Category: U.S. National Parks
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Olympic National Park – Sol Duc Falls
Sol Duc Falls, our destination of the day, is described as one of the top waterfalls in Olympic National Park. According to the Peninsula Daily News, “Sol Duc” comes from the Native American Quileute language and translates as “sparkling waters” or “magic”waters.” We had high hope for our day.A 14-mile drive off Highway 101 (west…
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Hurricane Ridge Blew Us Away
Tuesday was another early morning for us. The plan was to drive into Olympic National Park and snag a parking spot up at Hurricane Ridge, allowing us to hike to the top of Hurricane Hill. Reg had read that parking could be competitive. The National Park service lists Hurricane Ridge as the most easily accessed…
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Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery is the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States. It’s located on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca joins the Pacific Ocean. We may never be back this way again, so visiting the cape was just too tempting for us to pass up. We packed a lunch and off…
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Olympic National Park – Coastal Walks
We chose to do the Third Beach hike first. Parking is limited due to the popularity of this trail with backpackers who have multiple day permits. Day hikers tend to get what’s left. For that reason, we chose to walk to the trailhead along a paved path from our campsite, turning the 1.8-mile walk into…
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Olympic National Park – Early To Rise
We’ve spent the last six nights along the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula at an RV park sandwiched between coastal strips of Olympic National Park. Over the years, we’ve canceled several trips to the park (when life interfered), so we’ve been pretty excited to finally be here.Olympic National Park encompasses nearly a million acres…
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Vampire Watch
Back in the late 1960s I’d hurry home from school every afternoon to catch the latest episode of Dark Shadows, ABCs wildly popular gothic soap opera. The fictional town of Collinsport was home to Collinwood mansion where the unusual Collins family resided. Viewers got to know (among others) the sinister Barnabas Collins, a vampire, Angelique,…
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Theodore Roosevelt National Park
We rolled into Sully Creek State Park outside the little village of Medora, North Dakota, looking forward to a three-night stay. Once parked, we realized the promised water hookup was missing. What the heck? After a quick chat with the ranger, we realized that we must have received bad intel. Nobody else in the campground…
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Five-sided History Lesson
Construction of Fort Pulaski, a massive five-sided fort built to protect the city and port of Savannah, began in 1829. Named for Casimir Pulaski, a Revolutionary War commander, the fort was ranked one of the “most spectacular harbor defense structures” in the United States during the Civil War years. The government rented enslaved people from…
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Maine or Bust 2022: Miles of Passageways
With over 365 miles of surveyed passageways, geologists think there could be 600 more miles yet to be charted throughout the cave that lies below Mammoth Cave National Park. Known as the longest cave system on earth, it has been explored off and on for the last 4,000 years. The national park offers a selection…
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