Support your National and State parks this summer! - Page 6

godfry n. glad · #**126** 08-08-2012, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyShea

It happens, no big deal. It sounds like a cool CA Vacay anyway

Yeah...It's a great schedule.

It just doesn't compare with Budapest to Prague....particularly cost-wise. Of course, hostelling makes a big difference.

Demimonde · #**127** 05-01-2013, 07:20 AM

Going to Padre Island National Seashore this weekend for super primitive camping and to see the eta Aquarid meteor shower. It will be peaking on Cinco de Mayo, and we will have a perfect eastern view with no lights or obstructions for miles and miles.

If it goes well, we are thinking about taking a trek up the Texas coast this summer, spending a couple weeks there as well as some other parks. Just hoboing around for a month or so for our honeymoon.

Dingfod · #**128** 05-01-2013, 10:29 AM

Sounds like fun.

inland wave, our grandson, and I might be going on a trip out west in June. At a minimum, we will take in Arches and Canyonlands near Moab and Crater Lake in Oregon and a host of National monuments and state parks along the way. If we can work it in, we'll come home in a route that will allow us to visit Grand Canyon.

Crumb · #**129** 05-01-2013, 04:08 PM

If it is not out of your way you might check out Oregon Caves. 150 miles from Crater Lake.

Crater Lake to Oregon Caves National Monument - Google Maps

wildernesse · #**130** 05-01-2013, 04:47 PM

RA always wanted to go beach camping while we were in TX! It is so beautiful, and seeing the meteor shower would be lovely!

We are driving to the Salt Lake City area this summer, but I don't think we will see any national parks along the way because of the time we have to make. We'll see how it shakes out.

Dingfod · #**131** 05-02-2013, 12:54 AM

Oh yeah, the beach, we have to go to the ocean shore in Oregon.

Ensign Steve · #**132** 05-02-2013, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demimonde

Going to Padre Island National Seashore this weekend for super primitive camping and to see the eta Aquarid meteor shower. It will be peaking on Cinco de Mayo, and we will have a perfect eastern view with no lights or obstructions for miles and miles.

If it goes well, we are thinking about taking a trek up the Texas coast this summer, spending a couple weeks there as well as some other parks. Just hoboing around for a month or so for our honeymoon.

Our hike on the AT is old news by now, but you said honeymoon, so here I go!

We shared our campsite with a couple on their honeymoon who were planning on doing the whole trail from Georgia to Maine. They said it would take about six months. OMG, how fun! :wriggle:

The Lone Ranger · #**133** 05-02-2013, 06:40 PM

I've hiked parts of the AT (I'm sure that comes as a surprise to exactly no one) on many occasions. I'd love to have the opportunity to do a thru hike of the entire trail. One day, one day ...

I think it'd be fun to do the Pacific Crest Trail as well.

Demimonde · #**134** 06-04-2013, 06:06 AM

I never updated here about our trip. The meteor shower was absolutely incredible! The skies were so dark, the visibility so open and clear with nothing for miles. The show peaked at 4 am, oriented to the east. The moon was a slim crescent and the only competing light was from the big band of the Milky Way and the false dawn in the early morning hours near Aquarius. The latter actually confused us. I had never seen it before, not having camped that early in the spring. The second night we had a bit of cloud cover that spoiled the show. We only had a window of about 30 minutes of viewing that morning. Still, the sunrise was incredible. We are definitely going to go back for the Perseid at the end of the summer. Since that peaks at midnight, and it will be more than triple the rate of this show, it should be absolutely stunning.

The beach was glorious. Soft white sands, blowing up the beach into massive dunes. The only mammals we were able to detect were the coyotes and the tiny kangaroo rats that live out of burrows in the dunes. Their tiny little tracks were everywhere each morning, hopping about. The number and variety of birds was incredible. Flights of pelicans, terns, ducks, egrets, cranes, hawks. Contra even spotted a falcon. We sat and watched the skimmers hunt for hours and hours. A ranger informed me that it is a huge destination for birders. Over 350 species will live there at some point or another during the year, which is half the known birds in North America. She recommended the Sibley's bird guide and I will pick one up for the next trip.

We found a perfect little spot at around the 20 mile marker. It is a stretch of beach called Big Shell, where the northern and southern currents meet up and carry all kinds of stuff up on the beach. Which means there is more sea weed, more garbage for us to pick up, but beautiful shells and sea glass to find. Also some impressive drift wood creating silhouettes on the otherwise empty expanse. Other areas can be a bit agoraphobic. It is so open you can see for miles up and down beach. The stretch of Big Shell also has some wonderful sand bars. With the crazy currents that gave a bit of added security when swimming.

Our site was really perfect. Tucked back into the dunes for a little extra privacy. We only saw a few people. Turtle patrol a few times a day. A group of beach combers who shelled and picnicked one afternoon. A few fishing guides who were setting up and collecting poles now and again. It felt very remote. No noisy neighbors, no nosy authorities, like we have at the state parks.

Going the speed limit it is just over an hour drive in, so we think we will make that our base of operations for the long trip. That way, every few days we can run to the visitor's center for ice and water, or into town for supplies if you add another half hour.

Sadly there was a burn ban on so we couldn't make a campfire. My dream of having one on the beach will have to wait until this infernal drought is over. We were able to grill in our tiny little Smokey Joe, which I am SO glad we packed. I am trying to devise ways to keep the sand from blowing into our food though. That was a big pain.

There was very little tar, very few jellyfish, and my personal favorite thing, very few bugs! No mosquitoes, no ants, no spiders. I have terrible reactions to bug bites so it was heaven. I also wasn't having to dodge poison ivy, though I did find some in the alley when we got home.

So that is the write up of Padre Island National Seashore. Not a National Park exactly, but the same thing really. It was absolutely the most enjoyable camping trip I have ever taken. I hated to leave and I can't wait to go back.

Demimonde · #**135** 06-04-2013, 06:27 AM

OH and one last thing, if you need any indication of how soft that white sand beach was, wrap your head around this: we slept three nights with no mattress, not even so much as a camping pad, and were just fine. Somehow we got down there with an air mattress but no pump. The only explanation is gremlins, because I bought it, I remember packing it, but it was nowhere in the gear and was not waiting for us at home as I expected. It simply vanished. I wanted to cry when we got down there and had nothing.

Seriously though, it was no big thing. The sand was super soft. I get bad pressure points in my hips but had no issue. Contra has the herniated disk in his back and he slept great. Remember water beds? Are those still a thing? Anyhow, now I want to mass produce sand beds made out of this stuff. It was like sleeping on a hacky sack.

LadyShea · #**136** 06-04-2013, 01:06 PM

As we live on the Gulf, and share that same white sand, I can say "I agree with Demi"

ImGod · #**137** 06-04-2013, 04:32 PM

It's not really a national or state park but we went mountain biking saturday in a park here. After researching some, it turns out my flat state is a decent place to mountain bike. People have been known to drive to Nebraska from Colorado to go mountain biking in the Chadron State park area. :wtfsign:

There's a beginners mountain bike trail set up inside the city here; which was harder than I thought it would be considering it was in a city that's in a state without a mountain.

Trail map

I've been riding to get in shape to do stuff like this, but it knocked my teenagers over. They wouldn't stop because they didn't want to get beat by an old guy like dad. One was a little depressed when we stopped and a 50 some year old squeezed into 3 sizes too small spandex powered by at about twice the speed they could go. I had to take the lead or they would stop on me and I'd run into them. Good exercise for couch pototo kids.

Other Nebraska Trails

The Lone Ranger · #**138** 08-17-2013, 10:32 PM

Okay, I'm back from my annual pilgrimage to the Great Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Shenandoah National Park.

Sadly, it was more or a less a "whirlwind tour" this year, as I had only a few days free. Still, it was wonderful to get out into the woods, hike a few trails, and generally relax a bit. Sadly, it was over far too soon.

It was cool and cloudy pretty-much the whole time. Nice for hiking (last year, it was 100 degrees F and very humid -- not ideal hiking weather!), though not necessarily for photography. Still, I did do a bit of photography. [These pictures are greatly reduced in size and quality, so that I could upload them without breaking the server.]

One of my favorite places along the Parkway is Graveyard Fields. I took the first set of pictures just before a cloud bank rolled in, and then the second set of pictures as the clouds moved through the valley.

Since one of my goals for the trip was to try to get some decent sound recordings -- that is, recordings of insects and birds calling that did not also include the sounds of aircraft or automobiles, or other human-generated sounds -- I got into the habit of arising at 3:30 - 4:00 a.m. each morning, to hike out into the woods before sunrise. That way, I could usually get some decent recordings of the early-morning "dawn chorus" before the sounds of motor vehicles ruined the sound-recording opportunities.

Even in a national park, it's remarkably difficult to make sound recordings that don't include the sounds of engines. At one website for nature-sound-recording enthusiasts I frequented, the claim was once made that if you live anywhere East of the Mississippi River, it's literally impossible to record sound for more than a minute without picking up the sound of an engine.

While that's not quite true, in my experience, it nonetheless is remarkably difficult to make recordings of "clean" natural sound. I pretty-much gave up on Shenandoah National Park. It's only 75 miles from Washington D.C., and I found that even at 4:00 in the morning, it was impossible to record for more than a minute or so without picking up the sound of an aircraft flying overhead.

On the other hand, I managed to record some 10 minutes of "clean" sound in a remote valley in Great Smoky Mountains N.P., so I was quite happy about that. It was at night, so the recording is mostly the calls of Common True Katydids (Pterophylla camellifolia), though there was a pair of Barred Owls (Strix varia) calling nearby as well, and a lone Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio). At some point, something large walked nearby in the woods, and grunted/growled. I assumed it was a bear, but couldn't see it in the dark.

Early one morning, I hiked back into a fairly remote area of Shenandoah N.P., to do some sound recording. Since it was dark and all, I didn't bother to bring my camera -- just my sound recorder and a flashlight. (I don't like to use a flashlight while on the trail; rather, I just turn it on occasionally to scout the trail ahead, to check for loose rocks or roots that might trip me up, or a rattlesnake on the trail; that sort of thing.)

I really regretted not bringing the camera on that hike, though. At one point, I noticed a patch of moonlight on the forest floor. "Odd," I thought. "It's overcast; there should be no moonlight visible." I turned on my flashlight and shined it in the general direction, and things got even weirder; a small patch of what looked like mist was drifting across the forest floor.

So I approached for a closer look. As it turns out, it was a large patch of what's commonly called "Jack-o'-Lantern Mushrooms." (Properly known as Omphalotus olearius.) The main portion of each mushroom is bright red-orange in color. But what's really interesting is that the gills are faintly bioluminescent. So the mushrooms were emitting a faint, blue-green glow. I really wished I had brought my camera, to get some pictures -- with a tripod and a long exposure, I bet I could have photographed the glow.

Sadly, it would have taken an hour or so to get back to the car and get my photographic gear, by which time the Sun would be rising, so there was no way to photograph the glowing mushrooms. Bummer.

Anyway, the pictures might have looked something like this:

Oh, and the "mist"? The mushrooms were shedding spores. So many of them that it looked like a fine mist was rising off them.

I spent the better part of an hour admiring the mushrooms while waiting for the first birds to begin calling. This particular species is deadly poisonous to humans, but there were lots of beetles feeding on them. I wonder if the glow is an adaptation to attract the night-feeding beetles in the dark forest?

One of my very favorite places in the whole world is Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. I hiked down into the gorge early one morning to take some pictures as the Sun came up.

Later that morning, I took some pictures of clouds in the mountain valleys.

The only problem with such a trip is that it's very difficult to motivate myself to come back. However, on the way back, I did have a rather interesting experience.

If you're familiar with Shenandoah National Park, you know that Skyline Drive travels the length of the park, and is 105 miles long. (At it's southern terminus, Skyline Drive becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway, which links Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, some 469 miles to the south.) The Appalachian Trail roughly parallels Skyline Drive.

At milepost 50, I encountered a somewhat forlorn-looking couple. It turned out that they were German tourists, from Heidelberg, who had thought that they'd hike the entire portion of the Appalachian Trail that goes through Shenandoah N.P. This was their Summer Vacation plan. They had started at the southern terminus of the park, and had thought they could hike to the northern terminus before they had to catch their return flight back to Germany.

They made it to just about the halfway mark. As they explained to me, they had seriously underestimated the size of the park and the amount of ground that they could cover in a week's time. It took some cramming and re-arranging, but we managed to cram all of their camping gear into the car with mine, and though it was a tight squeeze, we got both of them in, too. So I drove them to the park's northern terminus and to a hotel, where they could get cleaned up and then get a ride to the airport.

As it turned out, they were quite an interesting pair, and so we had lots of interesting discussions regarding the flora, fauna, and geology of Virginia versus Germany.

Anyway, it was a great trip, though very brief. It was very difficult to convince myself that I should come back.

Cheers,

Michael

LadyShea · #**139** 08-17-2013, 10:59 PM

I wish you could do that for a living. What about starting a tour business? You could have helped out those Germans, for one example.

One for Sorrow · #**140** 09-24-2013, 03:58 PM

Just in case anyone is interested...

Many National Parks are waiving their entrance fees this Saturday, September 28th. There's a list here: Free entrance days - list of participating parks.

The only participating park in NC is way too far from me, but it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for a hike, so I will have to find somewhere beautiful nearby and get outside.

Dingfod · #**141** 09-24-2013, 04:01 PM

Hurry, they'll be closed for who knows long beginning next Tuesday.

Qingdai · #**142** 09-24-2013, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by One for Sorrow

Just in case anyone is interested...

Many National Parks are waiving their entrance fees this Saturday, September 28th. There's a list here: Free entrance days - list of participating parks.

The only participating park in NC is way too far from me, but it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for a hike, so I will have to find somewhere beautiful nearby and get outside.

Crater Lake and the Lewis and Clark trail in Oregon, which the trail is mostly free anyhow. Strange.

LadyShea · #**143** 09-25-2013, 04:00 AM

Gulf Islands National Seashore. I have been looking for an excuse to go.

Demimonde · #**144** 09-25-2013, 07:04 AM

Thanks for the reminder, I have been wanting to plan a fall trip. Contra is a nut for autumn leaves and we have little of that up in north Texas. I also promised Dante we would take a non-beach trip. Sadly the Texas national parks don't have much in the way of foliage but I did find Lost Maples State Natural Area

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRKbWOTm6Cs

It looks like they only have 30 campsites, which have been booked up for eons, and they are supposed to be super crowed with day trippers this time of year. I think we might stay at Garner State Park 30 minutes away, which is frickin' HUGE and should be quieter this time of year. During the summer it is insanely crowded.

I also looked at cabins in the area, there are hundreds in Hill Country. I have been bugging my brother to take a trip with us, but he doesn't want to do tent camping until lil' Lala is bigger. With the baby on the way, that might be even longer. Renting a cabin for Thanksgiving would be seriously awesome though. SIL will be at 8 months then and I don't want her to have to stress about cooking a big dinner and hostessing. It might be a fun new tradition to start. It kinda has our name all over it. :giggle:

Oh and on another note I MUST recommend this new tent we got to :ff:

campers: Standing Room 100 Tent. It is practically like having a cabin.

We got a quik shade canopy with side awnings for it and it is palatial. Since the walls are vertical, you have 100 square feet of usable space. The height is amazing, over 8 feet in the center, so Contra doesn't have to stoop or crawl around with his bad back. Also plenty of room to hang stuff loft style so it is out of the way. There was so much room for us, all the gear, and all three dogs. I also love that it has two doors on opposite sides, which can help make a nice cross breeze and makes it very easy to sweep out and keep clean. We can also lower the side awnings over the doors for a little extra security.

It has a full tub floor and a full ceiling. That second ceiling is fantastic because the air space between the canopy and the tent has R value. Plus the wind would blow out the hot air in the space between. So the tent never became like an oven during the day like some tents do in full sun.

During the last trip, an old boy and girl, who you had been camping together for decades, had to stop on the drive in and compliment us on our set up. They had an old truck with a custom camper shell built out just for the sea shore. Comfy but the bare necessities. They said that they enjoyed tent camping for years but it became too hard as they got older. But if they had a set up like ours they would have never stopped. I just about busted I was so proud.

LadyShea · #**145** 09-25-2013, 12:49 PM

How long does that monster take to set up?

Demimonde · #**146** 09-25-2013, 02:25 PM

About twenty minutes, if it isn't too windy. Those pop up canopies go up in a flash. With ours you can keep the cover on so it is ready to go in the bag. Then the tent hangs by bungee cords from the frame and ties at the legs. It took us longer to stake down the guy lines so it didn't become a hang glider, but that was in really high coastal winds.

Sure, we won't be back packing with it, but for an extended car camping trip it is totally worth the extra prep.

LadyShea · #**147** 09-25-2013, 03:02 PM

Thanks! For a week it would be worth it, looks like

The Lone Ranger · #**148** 09-25-2013, 03:47 PM

For what it's worth, Great Smoky Mountains National Park has never charged admission. As I understand it, part of the deal for acquiring the land that would become the park was that there would be no admission charge.