We spent a lovely few days in Denali National Park and Preserve, probably Alaska’s most popular national park, in the South Central part of Alaska. Certainly it is Alaska’s most visited park if you don’t count the hoards of people who briefly dip their toes into Glacier Bay National Park from their massive cruise ships. Filled with wide open spaces, beautiful mountain ranges and roaming wildlife, we were excited to finally get to Denali, which we’ve heard so much about.
We get this question often – what exactly do you do all day on your road trip? What’s a typical day look like? Excellent question, and honestly it varies from day to day and area to area. But here I’ll break down some examples for you.
Women can be and are adventurous too. And that doesn’t make us an anomaly. If I have to hear one more time “You like to do this?! I would never get my wife out here!”, I might lose it. On this road trip we have met lots of people from all over the country and the world, from all walks of life, taking lots of different kinds of road trips. Over and over and over again, Ryan has been congratulated (almost exclusively by men) on finding himself a wife who would agree to a trip like this – the implication being that women aren’t supposed to like to do these kinds of things; outdoorsy, adventurous, rugged things. “Wow you’ve got yourself quite a wife, I could never get mine to live in such a small camper! She couldn’t live without her kitchen or her bathroom mirror!” Nobody is looking at me wondering how I managed to get my husband out on the road like this. Now there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to go camping and not wanting to live out of a tiny camper spending your days hiking and fishing. I know plenty of people for whom this would be miserable – both men and women. The problem is that solely because I’m a girl, people assume that these aren’t supposed to be my hobbies, and I’m not supposed to want to go adventuring and wandering like this.
Continued [See this post for Part I of the Olympic Peninsula!] Not at all having satisfied our desire to explore the western side of Olympic National Park, but needing to get moving because we are on a somewhat strict timeline, we headed up and around the Peninsula and parked Gelly in the Hearty of the Hills Campground, just outside of Port Angeles and near the main entrance to Olympic NP. This was a perfect place to camp for us to see our friends in Port Angeles, do some exploring in Hurricane Ridge, and also make our way out to Cape Flattery.
A few weeks ago we spent some time on the Olympic Peninsula, in Washington, and absolutely fell in love with the area. We adore it in every way, even if it did pour down rain on us.
The peninsula is mostly covered by Olympic National Park, with the very outside of the peninsula all around the Park dotted with farms and cute little towns, and the Coast Guard station, of course! Olympic NP might just be my favorite national park (in the U.S.) so far, for lots of reasons, including that it covers such a variety of environments. You’ve got the old growth rainforest, the beautiful Pacific coastline, the majestic mountain ranges in the center, and water – so much water – waterfalls, lakes, coastline, rivers, and lots of opportunities for wildlife viewing. It’s a playground for just about anyone who cares anything for the outdoors and I am certain that there is something here for everyone.
Hey Marmot, you’ve got something in your teeth! 😉
How on Earth is it July already?! We’ve been on the road for 4 months now, and still loving every minute … okay maybe not loving it when the rain’s been pouring on us for a bit, but we will take some rain if it means lovely waterfalls, rainbows and bright sunny days come afterwards! We are now embarking on the part of the trip that I have eagerly anticipated the most – Alaska! But for now, here is the tally of facts and figures from the last month – June 10th through July 10th:
Life was meant for good friends and great adventures. It is especially sweet when good friends join you for those great adventures. For Memorial Day this year, a couple of our favorites joined us on the road for the long weekend. We met them at Shasta National Forest, in the very northern part of California, and began our weekend of revelry. We hiked from Castle Lake to Heart Lake, catching up on life and enjoying the beautiful views of Mt. Shasta.
Canyoneering – what an exhilarating, slightly terrifying way to experience the canyons that make up so much of Utah’s beauty! When we are given a raving review of a place or activity, we usually take it. This is what happened when we decided to go canyoneering near Zion National Park in southern Utah. We’d met a guy on our hike on Hermit Trail at the Grand Canyon (see here for a recap!) and got to chatting with him, and he could not speak more highly of his experience canyoneering in Water Canyon in southern Utah. So we put it on the list and we are so glad that we did.
We made it!
There are few things in life that feel as good as the first stretch the morning after a particularly invigorating yoga class. What does not feel so good is the wake up stretch the morning after climbing from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top – ouch! But to say that the hike is worth it is a gross understatement. It is more than worth it. After a night down at the Bright Angel Campground (see the post here about our hike down the South Kaibab Trail to the campground at the bottom of the Grand Canyon!), we were headed back up to climb out of the canyon.
The Wave at Coyote Buttes, Northern Arizona
Another month on the road! Here is the tally of facts and figures for our roadtrip as of May 3rd (a few days over the month mark!):
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