The Many Glacier area is the most amazing area of a top-tier US National Park, namely Glacier. The hikes, the historic inn, the lakes, waterfalls, and glaciers are out of this world. The boat rides, opportunities to view wildlife, and the usual national park events and activities are all icing on the cake.
Canyonlands covers a vast area in southeast Utah that is largely inhospitable region, featuring canyons within canyons, mesas, buttes, and spires. There are mesmerizing views everywhere you look. The austere beauty stuns the eye, and the vastness is hard to comprehend.
Perhaps the most accurate descriptor for Canyonlands is underrated. Why underrated? Well, Canyonland’s next door neighbor is the very popular Arches, one of our favorite National Parks. Nonetheless, Canyonlands is extraordinary and worth the time. Where Arches boasts of "delicate" beauty, Canyonlands is rugged and surreal but remarkably beautiful in its own right.
The sweeping scale of the canyon, the colorful rock layers, the ever-changing vistas, seem inconceivable to the human mind. Seen from the rim, the canyon is amazing and impressive, but by hiking down, it can be appreciated on a completely different level. Our Grand Canyon hike to Phantom Ranch with two nights at PR was an exhilarating experience.
We planned two big hikes for our time in Glacier National Park, the Highline Trail and the hike to Grinnell Glacier. Hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail ranks high on our list of most amazing adventures anywhere. This is a world class hike! The impressive Grinnell Glacier is on the northern side of Mount Gould and sits at about 7,000 feet. The hike features stunning jeweled lake views, alpine meadows dotted with wildflowers, the chance to spot wildlife, and the prize – ending at the foot of the Grinnell Glacier and its incredible setting. Hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail is the… Read More »Hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park
Kootenay National Park is traversed by the Banff-Windermere Highway in British Columbia, Canada. It protects 543 square miles (1406 square km) of mountainous terrain in the Rocky Mountain range. Providing breathtaking scenic driving, front and back-country hiking, hot springs, canyons, and lakes, this national park is worth a visit if you are traveling between Banff and Glacier National Parks, or anytime! Note: Our drive down the Windermere Highway through Kootenay National Park was part of a larger trip to Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada, and Glacier National Park in Montana, USA. We decided to drive the scenic… Read More »Kootenay National Park along the Windermere Highway
Glacier National Park covers almost 1,600 square miles in the northern part of the state of Wyoming. The Park is set in a remote location far from major cities or airports. However, Glacier still attracts many visitors – and it is easy to see why. The park is among the top tier (top ten?) of US National Parks.
When planning our trip to Glacier National Park, the Highline Trail on the Going to the Sun Road, kept appearing high on lists of amazing hikes. Photos lured us in – the hike is absolutely stunning! But the roundtrip hike from Logan Pass to the Granite Park Chalet, recommended by many, is almost 16 miles roundtrip. We knew we didn’t want to hike quite that much! After some research, we discovered that we could continue our hike as a one-way from the Granite Park Chalet down to the Going to the Sun Road at The Loop, a hairpin turn on… Read More »Best Guide to the Highline Trail, Glacier National Park