Category Archives: National Parks

Desperation to See Devastation

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My journey up Scenic Highway 395 ends at Susanville, as I turn west on Highway 36 to pick up the Tracker at the bike trailhead on the way to visit another of our National Parks, Lassen Volcanic.   I have read that the road through the park and over the pass is still closed due to snow, but it is possible to enter into the park a few miles from both the north and the south entrance (think of the letter “C”) to see some of the geothermal activity, as well as the historical impact. Continue reading →

Mother Nature 1, Suzanne 0 (Death Valley, Part IV)

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I set my alarm for 4:30am.  I must get up and get out before first light, before I reach that danger zone again.   At 5:00am, it is still 85 degrees out.   I hitch up in the dark, and take off toward Stovepipe Wells.   I don’t want to go, but I don’t want to put any of the  “TTTH Team” through another 110 degree day, either. Continue reading →

Outrunning the Sun (Death Valley Part II)

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I set my alarm for 5:00am and wake up in time to make it to Zabriskie Point by sunrise.   I have to hang around for almost an hour, as I did not figure on the sunrise over the mountain being so much later than the “true” sunrise.  It is so cool and pleasant…..like 65 degrees.   Just a gorgeous clear, cool morning, the kind that makes me wonder why I don’t get up for sunrise every day. Continue reading →

Veni, Viti, Vici, Death Valley!

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“I came, I saw, I conquered!”   Okay, well, so maybe I didn’t conquer.  Two outta three ain’t bad.

When trying to determine the best place to cross over from Arizona to California’s Scenic Hwy 395, the obvious choice was right through the heart of Death Valley.  This would also allow me to cross off another National Park, Continue reading →

“There’s nothing to see here! GO BACK!”

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After the two Park Rangers in Saguaro National Park West recommended I split my time in Tucson to include Catalina State Park, I figured I had to cut my time short at Gilbert Ray so as not to miss it. One even went to far to say that Gilbert Ray had been his favorite campground…”until I saw Catalina.”   So my expectations had been set pretty high.

Imagine my shock when I arrived at the Catalina front gate and went inside to register. I asked the elderly, somewhat cranky volunteer behind the desk if he had a map of the east side of the park. His answer was Continue reading →

I am a Crested Cliche’

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I have been reading RV Blogs for about three years now. This has been my main source of information for finding RV-friendly destinations, as well as adding hiking and biking trails and scenic wonders to my own wish list. But any RV blog worth its “states visited” puzzle will eventually come to this: Continue reading →

Phoning it in from the Bat Cave

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park is just thirty miles up the road from Guadalupe Mountain National Park, so it seems like a “no brainer” to make the detour. Though I have to admit, my heart wasn’t really in it. Maybe it was because I had already been there as a child on one of my parents many road trips out west. Or maybe it was because Continue reading →