The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the southern California coast that are spread over a 160-mile region. The national park consists of 250,000 acres of land and ocean environment. The primary visitor center for the park is located on the harbor in Ventura, California although there is a small visitor center at […]
The Amazing World of Seals
Pinnipeds (“flipper-footed”) are marine mammals possessing both front and rear flippers that although they live in the ocean are able to come onto land for significant periods of time. Members of this group include seals, sea lions and walruses. The ancestors of our current day pinnipeds were land dwellers that over time began to spend […]
Death Valley National Park- a Beautiful Desert
The name Death Valley conjurers up visions of a hot, dry, arid, ugly and lifeless place for most people. It is indeed the hottest, driest, and contains the lowest elevation point in the U.S. Death Valley National Park is located in the Mojave Desert. During the summer months, the temperature is frequently 120 oF (49 […]
Easy to Reach Waterfalls Near Mt. Shasta
There are four beautiful and easy to see waterfalls in the Mt. Shasta region of northern California that can be visited in a single day. Three are on the upper section of the McCloud River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and the fourth is in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. The McCloud River waterfalls and […]
Gold Butte National Monument
National parks are places that have been set aside to protect an environmentally or culturally important area. There are currently 63 national parks, and I have been able to visit 40 of them. Although everybody has heard of our national parks, many people have no idea that there are 129 other parks termed national monuments […]
An Oregon Coastal Spectacular – The King Tide
This weekend I went to the Oregon Coast to experience the power of the ocean during a phenomenon called the “King Tide”, a time of an unusually high tide. To understand this phenomena, it is necessary to understand why we have high and low tides. Why are there tides? Ocean tides are a phenomenon caused […]
An Adventure on the Rails-to-Trails “Crown Jewel”
Rail-Trails are flat or gently sloping paths created from decommissioned railroad corridors. The Route of the Hiawatha is a very scenic biking trail that follows an old railroad right-of-way traversing the Bitterroot Mountains near the Idaho/Montana border. This railway, known as the Milwaukee Road, was an important stretch of the last of the transcontinental railroads […]
Echo Basin – In Search of Wildflowers
Late June through July is the prime wildflower season in the high meadows of the Oregon Cascades. I decided to hike the Echo Basin Trail in the Willamette National Forest on a wildflower quest. This trail is located between the Santiam and Tombstone Passes in the “Old Cascades”, a geological region of mountains that are […]
Winter In Yellowstone – Part 2.
Part 2. Interior Yellowstone – Day 1. I have lost count of how many times I have been to Yellowstone National Park. I have been there in the spring, summer, fall, and once a cursory drive by in very late winter, but it has long been on my bucket list to make a trip to […]
Winter in Yellowstone
Part 1. Northern Yellowstone. I have lost count of how many times I have been to Yellowstone National Park. I have been there in the spring, summer, fall, and once a cursory drive by in very late winter, but it has long been on my bucket list to make a trip to the interior of […]