National Parks

We saw Joshua Trees on our way to Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley is a small area that is surrounded naturally by rocky ridges. Most of the ways into the valley are up and over steep ridges. The entrance we used is a narrow path through some boulders. Inside Hidden Valley, we saw lots of Joshua […]

It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel to the entrance to the park. Inside the park, we headed to the Mastodon Peak Loop Trail. It begins at an oasis. The trail was well marked, steep, and rocky at times. When we reached Mastodon Peak, we had an amazing view of the area.

Today is the first of two days at Saguaro National Park. Saguaro National Park has two sections. One is on the east side of Tucson, Arizona. The other is about 25 miles away on the west side of Tucson. We began on the east side at the Mica View Cactus Forest Trail. The trail is

We began our day at White Sands National Park. White Sands became a national park after we began our travels. Driving in the park changed quickly from a paved road to a sand road. The first hike of the day was the White Sands Backcountry Trail. Technically, it is not a trail. There are numerous

We spent the day at Carlsbad Caverns. We got a chance to do a self guided tour of the caverns. It was fun to go at our own pace and choose the places of interest to us. We entered the cavern at the main entrance. It is a huge opening with a very steep down

It was a two hour drive to Guadalupe National Park. Much of the drive was over mostly flat land. We could see mountains in the distance. As we neared Guadalupe National Park, we entered the mountains. We finally reached the park. Our first stop at Guadalupe National Park was the Pinery Trail. It is the

We woke up early this morning because we have a long way to drive. At 5 am, the sky was still dark. We saw the sunrise while we were on the road. A little later we saw a very large rainbow. We stopped at another entrance to Big Bend on our way to St Elena

Today we begin our national park tour at Big Bend National Park. It is a remote park. Fort Stockton Texas, the closest town with a population over 1,000, is 123 miles away. It was an interesting drive through an unpopulated area of the country. Once inside the park, we drove toward Boquillas Canyon, another 23