Zion National Park: Weeping Rock & Timber Overlook Trail
The Weeping Rock, Zion National Park Main Canyon The verdant gardens of Weeping Rock are exquisitely beautiful. In the early morning and without another soul…
Zion National Park: Emerald Pools & Kayenta Trail
Hiking Zion's Emerald Pools The trail to Emerald Pools is a Zion National Park signature hike and a must for any first time visitor. It's…
Zion National Park: Riverwalk Trail
Zion National Park is pretty popular and received some 3.6 million visitors alone last year. Not as much as Grand Canyon's 5.2 million visitors, but…
Padre Island National Seashore
Off the coast of Texas lies the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world: Padre Island National Seashore. Just over 70 miles long…
Horseshoe Bend in Glen Canyon
I've seen Horseshoe Bend a few times in photographs on the National Geographic website, but when we got to Arizona I started seeing the image quite frequently…
Touring the Canyons of Lake Powell
As we drove up to Wahweap Bay, we both let out a long sigh-like "wow". We beheld shimmering blue-green water and cresting rocks of white, red,…
Big Bend National Park: East Side Trails
For the remainder of our stay at Big Bend, we pushed toward the distant eastern side of the national park. As we drove toward Rio…
Grand Canyon: Village to Visitor Center
Grand Canyon's Trail of Time Starting from Vankamp's Visitor Center of the Grand Canyon Village, we hiked the South Rim trail along the newly created…
Grand Canyon: Desert View Drive
Grand Canyon's Desert View Point Just south of Mather Point, we took Desert View Drive eastward for about 23 miles to reach Desert View Watchtower.…
Grand Canyon Village Historic District
If you’re into history, the Grand Canyon Village within the Grand Canyon National Park is an excellent place to explore and most of the buildings…
Big Bend National Park: Chisos Basin
At the heart of Big Bend National Park resides the Chisos Mountains. They extend nearly twenty miles from the Punta del la Sierra in the…
Grand Canyon: Hermit’s Rest to Bright Angel
The best way to see the Grand Canyon without punishing yourself on a heart-bursting in-and-out hike of the canyon is to hike the Rim Trail.…
Big Bend National Park: Western Desert
Big Bend National Park is a magical place for the outdoor lover. Avid hikers will find a paradise of trails within the borders of this…
Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument is one of three national monuments near Flagstaff Arizona. We alternated our site-seeing between the…
Navigating Grand Canyon National Park
Visiting Grand Canyon National Park on the South Rim required a lot more planning than I had originally expected, but this is why I planned…
Trail & Hitch vs The Fading Furnace
We were staying in Williams, Arizona, just 1 hour outside of the Grand Canyon South Rim and this is the moment when our Airstream furnace…
Saguaro National Park East
In our second trip to Saguaro National Park, we headed out to the Rincon Mountains to see what the East half of the park had…
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Our trip to Organ Pipe National Monument took over 2 hours to reach, and along the way we noticed several border patrol stops. Which makes…
Saguaro National Park West
We took a trip to Saguaro National Park late in the morning and the temperature was already reaching a high of 86°F. This is unusually…
Great Lectures: Biology of Birds
Few days ago when we went out into the desert trails of Saguaro National Park and heard a loud kaaaa sound followed by a ka-KAA-ka-ka…
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Within the northern boundaries of the Chihuahuan Desert of western Texas resides an underrated gem of the National Park System: Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Do…
Carefree Afternoon Tea for White Day
For our White Day celebration, we headed to the small town of Carefree, Arizona. Carefree's official town motto is "The Best Small Town in Arizona,"…
Carlsbad Caverns: Left Hand Tunnel
Crisis in the Caves, 1979 On a hot July day in 1979, four men entered the elevator leading down into the Big Room of Carlsbad…
Hoover Dam
We took a half-day trip to Hoover Dam, an American engineering icon built by thousands of workers and cost over a hundred lives in the Great…
Grand Canyon West
I'd first like to preface that Grand Canyon West is not a part of the Grand Canyon National Park. It's a private amusement park owned…
Death Valley Sand and Pupfish!
If you're much of a Star Wars fan like we are, you may remember the scene in New Hope where C3P0 and R2D2 are arguing on…
Colors of Death Valley National Park
One of my favorite spots in Death Valley is Zabriskie Point. From this vantage point, we were surrounded by an unearthly desert landscape filled with wild erosion lines and the…
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Reserve
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Reserve is located in Nevada not far from the much larger Death Valley and quite close to our current base of…
Buckskin Mountain & Mesquite Bay
Buckskin Mountain State Park is a state park located along the Colorado River near Parker, AZ. It's mostly a camping site with space for both…
London Bridge at Lake Havasu
About a two hours drive from where we were staying is the 1830’s London Bridge at Lake Havasu City. The Arizona bridge is actually a…
Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in Cibola, AZ
Cibola refuge (GPS 33.363653,-114.66931) is one of the last major stopovers of the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds. It's located in the floodplain of the…
Arizona Oasis RV Resort, Ehrenberg, AZ
In 1863, German mining engineer Herman Ehrenberg was hired to survey a new town site along the Colorado River. The town, originally named Mineral City,…
Carlsbad Caverns: Slaughter Canyon Cave
Tom's Missing Goats Tom Tucker went searching for a group of missing goats back in on hot July day in 1937. Eventually, he found his…
Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park
The amazing views of Joshua Tree National Park griped us so well on our first trip, that returning for a longer stay seemed natural. One…
The Salton Sea
When we first drove up to the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, the sky was clear and the weather unusually warm for this time of…
Carlsbad Caverns: Lower Cave
Carlsbad Caverns National Park offers a series of Ranger Guided tours that take you through caves off the beaten path. Some are called "Wild Cave"…
Carlsbad Caverns: The Big Room
Young Jim White's Adventure Imagine it's 1898, and you are a young boy of 16 years old. Your father sent you out with your trusty…
Temescal Sulpher Springs & Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa
Many years before European settlers, the First Peoples of Southern California bathed in the natural sulfur hot springs of the Temescal Valley for spiritual rites.…
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano was first founded by Father Lasuen and on October 30, 1775, a group of padres and soldiers moved in. Their stay…
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Along the coast of Southern California, and within the community of La Jolla, San Diego, is two thousand acres of coastal state park called Torrey…
Natural Entrance Trail in Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Ancient Inland Sea Like many natural geological formations of Southwest America, Carlsbad Cavern's story starts over 280 million years ago, during a time known as…
La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea, in the words of Admiral Ackbar, “It's a trap!” For thousands of years animals, lured by fresh water or an easy meal have…
Trail’s Favorites from 2016
Whew! 2016, what a year. As South Korea and Brazil impeached their presidents, America elected a one-percenter with a powerful brand name, and the Philippines…
Shipping & Mail
For the Holidays, I got a Amazon few gift cards. I will admit that I was an avid Amazon shopper for the past 7 years.…
White Sands National Monument
Millions of Years in the Making White Sands National Monument is the culmination of a process that started over 250 million years ago when the…
Please Buy Our House
After a month of emptying, repairing, painting and getting it ready for open market day, our house is finally for sale as of the first…
Lessons from the DIY Trenches
I have the best brother in the world! I just had to say that because, without him we wouldn't have gotten through the house repairs…
The Great Estate Sale
An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale to dispose of a substantial portion of personal property to facilitate a move. Yes, I know…
De-Crapify!
The past 3 days have been a downsizing whirlwind and boiled down to the following subroutines: 1. Sort It Each item gets categorized into piles.…
Keep on Trucking
2012 RAM 1500 Laramie Quad CAB 4X4, ~$32,000 Towing Capacity: 9,950 pounds Mileage: 64,308 Miles Type: Full-Size Pickup Truck Engine: 5.7L/345, V8, HEMI MDS VVT…
