your source for travel inspiration
Our travel posts about destinations, lodges, and events.
Thinking about visiting New River Gorge National Park and Preserve? Use our three perfect days itinerary as a starting point for your planning.
Or, listen to our podcast episode about the park right here.
Continue reading “Three Perfect Days in New River Gorge National Park”
Delicate Arch is the rock formation for which Arches National Park is best known. It is a beautiful sight to behold in person and possibly the most striking example of a natural, sandstone arch in the park. That’s why there is usually a horde of people hiking to this natural wonder and taking its picture. Despite the crowds, this is a must-see destination and worth the extra effort it takes to experience it.
Continue reading “Delicate Arch Trail”
1. MONUMENT VALLEY
If the cluster of iconic sandstone buttes in Monument Valley look familiar to you, it’s because they were used as the backdrop for early Western movies and Forrest Gump, as well as the inspiration for the Road Runner cartoons. Straddling the Utah/Arizona border, the views of the valley symbolize the Wild West. These beautiful rock formations, some rising as much as 1,000 feet above the desert floor, are mostly within the boundary of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. The park, which is on Navajo land, requires an entrance fee of $20 per car.
Once in the park, after checking out the expansive gift shop selling Native American goods, you have a few options: Hike the 4-mile Wildcat Trail around West Mitten Butte; it’s the only trail you can hike without a Navajo guide. Or drive the 17-mile scenic dirt road into the park to get a closer view of the monuments. The scenic road is rough, so be patient and take your time.
Continue reading “Southern Utah: 20 Incredible Places Beyond the Mighty Five”
If you’re hoping to be a guest at one of the most unique properties in the national parks, Grand Canyon’s Phantom Ranch, you have three possible modes of transportation to get there: on a boat as part of a river rafting trip, on the back of a mule, or by the power of your own two feet. And considering this lodging is 5,000 feet and a ten-mile trek below the south rim, it’s no easy journey. But once you arrive at this rustic oasis at the bottom of the largest canyon in the world, any aches and pains accumulated along the journey will seem well worth it.
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If Glacier National Park is the Crown of the Continent, its three grand hotels are its most precious jewels. Visitors from around the world book reservations far in advance to stay in these famous park lodges: Many Glacier, Glacier Park, and Lake McDonald. However, a smaller, lesser-known lodge, the Belton Chalet, was the first to welcome guests when the park opened in 1910. We think it’s a hidden gem.
Continue reading “Glacier’s Hidden Gem: The Belton Chalet”
Other than snapping a pic of Bigfoot, scoring a permit to hike The Wave may have been one of the toughest items to do on our bucket list. I say this in past tense because, in mid-January, we checked it off, hiking to The Wave that is. We still need a pic of Bigfoot.
Only 20 people each day get the opportunity to visit The Wave, a unique land formation in a remote location near the Utah/Arizona border. Located in an area called Coyote Buttes North, it’s a small part of the 112,500-acre Paria Canyon Vermillion Cliff Wilderness, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. And it’s a spectacular natural wonder; well worth the effort to secure a permit.
Continue reading “Hiking to The Wave in Coyote Buttes North”