This is a somewhat lengthy narrative about the trouble I had making plans to go canoeing and camping in Voyageurs National Park. If you have money burning holes in your pockets, you will not have the same trouble I had. If you’re trying to plan a canoeing trip in Voyageurs on a budget, this blog … More Planning a camping trip to Voyageurs National Park is not for the faint-hearted
Back in the car we ate sad peanut butter sandwiches and stared glumly at the list of hikes we wanted to do.
“It’s going to be tough to hike ten miles to Grinnell Glacier here, drive thirty miles, then do another three-mile hike to sleep,” I said, resenting the seven miles I’d already hiked today.
We considered other hikes nearer the campsite. We considered other campsites nearer the hike. No combination worked in a satisfying way.
“This is really stupid,” I concluded. “I want to go home.”
We sat in the car, staring at our tent in bemusement for a few silent moments.
“Huh,” one of us finally said.
Our tent sat in the middle of a perfect circle of standing water, as if it had decided to grow its own moat. It was perfectly centered. I judged the moat’s depth at about two inches.
… More North Cascades National Park, where contradictory things went awry
“Where will we sleep?” Dustin asked.
“There are two front-country campgrounds, and if they’re both full we can disperse in the National Forest.” You know we’re getting desperate when front-country camping and dispersed camping (pitching your tent along the side of a road in an approved part of a National Forest) are the best options. Our general philosophy is that if we’re going to go through the discomfort of sleeping in a tent, we really ought to be getting something (a remote, lovely view and serious solitude, usually) out of it. Sleeping in a tent in close proximity to dozens of neighbors? Meh.
I don’t have a particular narrative to go with our photos of our time in Redwood National & State Parks. My jaw dropped open the moment I saw my first redwood, and I really didn’t manage to get my mouth closed until we left. (Good thing banana slugs can’t fly.) I was just in a perpetual state of awe the whole time. That doesn’t make a very interesting story, though. … More A photo-journal of a visit to Redwood State & National Parks
Thither & Yon 