Author's posts
Aug 23 2026
Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
Emerald Lake is one of the classic hiking destinations in Rocky Mountain National Park. Reached from the Bear Lake Trailhead, the route climbs through subalpine forest past Nymph Lake and Dream Lake before ending beneath the dramatic walls of Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain. The scenery-to-effort ratio helps explain why the trail is so popular. …
Aug 15 2026
Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park: Trail, Views & Visitor Guide
Bear Lake is one of the most recognizable destinations in Rocky Mountain National Park. Sitting at approximately 9,475 feet above sea level, the subalpine lake is surrounded by spruce, fir, lodgepole pine, and dramatic mountain scenery, with Hallett Peak and the Continental Divide forming an impressive backdrop. Unlike many of Rocky Mountain National Park’s famous …
Aug 15 2026
Denali National Park
Denali National Park and Preserve protects more than six million acres of mountains, tundra, taiga forest, braided rivers, glaciers, and largely roadless wilderness in the heart of Alaska. At its center rises North America’s highest mountain, a massive snow-and-ice-covered peak reaching 20,310 feet above sea level. Yet Denali is much more than its famous mountain. …
Aug 14 2026
West Virginia National Parks & NPS Sites: New River Gorge, Harpers Ferry & More
West Virginia may have only one site carrying the formal National Park and Preserve designation, but the National Park Service protects a surprisingly diverse collection of landscapes, rivers, trails, and historic places across the Mountain State. From the sandstone cliffs and whitewater of New River Gorge to the Civil War and civil rights history of …
Aug 05 2026
Washington National Parks Guide: Mount Rainier, Olympic & North Cascades
Washington is home to three national parks, and together they protect an extraordinary cross-section of the Pacific Northwest. Mount Rainier National Park surrounds the highest mountain in the Cascade Range and some of the most celebrated wildflower meadows in America. Olympic National Park combines glacier-covered mountains, temperate rain forests, old-growth forests, lakes, rivers, and more …
Jul 28 2026
Best Beaches in Olympic National Park: Rialto, Ruby Beach, Shi Shi & More
Olympic National Park protects one of the wildest stretches of coastline in the continental United States. Here, the Pacific Ocean crashes against enormous sea stacks, giant driftwood logs pile along the shore, tidepools fill with colorful marine life, and dense temperate forest grows almost to the edge of the sea. These are not typical swimming …
Jul 25 2026
Staircase in Olympic National Park: Hikes, Lake Cushman & Visitor Guide
Staircase is one of the quieter gateways into Olympic National Park, offering enormous Douglas-firs, a rushing mountain river, moss-covered forest, and access to the southeastern Olympic Mountains. Located along the North Fork Skokomish River beyond Lake Cushman, the area feels distinctly different from better-known Olympic destinations such as Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh Rain Forest, and …
Jul 14 2026
Olympic National Park Hot Springs: Sol Duc, Olympic Hot Springs & Visitor Guide
Olympic National Park has two very different hot-spring experiences. Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort offers developed mineral pools, changing rooms, lodging, camping, food, and easy road access during its operating season. Olympic Hot Springs, in the Elwha Valley, are undeveloped natural springs reached only after a long journey on foot or bicycle followed by additional …
Jul 11 2026
Kalaloch Lodge in Olympic National Park: Cabins, Dining, Beaches & Visitor Guide
Kalaloch Lodge sits on a forested bluff above the Pacific Ocean in one of the most beautiful parts of Olympic National Park. Surrounded by windswept beaches, driftwood, coastal forest, tidepools, and wildlife, the lodge offers something unusual in a national park famous for remote wilderness: the chance to stay directly along the Olympic coast without …
Jun 24 2026
America the Beautiful Pass Guide: Cost, Benefits & Is It Worth It?
If you plan to visit several national parks or other federal recreation areas within a year, the America the Beautiful Pass can be one of the simplest ways to reduce entrance costs. Often casually called the “national park pass,” it actually covers far more than National Park Service sites, providing access to thousands of participating …
