April 2021 - I took a solo trip out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Big Bend. I had a campsite in Chisos Basin booked for most of the week, but the big wildfire in Chisos was still being contained and the campground was still closed from that, so I had a lot of last minute scrambling to restructure the trip and salvage it.

I got to Guadalupe Mountains mid-afternoon and got my trailer set up so I only had a couple of hours to hike in McKittrick Canyon before they locked the gate for the night. I definitely need to go back and explore that more.



This was my first experience with the Texas Madrone, which instantly became my favorite tree ever.




The next morning I was up super early to tackle Guadalupe Peak.







The next morning I drove down to Big Bend and landed in Cottonwood Campground for a few nights.



The amazing Santa Elena Canyon....




The next morning was an early rise to drive out to Ernst Tinaja

(Mule Ears at sunrise)



Old Ore Road


Ernst Tinaja Trail





While I was on that side of the park, I also hiked Boquillas Canyon





Then I thought I'd do the Ore Terminal Trail - but I got a few miles in and it was really windy (and a bit hot) to be enjoyable so I bailed on it.







I stopped at Sam Nail Ranch







The next morning I hiked Mule Ears Spring Trail








Then I hiked The Chimneys




And enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Santa Elena Canyon




The next day THEY OPENED UP CHISOS BASIN!










Chisos Campground is one of my favorite places ever. I could stare at this all day long and just imagine some Comanche up there sitting on their mares staring down and surveying the surroundings.


Hiked the Window Trail




And then continued up and on down to the Oak Springs Trail

(looking back down on the Window Trail)

(looking at The Window pour off from the other side)

July 2021 - We hit up Gunnison, Telluride, Ouray.....I'll only show the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP here....






Ok, I lied....here is our hike of Blue Lakes out in the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness (super popular trail - but for good reason)

July 2021 - Alaska

Just me and my son went. It was pretty amazing.

Katmai (flew from Anchorage to King Salmon and took a water taxi to Katmai)



These fishmen almost walked into a big problem (5 or 6 bears)....there was a ranger on the platform yelling at them and signaling to them to find another route




A skinny wolf came sniffing around








We sat on this platform for hours just watching the bears swim and fish...it might have been the most relaxing two hours of my entire life



After flying back to Anchorage, we drove down to Chitina



And from Chitina we flew into McCarthey


We toured the old copper processing building

Frankly, I couldn't believe it was open for tours - it seemed like an OSHA nightmare



The Kennicott Glacier from our lodge room

On the Root Glacier (notice the people up on the right ridge for scale)


On the Root Glacier (notice the people up on the left ridge for scale)



Einstein's Hair Flowers

Glacier cave (we did two or three of them)







Next up....Kenai Fjords....


The shore in Seward.

That first night, there was an earthquake off in the pacific and a tsunami warning was issued....it wsa kinda crazy....the evacuated all of the RVs and tent campers who were in the campgrounds along the shores. Thankfully we were further inland at a B&B and didn't have to evacuate.

The next morning we did a half day salmon/rockfish charter

Early December 2021 - Solo trip back to Big Bend for my 40th birthday



Early rise to go hike the Marufo Vega Trail


You could see the Mexican town of Boquillas from the top of the first climb


It was beautiful, but was actually one of the hardest trails I've ever hiked. It was something like 3000' of elevation gain and loss - totally exposed.


I had to take a 0 the next day because I was shot, so I drove up to Fort Davis and Marfa to just check them out.

Driving back into the park from Study Butte



The next day was saved for the South Rim.

I went up Laguna Meadows



Some of the burnout from the wildfire back in April

The South Rim


Looking over towards Santa Elena

and came down through Boot Canyon and the Pinnacles Trail....hiking is just walking, where you can pee wherever you want, right?

AgRyan04 said:

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July 2021 - We hit up Gunnison, Telluride, Ouray.....I'll only show the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP here....

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Need to know where this is.

Blue lakes outside Ouray

Just getting around to digging through Spring Break pictures....we took a trip up to Moab (our third trip to the area).

Obligatory Delicate Arch hike....




If you are going to Arches, do your darndest to get a permit to hike Fiery Furnace. It was so much fun - probably our favorite hike we've ever done as a family.





Hiked Devil's Garden - it was beautiful and a lot of fun, but I wish we did it before Fiery Furnace because nearly anything after that would be a tough encore





Hiked the Rim Loop at Dead Horse Point




Next time we go back we're going to spend a lot more time focusing on finding more pictographs and petroglyphs....those are just so cool

Crater Lake National Park. Our 53rd park.