What is Your Favorite National Park, and Nine Other Questions I Get Asked a Lot
What are your favorite National Parks?
I should start off that I’m a mountain person, so my tops are all mountain parks. There are so many great parks—my favorite is usually whichever one I’m visiting at the moment. But here’s my [current] list:
1: Yosemite: Driving into the beauty of the valley makes me want to get out of the car, lie down in the meadow at the side of the road and cry like a baby. Add the waterfalls, the granite domes of the Sierra high country, the great hiking and backcountry, and throw in the Sequoias to boot, and you have the perfect temple to nature.
2: Glacier: This is really a tossup for #1 vs #2. Glacier is a hiker’s paradise. The mountains, lakes, wildlife, scenic drives and endless trails are incredible here. And if Many Glacier Valley doesn’t spark an emotional response in you, you should see a physician.
3: Grand Tetons: The constantly changing backdrop of the Teton Range is breathtaking. And so many outdoor options—flat hikes around glacial lakes, incline hikes into the mountains and backpacking options in the high country, as well as some spectacular kayaking, rafting and wildlife spotting.
4: Rocky Mountain: If you like your mountains big, this is the place. Great hiking includes alpine lake hikes, waterfall hikes and mountain summit hikes. Add in some scenic drives and some nearby lakes for boating, and you’ve got a great trip.
5: Olympic: Nothing beats the variety of scenery/ecosystems in one park like Olympic. Contrast the alpine high country, glacial lakeside scenery, waterfalls, rainforest, and the untamed Pacific Coast. Seeing this all in one trip has you constantly looking forward to what the next day will bring.
What’s your least favorite National Park?
I see many bloggers and Instagrammers who won’t answer this question, afraid to anger/lose some of their followers. But Hot Springs was a big disappointment for me. The bath houses were more of a historical site and the trails could be found in most wooded city parks. Arkansas is beautiful and has many lush green mountain and lake based state parks to visit. I really like Petite Jean, Lake Ouachita and Devil’s Den, as well as the Ozark National Forest, just to name a few. Each to their own…
What parks are best for a winter trip?
Ooooh, I’m terrible at being indoors in winter, and ski resorts are so expensive, so a national park trip fits the bill. If only I can stay warm too (they say there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear). I’d break list this into two groups of three trip ideas each.
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Cold Winter Parks: Yosemite has hiking, skiing, skating and beautiful scenery. Zion and Bryce Canyon have great trails and are beautiful with a typical dusting of snow. And as a day trip, Yellowstone is closed to cars but renting a snowmobile to see the geysers and buffalo is wonderful (you can take a bus from Big Sky for a full day excursion).
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Warm[er] Winter Parks: The southern Florida parks are best in winter—lacking the summer’s heat, humidity and mosquitos. Big Bend is a great winter park with plenty of hiking opportunities. And although I need a second visit before I can write an itinerary for this one, I always thought a week in Joshua Tree and Death Valley (4hrs apart) would make a good trip in the cooler months.
What’s the most underrated park?
A lot of really great parks don’t get talked about much or don’t get thought of as a favorite (Arches, Olympic, Kings Canyon, etc). But when I think of the most underrated, I think of North Cascades because it’s a spectacular alpine hiking paradise, and it’s also one of the least visited parks in the country despite being fairly accessible (short drive from Seattle). Why this park is less visited (by an order of magnitude) than Guam or Samoa, etc, completely escapes me.
Which is the best park you haven’t found a way to include in an itinerary?
I’ve been to a bunch of parks that are too small to be a trip on their own and too remote to be combined in one itinerary with another small park. But the most spectacular of these is Great Sand Dunes. Go climb and play on the dunes in the morning (rent a snowboard or bring a toboggan), and then splash in Medano Creek in afternoon (when the dunes get too hot to walk on). If you have an AWD, there is plenty of hiking in the San Christos Mountains. And sunrise/sunset photography on the dunes is spectacular. It’s about 4hrs from Rocky Mountain, and worth the trip.
Which parks do you want to visit next (that you haven’t been to)?
I love Alaska and am dying to see Katmai and Lake Clark. The pictures look amazing.
What’s your favorite thing to do in a national park?
Bag a summit. I like to pick the tallest [non-technical] mountain, get up earlier and hit the trail. Bonus if I can catch sunrise and/or sunset on the hike. I pick a slow and steady pace, stop frequently for photos (you thought I was just catching my breath) and make conversation with other hikers as we share stories and bond over the challenge—you don’t find these altitude junkies wandering the gift shops. The views are incredible every step above tree-line, but the summit panorama is truly unbeatable. And the sense of accomplishment—you literally feel you can do anything after that. And sandwiches always taste best on a mountain summit.
What is the least outdoorsy thing about you?
I’m pretty outdoorsy and love hiking, camping, backpacking, kayaking and most outdoor activities. Don’t get me wrong—I love a warm soft bed and flush toilet (and a roll of Charmin). But I’d say the least outdoorsy thing about me is how much I don’t like snakes. Given that, I’m still trying to figure out why I moved to Texas…
What is the craziest/dumbest thing you’ve ever done?
Too broad a question—we’ll have to narrow that down to the outdoors and in a national park, or we’ll be here all day. I’ve outgrown a lot of my risk taking—I rarely rock-climb or scuba anymore (and ice-climbed and underwater cave dived only once each), haven’t jumped out of a plane or bungeed off a bridge in decades, etc. But the thing that comes to mind is taking a photo of a tree in front of the Grand Canyon at sunset. The light was fantastic, with great colors and deep shadows in the canyon walls. It’s a good scene, but hard to get the scale of it without something in the foreground. This tree was growing about 10ft below the rim, so I climbed down, wedged my boot against its base and leaned back against the cliff wall. It was really stupid, and I got chewed out by the rangers, but it’s my best shot from the trip. [I've always joked that if I got killed on a trip, find my camera—it will be in the impact crater somewhere—and develop the last photo. It should be amazing.]
Do you travel internationally? What are some of your favorite places?
I used to travel internationally a lot more before kids. I’ve been to 42 countries on 7 continents. Keeping in mind how much I love mountains, my favorite places are New Zealand, Western Canada, Patagonia (Southern Argentina and Chile) and Antarctica, with honorable mentions going to the Alps and Nepal. Iceland and Norway are both at the top of my list for where to go next with a passport.
