Here at Wilderness-Adventure we have lots of fun times Hiking, Biking, Kayaking and Caving in the Thomas Jefferson National Forest and surrounding area. When the weather starts to change and it starts to slow down around here in the winter we get to take our vacations for the year. It was around November and I was feeling the itch to do some traveling and to head west. So I talked to a buddy of mine and we put plans together to hit the road …a cross country road trip hitting some of the most beautiful national parks the United States of America has to offer. So after Christmas we packed up my Ford Taurus (The Bull) and headed out west.
The first day we drove from my house to St. Louis Missouri. We got there around 5a.m. Checked out the Gateway to the west. Then we caught some much needed z’s before heading further westward. We passed Kansas City and said “Sayonara” to Topeka. We traveled ever farther on Interstate 70 till we got to the Great Plains. Flat and somewhat boring is what most people said about them, but I did not really mind driving through the Great Plains it felt somewhat joyous to finally be on planet earth somewhere west of Ohio. Then we entered into Colorado. As the sun was setting we were approaching the Rocky Mountains, but we wouldn’t actually see them till dawn.


The next morning we awoke after spending the night at a motel 6. We left for Rocky Mountain National Park. We headed for the east entrance. We got there and were awestruck by the size of the mountains and the natural beauty that surrounds them. We got there Paid for our America the Beautiful all inclusive visitors pass and went to the backcountry office. There we were helped by Lyle. He gave us a suggestion where to go snowshoeing and all we needed to know to go into the backcountry in Rocky Mountain National Park.
We Got back to our car and prepared to Snowshoe up to Mill Lake. We were planning to then camp a little bit further up the trail past Jewell Lake. We made camp around an Altitude just above 10,000Ft. My buddy Dj was feeling a little under the weather so I was left to take care of dinner by myself. We then slept the night away listening to the wind howl with gusts up to 55MpH. The next morning we arose packed up camp and snow shoed over to Loch Lake. Loch Lake was one of the most amazing views that I have ever seen in my Life. The clouds and sun were just amazing. To walk up over the edge of the hill and see the ridge towering over the frozen lake was a feeling that is indescribable. The weather again was quite amazing in the 20s with wind 25-35 MPH with gusts up to 55Mph. We then left Rocky Mountain National Park and we headed towards Moab a Mecca for the Outdoor Industry and also the location of our next stop Arches National Park.
Arches National Park has amazing rock gardens and breathtaking features. We started by driving into the park trying to take in everything we could with our eyes. We first saw Delicate Arch and Fiery Furnace. We then wound up at the Devils Garden Trailhead where we hiked to Tunnel Arch, and Pine Tree Arch. Then we worked our way to Landscape Arch, Which is probably the most impressive spanning over 300 ft. and only 11ft. thick in one spot. A portion of the arch fell off in 1991. We then left Arches and headed to Zion National Park on the way we had one of the most spectacular sunsets we have ever seen.
The next day at Zion we first drove through the park and explored what it had to offer. Zion is a Beautiful canyon land offering a unique landscape unparalleled in any other park. We wound up hiking the river walk and then we hiked the Patriarchs trail where we saw the most wildlife on our trip. We saw Turkeys, Mule Deer, Woodpecker, and Blue Jays. We got back to The Bull and went to the furthest west our trip would take us, the land of giants, Sequoia National Park.
When we got to Sequoia we didn’t know that high up in the sierras there was over 2.5 feet of snow and would need to rent snow chains to be able to see the giant marvels. We drove up and up seeing spectacular views all around us. While passing through many types of ecosystems traveling to see the largest trees on earth we were smitten by the biodiversity of our planet. We finally get to the chain up point, hook up the chains, and take off again. We round two corners and there are trees that you cannot even imagine how big they are! We get to the top after passing Sequoia after Sequoia and we decide to get out and walk around. We are now in the zone where these giants live 6000 to 9000 ft. in elevation and are also only found in the Sierra Nevada’s in California. We walk over to the General Sherman Tree, the largest living thing on the planet and the largest tree in the entire world. We cannot believe our eyes again on this trip. We just cannot even start to take in all the sights we have now seen because of the amount of beauty we have tried to process in the last few days. Moving on we leave the land of Giants and go to the land of Death…Death Valley.
At Death Valley we hiked Mosaic Canyon, which is a beautiful limestone canyon. We then drove through the sparse landscape, past many water barrels for cars that overheat in the summer, to the most famous point within Death Valley Badwater Basin. Badwater Basin is the lowest place in the United States at an elevation of -282ft. below sea level. From that point you can also look at the highest point in the park at over 11,000ft. Leaving Death Valley we worked our way towards Las Vegas. Then after having a night on the town we hit our final park.
The Grand Canyon is one of the biggest wonders in the world. Created by the water of the mighty Colorado it continues to be shaped and changed which you can see by looking at all of the exposed layers of rock and earth. At the Grand Canyon there was about 2 feet of snow up on the rim. So we decided to not hike into the canyon for safety purposes. We decided we could still see plenty and it wasn’t worth the risk. The canyon is an amazing sight, from whatever angle you see it from. Most of the other visitors that we met in the park were not Americans but travelers from other countries. We drove through the park and after experiencing all that these parks had to offer. I asked my friend Dj anything else you want to see. He replied “what else is there to see” in a tone like we have seen everything. We had just seen the Grand Canyon and 5 of more of the best National Parks in the United States. I had no answer, but “I guess we go home then.”
These are just small examples of my trip and many more stories can also be shared. The experiences from this trip will stay with me forever and the fun times that I shared with my good friend. I can’t ever imagine something better than what I had just done. So who wants to go to Alaska?