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Post by Campfires&Concierges on Dec 5, 2016 13:36:44 GMT -8
I did make 2 trips up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as I tried to hit the best of the Midwest before I move away next year... I was there the 2nd weekend of September this year. The cliff trail between Chapel Rock and Mosquito Beach is among the most scenic stretches in the upper Midwest. Where are you moving? I did not get that far on the trail and maybe need to go back again, but I hate hiking without my dog! Moving somewhere out west - the plan is to travel for a few months and hunker down when I run out of money...right now, Tucson is very appealing, but I also really like the Salt Lake area. Trying to eat at all the Chicago restaurants before I go is going to leave me fat and poor, lol!
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rpcv
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Post by rpcv on Dec 5, 2016 14:10:50 GMT -8
My husband and I volunteer in Shenandoah National Park, so we make it there quite frequently. We also bicycled the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway this year, which is administered by the National Park Service and we visited Great Smoky Mountains at the beginning of the ride.
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grace
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Post by grace on Dec 5, 2016 15:13:46 GMT -8
I got to go to Yosemite! I'm so excited and can't WAIT to go back!
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Post by trinity on Dec 5, 2016 17:27:53 GMT -8
That would be me. I enjoy the administrative challenge, controlled usage, dispersed designated campsites and zones of the National Park system. That said, we only have a few parks we frequent and avoid many. Understanding the operating protocols and working within the system can provide enjoyable outings. On our last four backpacking permits in Canyonlands we encountered hikers on two occasions and that was within a mile of the parking lot each time. In the end, it's the challenge of navigating the administrative terrain to achieve upside results, that motivates me. That's a great perspective, thank you! I can see how that would be rewarding, but my aversion to bureaucracy is too great to allow me to do this. But Big Bend NP and the Guadalupe Mountains NP are ~500 miles from central Texas and are about the only tractable "mountain" destinations for brief 3-4 day trips. Too true. I love Big Bend, but haven't been there since doing the Outer Mountain Loop in the late 80s. Now that my dog is getting a bit old for longer trips I may try to get back there, and will probably be making a trip to the Guads in the not too distant future.
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toejam
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Post by toejam on Dec 5, 2016 17:58:48 GMT -8
In the end, it's the challenge of navigating the administrative terrain to achieve upside results, that motivates me. You are a sick puppy. But Big Bend NP and the Guadalupe Mountains NP are ~500 miles from central Texas and are about the only tractable "mountain" destinations for brief 3-4 day trips. I always felt like if I was driving that far I might just go to New Mexico NF wilderness areas - no permits. BIBE & GUMO can be pretty awesome during cold months though.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2016 10:40:13 GMT -8
and will probably be making a trip to the Guads in the not too distant future.
the Dog Canyon side of the park is worth a visit, if you haven't been there.
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Westy
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Post by Westy on Dec 6, 2016 11:49:36 GMT -8
30+ years in a competitive corporate environment trains one to accept the challenge of goals that are "Aggressive but Achievable". Learned to have a bite bigger than my bark!
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Post by superseal on Dec 6, 2016 12:17:32 GMT -8
The Great Smoky Mountains for me! I made 2 trips this fall and I'm sure I'll go back. I'd like to get out west in the future.
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Post by bradmacmt on Dec 7, 2016 5:59:02 GMT -8
The awful truth, for me, is National Parks are just far too crowded for me to have "my Park."
I'm fortunate to have YNP right outside my back door, and spent the last 1.5 years working with what might be one of the best views of Grand Teton Nt'l Park right outside the window. However, living and working around these Parks is too much of a hassle to claim any one of them as my "own."
My sentimental favorite is Acadia...but talk about crowded!
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Jan 1, 2017 22:45:45 GMT -8
Technically, no, I didn't visit any National Parks this year. I did spend a good bit of time in National Recreation Areas administered by the National Park Service, though, so it's half of a yes. OK, I must add another "almost". On visit to my uncle's place in Portland, I finished the outdoor year with a visit to Ft. Clatsop National Historical Park, where Lewis and Clark spent a rainy winter near the mouth of the Columbia River. My last visit was in 1976, when it was quite a bit different. It has been rebuilt after a 2005 fire, and there's a nice riverside trail through restored wetlands. The weather was just as rainy as the expedition's diaries noted.
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Hungry Jack
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Post by Hungry Jack on Jan 2, 2017 10:00:54 GMT -8
No NPs in 2016. Made my fourth trip to Pix Rox in 2015, and backdoored Rocky Mtn Park in 2014 via Comanche Wilderness, spending a night at incredible Mirror Lake. I generally prefer NF and BLM wilderness areas to crowded, regulated NPs.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jan 2, 2017 16:51:35 GMT -8
Just realized I never responded on this one. See if I can trace them all: I've biked the fringes of Pt. Reyes Nat. Seashore, but didn't actually do anything in the park this year. And I don't think I entered Muir Woods at all. The Presidio in SF is a Nat. Park unit, and I bike through there nearly weekly. Several nights in Death Valley, and one in the East Mojave Nat'l Preserve. Drove through Yosemite. Backpacked 5 days in Sequoia NP Biked Mt. Lassen I think that's it this year. We often hit NPs on our way by, maybe camp, get up very early, enjoy the park, and leave before most people are done with breakfast. More often our backpacking is in wilderness areas--our longer trip this year was in the Ansel Adams Wilderness--but last year enjoyed 7 days in rather remote parts of Kings Canyon NP--someone above mentioned Paiute Pass etc., and I realized that I, too, have entered the park several times without paying fees
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kenv
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Post by kenv on Jan 3, 2017 7:00:03 GMT -8
Sadly, no National Parks visits for me in 2016. But I spent a week in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Started and ended at Lake Roberts and took a loop up into the high country and back. Also spent 5 days backpacking in the Davis Mountains in west Texas. That trip included a side trip to McDonald Observatory, which houses the Hobby-Eberly telescope, the world's third largest optical telescope and the world's largest wide-field spectroscopic telescope.
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Hungry Jack
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Post by Hungry Jack on Jan 3, 2017 7:08:09 GMT -8
Is there actually enough public land in the Davis Mountains for a backpack trip? My impression is that it was mostly private.
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kenv
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Post by kenv on Jan 3, 2017 8:13:55 GMT -8
Is there actually enough public land in the Davis Mountains for a backpack trip? My impression is that it was mostly private. I went with a Boy Scout group to Buffalo Trails scout camp in the Davis Mountains. Great backpacking, kind of like Philmont. I don't know if it was private or public land.
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