Death Valley is a spectacular area to spend a few days in the desert! The park is big enough to hide hidden gems and limit crowds, but it also has popular destinations that are very worth visiting. I’ve visited Death…

Death Valley is a spectacular area to spend a few days in the desert! The park is big enough to hide hidden gems and limit crowds, but it also has popular destinations that are very worth visiting. I’ve visited Death…
Quite a few weeks ago, I posted about visiting the Keane Wonder Spring and John Cyty’s Mill. Well, that’s a great hike. But for a truly spectacular hike, you can continue up the steep old mining trail behind the mill…
Most people who drive to the Keane Wonder Trailhead do so to walk up to the ruins of the Keane Wonder Mill. Many also climb the steep trail up to the old workings of the Keane Wonder Mine and the…
Many years ago, I visited the Saratoga Springs in the far south of Death Valley National Park. On my last visit, I decided to check it out again and possibly complete the hike (I actually didn’t quite make it, but…
On my first visit to Saratoga Springs in southern Death Valley National Park back in 2008, we saw the Ibex Dunes marked on a map, down a road not so very far away from Saratoga Springs. But after we got…
On our last visit to Death Valley National Park, the Keane Wonder Mine Trail was high on my list of “must-do” hikes. I’d hiked it at least three times back in the early 2000s, but then the area was closed…
I almost didn’t hike to Cracker Lake high in a mountain canyon above Many Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana. It seemed like such a long hike. Friends told me there was a long section of forest. And at the…
In August, we “just happened” to be driving through Colorado on Colorado Day, when the state parks in the state offer free admission. I’d always wanted to check out State Forest State Park (who wouldn’t, with a memorable name like…
On a hot day when there’s rain (but no thunder) in the forecast, it’s nice to stay near home and find a cool place to get wet, right? That’s why I visited Buttermilk Falls last week when I was visiting…
In the last several posts I’ve been chronicling my trek around Horseshoe Mesa in the Grand Canyon. There’s only one last segment to go: the trail that connects the Tonto Trail to the Grandview Trail near the Last Chance Mine…