Anne's Travels

Early morning at Skeleton Point

If you counted up how many times we’ve been to each national park in the US, I’m sure you’d find the one we’ve visited the most to be Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.  In the last 16 years, I’ve visited it a total of 9 times, and 5 of those visits were on consecutive years!  Part of this is due to its central location—if we were visiting northern southwest it was on the way, and if we were visiting the southern southwest, it was still on the way.  One member of our group also loves the park, and could just sit for hours staring at the canyon.  Anyhow, the canyon itself is beautiful—simply breathtaking—and we’ve enjoyed both walking along the rim and hiking down into the canyon.  We’ve never actually made it to Phantom Ranch, but we’ve gotten more than halfway down before going back to the top.  (We also hiked to the bottom of the canyon at Toroweep, but I’m not sure that counts…!)  My favorite of the trails we’ve hiked into the canyon from the south rim is the South Kaibab Trail, for the simple reason that it has tremendously better views than the Bright Angel Trail.  In fact, if you’re going for views, this trail is hard to beat in general—just hiking it is stunning!

To get to the trailhead …Read More

Tags: Canyon, Views

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Walter at the Grand Canyon

On my last trip across the US, I thought it might be fun to have a mascot for my travel blog.  Nothing real elaborate, just something that I could easily take with me on hikes and that would show up in pictures of wherever I hiked.  The answer was Walter, a bright yellow-and-black-spotted lizard I picked up at Wal-mart a few years ago.  So, Walter traveled with me in my camera bag on all of our hikes, and although I forgot to take pictures of him on every single hike, he shows up in my pictures of most of the places I went on that trip.  I have uploaded these pictures, which will give you an idea of what parks I went to on this particular trip.

I thought it might be best …Read More

Tags: Humor, story, Views, Walter

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The view from Grand View Point

Grand Teton is a beautiful park.  The mountains are some of the prettiest in the state (maybe the country), and lovely lakes reflect the peaks in their quiet waters.  However, it’s not much of a day-hiker’s paradise—in fact, there are very few day hikes that I’ve been able to find that actually go places I’d want to go (I’m not much on hiking to mountain lakes).  Cascade Canyon, across Jenny Lake, is nice, but what to do after that?  One trail we’ve taken a couple of times that is very much worth the hike is the 0.8 mile (OW) Grand View trail.  The Grand View itself isn’t that nice, but just before the “view” is an awesome view of the Teton Range and the lakes and country surrounding it.  It’s glorious, and at that distance, it’s an easy day hike for all ages.

Wildflowers along the trail in August

To get to the parking area …Read More

Tags: Dirt Roads, Lake, Mountains, Views

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The CN Tower as seen from the Toronto Music Garden

Last summer, I attended a conference in Toronto, Canada.  We had the afternoon off, so several of us decided to check out the waterfront near the CN Tower.  Instead of just seeing boats and walking along Lake Ontario, we discovered a beautiful garden full of paths and flowers.  I’d never have guessed there was something like this so close by—within ½ a mile or so, I’d say.  One of the very interesting things about this garden is that it is based on a piece written by Johann Sebastian Bach, and each of the sections of the garden is named after one of the movements in the piece.  Thus, the name of the garden is simply the “Toronto Music Garden”, and even if you’re not crazy about Bach, the pretty flowers and paths are good reasons to visit the garden.

To get to the waterfront, from the CN Tower …Read More

Tags: Gardens, Lake, Music, Wheelchair Accessible

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Trail Sign in Kent Park Arboretum

About a year ago, I posted about the Kent Park Arboretum in Webster, NY.  Well, just for old time’s sake, I recently visited the arboretum again.  This time, however, instead of simply looking at the flowers, we continued on to check out the trail system at the far end of the park.  I wouldn’t recommend that you travel a long ways out of your way for these trails, and they aren’t even very long, but if you live in the Webster area and want someplace to walk, this would be a nice place to do it.  I’d guess the trails themselves are a couple miles long if you hiked the whole thing.

To get to the arboretum …Read More

Tags: Bridges, Gardens, Lake

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Along the Peek-a-Boo Loop

I’ve hiked in Bryce Canyon several times, but on our last visit, it had been several years since we’d visited.  I’m not sure if it was because we thought we’d done everything Bryce has to offer (far from it—there are still things we’re looking forward to doing for the first time), or if it was just snowed in every time we thought about going there.  Anyhow, it had been a while, but we wanted to do a trail we remembered as especially nice: the Peek-a-Boo Loop.  We actually ended up only doing half of the loop, in part due to a map we had that had faulty trail mileages, but I’d defiantly do that hike again.  We started at the rim, got awe-inspiring views of the canyon, then hiked down in and among the formations.  By the time we were on the Peek-a-Boo Loop, there were more great views of ridges of brightly-colored sandstone formations.  Then, we climbed back up through Wall Street, with the tallest of the formations right above our heads.  At only 3.1 miles in length, it was well worth the effort, and I’m sure we’d all do it again without a second thought.

We parked at Bryce Point …Read More

Tags: Arches, Canyon, Rock Formations, Views

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Mt Ararat

I first heard about Pathway through the Bible while reading a book about out-of-the-way things to do in Montana.  Since much of Montana is a bit “out-of-the-way”, there were an amazing number of attractions in the book.  However, the only one that really caught my attention was “Pathway through the Bible”.  Adolph Land started building with rocks in 1957, eventually creating a garden of rock schulptures that depicts many scenes, events, and people portrayed in the Bible.  We rarely visit places like that, but, intrigued, we stopped by on our way to Yellowstone National Park.  (If you’ve ever heard of Beartooth Pass in Yellowstone, this attraction is right on the road leading to the pass.  The pass is usually open late May to Mid-October.)

To get to the gardens …Read More

Tags: Museum, Rock Formations

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North Falls

Do you love waterfalls?  Do you wish that you could see an outstanding waterfall for every mile you hike?  If so, the Trail of Ten Falls in Silver Falls State Park, Oregon is the trail for you.  An 8.7 mile loop, there are ten waterfalls located along this trail (as the name suggests).  Most of the falls are really quite spectacular, ranging in height from 27 ft. to 177 ft.  For waterfall-lovers, this is paradise.  There are also several ways to see some great falls while walking a shorter distance if you’re not up to a 9-mile jaunt.  Thankfully, though, the trail is fairly flat, which makes it easier than other mountainous trails.

To get to Silver Falls State Park …Read More

Tags: Bridges, Valley, Waterfalls

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Cactus and Moqui Marbles

Have you ever seen a moqui marble?  Most people have never even heard of these phenomena, let alone seen them.  Yet they are a fascinating piece of geology, and they are just cool to look at.  Even if you’re not real into rocks, the views from the area of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument where moqui marbles can be found are very nice.  There is no trail to the marbles themselves, but the area offers some other features that make the trek worthwhile.

To get to the area, from the town of Escalante …Read More

Tags: Canyon, Dirt Roads, Rock Formations, scenic drives, Valley, Views, Wilderness

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Moonrise over a prickly pear cactus

In my last two posts, I talked about the “primitive roadside campsites” in Big Bend National Park that are (mostly) along the paved park roads and that are along dirt roads in the southern section of the park.  Today, I’d like to continue this discussion of “primitive roadside campsites” by talking about the campsites along dirt roads in the northern and western parts of the park.  The Old Ore Road requires high clearance and 4×4, but the Old Maverick Road, located in the far western part of the park, is usually accessible by all vehicles.

To camp in any of these backcountry campsites …Read More

Tags: Campgrounds, Dirt Roads, Historic, History, scenic drives, Views, Wilderness

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