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Grand Canyon Desert View Campground
There are two main campground areas in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Mather Campground is right inside of Grand Canyon Village and is reservable while Desert Campground is located in the east entrance of South Rim about 25 miles form Grand Canyon Village and is on a first come basis. You truly cannot go wrong with either campground while visiting Grand Canyon National Park but there is one that stands out to me. The Desert Campground is and will always be my favorite campground in the United States. I could be biased on this due to it being one of the first National Park campgrounds I ever stayed…
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Bryce Canyon National Park, Destinations, U.S. National Parks, United States, Utah, Zion National Park
Southwest Road Trip Part 4
If you haven’t read part 3 CLICK HERE so you can catch up on the first leg of my trip and get a sense of what it meant to me. You can also check out Part 1 and Part 2! After being at probably one of the most popular National Parks and iconic places in the world, I ended up at what will become one of my favorite places at heart. Zion National Park is located in southwest Utah and is iconic for its red skyrocketing cliffs. Zion is a mystifying place that really captures the imagination with the amount of hikes and scenery that you can take in. The…
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Southwest Road Trip Part 3
If you haven’t read part 2 CLICK HERE so you can catch up on the first leg of my trip and get a sense of what it meant to me. You can also check Part 1 HERE. This part will only focus on the Grand Canyon National Park, since it honestly had a soft spot in my heart for one of my favorite stops the entire trip. The one thing I will mention about the Grand Canyon National Park is that due to its popularity it has become a Disney Land/World of sorts with millions of people coming and a lot of them not knowing the most basic hiking and…
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Southwest Road Trip Part 2
If you haven’t read part 1 CLICK HERE so you can catch up on the first leg of my trip and get a sense of what it meant to me. Petrified Forest National Park This was one of the National Parks that like many I had never heard about, yet I was drawn in immediately by the scenery. Now if you are like us we had no idea what petrified wood was so here is a quick excerpt explaining it: “Petrified wood is a fossil. It forms when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through…
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Arizona, Destinations, New Mexico, Texas, U.S. National Parks, United States, White Sands National Park
Southwest Road Trip Part 1
A road trip is so much more than a journey to new places but a lifetime experience that cannot be taken for granted. I have always loved driving and enjoyed even more hitting the open road with close friends to new places near and far. This road trip though took me to some of the most amazing places I have ever been too and let me gain a new love for nature and the outdoors. I started this trip with the plan to have some fun in places that always seemed to be just out of reach. Yet I ended this trip with a new appreciation for the outdoors and…
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Big Bend Hot Springs Trail
Big Bend National Park is still one of my favorite National Parks in the U.S. for many reasons. One of them being just how many things you can do while you are visiting and how many of these things are normally completely vacant. During my last visit to Big Bend we mostly saw just a handful of hikers during our entire stay and where able to enjoy one of the biggest parks iin the lower 48 in complete peace. The Hot Springs are a must do hike while you are visiting the park since the trail is quite short and covered in history of the original settlers of the region.…
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Big Bend South Rim Trail
The South Rim Trail at Big Bend National Park straddles the line between a backpacking hike and a day hike, at 12.4 miles it can easily take the better part of your entire day if not an overnight trip. Our preferred starting point and the one most people will end up using is the Chisos Basin Trailhead just a few steps away from the Chisos Mountain Lodge parking lot. Since we where staying at the Rio Grande Motel it made the most sense to start at this trailhead for our day long journey. My first word of warning for this hike is to make sure you are in adequate physical…
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Long Weekend Big Bend National Park Trip
My first time to Big Bend National park was over a long weekend this past summer of 2018. I originally was hesitant to go down to the southern border of Texas in the middle of June due heat issues but overall the weather wasn’t that bad. We actually where shocked at how chilly the nights got and how pleasant the weather was when hiking up the South Rim Trail. Day 1 We left Dallas-Fort Worth area on a Thursday to start our 10 plus hour road trip to Big Bend National Park. We had secured accommodations at the Rio Grande Motel inside the park at the Chisos Mountain Lodge. I…
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Big Bend National Park
Right on the Texas – Mexico Border runs the Rio Grande River and a National Park encompassing more than 800,000 acres of towering river canyons, mountain cliffs, and expansive Chihuahuan Desert. This National Park has been on my list of paces to visit ever since I had seen pictures of the Santa Elena Canyon and the South Rim Trail views. I know the park was in my home state of Texas but also knew that this is Texas and distances within the state can be very daunting. My first trip to this park was a coincidence since I had been looking at dates further in the future trying to find…