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Tag Archives: Colorado

June 12, 2017

The 12 Best Uncrowded National Park Dayhikes

In Family Adventures, Hiking, National Park Adventures   |   Tagged best national park hikes, Best uncrowded national park dayhikes, Big Spring Canyon, Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Blacktail Deer Creek Trail, Box Top Trail, Boy Scout Trail, California, California hiking, California national parks, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Chimney Rock Canyon, City of Rocks National Reserve, Clouds Rest, Colorado, Colorado hiking, Death Valley National Park, Eagle Peak Trail, family hiking, Grand Teton National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Heather Pass Maple Pass Loop, High Sierra, hiking Grand Teton National Park, hiking Wyoming, Joshua Tree National Park, Lost Canyon, Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades, North Cascades National Park, North Fork Circle Creek Trail, Peekaboo Trail, Southern Utah hiking backpacking, Squaw Canyon, Static Peak, Stripe Rock Loop, Taylor Canyon Zion, Tea Kettle Trail, Telescope Peak, Tenaya Lake, The Needles District, Utah, Utah parks, Washington hiking backpacking, Wonderland of Rocks, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park   |   2 Comments

By Michael Lanza

The best-known dayhikes in America’s national parks are certainly worth adding to your outdoor-adventure CV. Summits and hiking trails like Angels Landing in Zion, Half Dome in Yosemite, the North Rim Trail overlooking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Glacier National Park’s Highline Trail, and many others represent the highlights of the crown jewels of the National Park System. But for that very reason, unless you take those hikes outside the peak seasons or times of day, you can expect to encounter a lot of other hikers.

But there are other national park dayhikes that remain off the radar of many hikers—so they attract a small fraction of the number of people flocking to the popular trails. On these 12 hikes, you’ll find scenery just as majestic as those famous trails, while possibly having these spots to yourself (as I did on several of them). Continue reading →

April 10, 2017

Tent Flap With A View: 25 Favorite Backcountry Campsites

In Backpacking, Family Adventures, International Adventures, National Park Adventures   |   Tagged Alice Lake, Arizona, Benson Lake, California, California backpacking, California climbing, California national parks, Camp Schurman, Canyon of Lodore, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Climbing Mount Whitney, Colorado, Columbine Lake, Coyote Gulch, Coyote Natural Bridge, Death Canyon Shelf, Dientes Circuit, Dinosaur National Monument, Dog Lake, Dome Glacier, Doubtful Sound, Eagle Cap Wilderness, East Fork Owyhee River, Emmons Glacier, Everglades National Park, Evolution Basin, Evolution Lake, family backpacking, Fiordlands National Park, floating the Green River, Gates of Lodore, Glacier Bay National Park, Glacier National Park, Glacier Peak Wilderness, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon's Royal Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Grand Teton National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Green River, Gunsight Pass Trail, Hance Rapids, High Sierra, Idaho, John Muir Trail, Johns Hopkins Inlet, Kings Canyon National Park, Lake Ellen Wilson, Little Frazier Lake, Little Yosemite Valley, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier National Park, Mount Whitney, Mount Whitney Mountaineers Route, New Hance Trail, North Cascades, North Cascades National Park, North Fork Cascade Canyon, Olympic coast, Olympic National Park, Paria Canyon, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Patagonia, Precipice Lake, Ptarmigan Traverse, rafting Lodore Canyon, rafting the Green River, Rock Slide Lake, Royal Arch Loop, Sahale Glacier Camp, Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sequoia National Park, Seven Devils Mountains, Southern Utah hiking backpacking, Spring Canyon, Stillwater Canyon, Ten Thousand Islands, Tiger Key, Toleak Point, Tonto Trail, Upper Lyman Lakes, Utah, Utah parks, Virgin River, Wallowa Mountains, Waterpocket Fold, Whirlpool Canyon, White Rock Lakes, Wind River Range, Zion National Park, Zion’s Narrows   |   29 Comments

By Michael Lanza

An unforgettable campsite can define a backcountry trip. Sometimes that perfect spot where you spend a night forges the memory that remains the most vivid long after you’ve gone home. A photo of that camp can send recollections of the entire adventure rushing back to you—it does for me. I’ve been very fortunate to have pitched a tent in many great backcountry campsites over more than two decades of backpacking and trekking all over the U.S. and the world. I’ve boiled the list of my favorite spots down to these 25.

I update this list every year, and each time, it becomes more difficult. This year, I’m adding two spots where I camped in the past year: below the East Face of Mount Whitney, and on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument. Below my top 25 list you’ll find a second list of campsites that were previously in my top 25.  Continue reading →

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February 20, 2017

Why Conservation Matters: Rafting the Green River’s Gates of Lodore

In Family Adventures, National Park Adventures, Paddling   |   Tagged bighorn sheep, Canyon of Lodore, Colorado, Colorado River Storage Project, David Brower, Dinosaur National Monument, Disaster Falls, Echo Park, floating the Green River, Gates of Lodore, Green River, Hells Half Mile, Holiday River Expeditions, John Wesley Powell, kayaking the Green River, rafting Lodore Canyon, rafting the Green River, Split Mountain Canyon, Triplet Falls, Utah, Utah parks, Whirlpool Canyon   |   1 Comment

By Michael Lanza

The momentarily sedate current of the Green River pulls our flotilla of five rafts and two kayaks toward what looks like a geological impossibility: a gigantic cleft at least a thousand feet deep, where the river appears to have chopped a path right through the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah. Sheer, cracked cliffs of burgundy-brown rock frame the gap. Box elder, juniper, and a few cottonwoods grow on broad sand bars backed by tiered walls that seem to reach infinitely upward and backward, eclipsing broad swaths of blue sky. A great blue heron stalks fish by the riverbank. We notice movement on river left and glance over to see two bighorn sheep dash up a rocky canyon wall so steep that none of us can imagine even walking up it.

These are the Gates of Lodore, portal to a canyon as famous today for its scenery and wilderness character as it was infamous for the catastrophes suffered by its first explorers, who set out in wooden boats a century and a half ago to map the West’s greatest river system. Continue reading →

September 30, 2016

The 5 Rules About Kids I Broke While Backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park

In Backpacking, Family Adventures, National Park Adventures, Skills   |   Tagged backpacking skills, Colorado, Colorado backpacking, Colorado hiking, family backpacking, Ouzel Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Thunder Lake, Wild Basin   |   7 Comments

By Michael Lanza

“I’m dying!” my son, Nate, bellowed to the entire forest in the Wild Basin of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. “This pack is too heavy!” We were just 30 minutes up the trail at the outset of a three-day backpacking trip. It was a trip that seemed like an unmitigated disaster for the first two days—then morphed into an adventure my kids remember fondly, and that helped expand their outdoor interests.

For me, those three days in Rocky serve as a reminder about the many ways you can do it wrong when taking kids outdoors, but how simple and easy it is to make it right. Continue reading →

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September 12, 2016

10 Awesome Fall Backpacking Trips

In Backpacking, Family Adventures, National Park Adventures   |   Tagged " Pemi Loop, Appalachian Trail, backpacking The Narrows Zion, Bondcliff, California, California backpacking, California national parks, Clark Range, Clouds Rest, Colorado, Crawford Notch, family backpacking, Franconia Notch, Franconia Ridge, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Half Dome, Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, High Sierra, hiking New Hampshire, hiking The Narrows Zion, Hiking White Mountains, Idaho, Idaho Snake River National Scenic Trail, John Muir Trail, Kolob Canyons, Mount Bond, Mount Hood, Mount Hood National Forest, Mount Hood Wilderness, North Fork of the Virgin River, Oregon, Oregon backpacking, Oregon Snake River Trail, Pemigewasset Wilderness, Red Peak Pass, Snake River, Southern Utah hiking backpacking, Timberline Trail, Tuolumne Meadows, Utah, Utah parks, West Rim Trail, White Mountain National Forest, White Mountains, Yosemite National Park, Zealand Notch, Zion Canyon, Zion Narrows, Zion National Park   |   2 Comments

By Michael Lanza

The imminent end of summer always feels a little melancholy. After all, it marks the close of the prime season for getting into the mountains. But it also signals the beginning of a time of year when many mountain ranges become less crowded just as they’re hitting a sweet zone in terms of temperatures, the lack of bugs, and fall foliage color. Autumn also stands out as an ideal season for many canyon hikes, with moderate temperatures and even some stunning color.

From Zion and Yosemite to the White Mountains, Grand Canyon, Mount Hood, and more, here are 10 of my favorite backpacking trips that are best served up in fall.
Continue reading →