Wilderness Wandering

July 30, 2024 We left Grand Teton around noon and drove 8 hours toward Sacramento, CA and slept in possibly the most basic rest stop we have experienced.  It was a parking lot with filthy pit toilets and no running water. But, on the bright side, we both slept pretty well. And that was all we needed. …

July 29, 2024 We drove through Grand Teton on our way to Yellowstone last Friday.  This afternoon we came back to see the park properly.  Grand Teton NP is 309,995 acres in Wyoming, just north of Jackson Hole. It is named after the mountains of The Teton Range. Grand Teton is well known as a…

We are back at it!  Tim left with our van Calypso in early July to visit several of his friends on his way west and do a lot of cycling.  I flew into Denver with friends and we rendezvoused in Medicine Bow Forest in Wyoming with another couple for four days of adventure in The…

Tim and I took a break from US National Parks to do a wonderful trip to Madagascar. We did manage a National Park tie in though. We visited one of Madagascar’s National Parks! The world’s fourth largest island and a country of 30 million people. While technically part of Africa, many of the Malagasy people…

Wednesday, March 6, 2024 We arrived mid afternoon at one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It was partly sunny and about 45 degrees. We drove to the Visitor Center and got our passport stamp. Next we drove to Mather Campground to choose a beautiful campsite since there were many sites available.  We…

Sunday, March 3 If you’re paying attention, when we left Yosemite we were heading to Sequoia and Kings Canyon next.  We hung out in Fresno for 2 days waiting for the blizzard in The Sierra Nevada Mountains to abate. The NPS phone line to check roads and weather never said the park was closed and…

Wednesday We left Pinnacles NP a bit early. There is a Severe Weather Forecast for Yosemite starting on Saturday and we were supposed to arrive late Wednesday and stay until Sunday. They’re forecasting ridiculous amounts of snow – 42” on Saturday alone. So we are planning to leave the park Friday unless the forecast changes, which only gives…

Monday 2/26 – Wednesday 2/28 Monday We left our amazing ocean front campsite and decided to break up our 4 hour drive to Pinnacles NP by stopping at Morro Rock, CA where you can often see sea otters and harbor seals. We arrived and immediately saw about 30 sea otters. There were mothers and juveniles…

The sea once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. Jacques Cousteau We left Joshua Tree National Park after a great morning hike. We stopped in the small town of Joshua Tree and did laundry then we headed west toward Los Angeles. We broke our Cracker Barrel camping virginity by…

February 21-23 We spent a few days visiting family and friends in Phoenix. We arrived at Joshua Tree a few hours after sunset and pulled in to the reserved campsite we had in Cottonwood Springs Campground and got ready for bed.  We heard rain on the roof through the night, but the rain had moved…