly captures very well what this park is all about. What I did not expect was the feeling of disorientation when the ground around you in all directions blends into itself in a sea of white. At times it was peaceful, at others unsettling.

Guadalupe Mountain NP, TX

2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 1-3

Guadalupe National Park set the bar high for the rest of our road trip. Seeing the view from a mountain peak is always great, but there’s something really special about the feeling when it’s flat everywhere else as far as you can see.

Western Road Trip: Northbound Itinerary

From mid-June to mid-September, Judy and I will be going on a long road trip in the Western US, mostly living out of our SUV, doing a mix of normal and dispersed camping. These are the rough plans for the northbound half, which should last about 6 weeks.

A cat picture to kick things off

Critical to any good webpage.