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Fall Wrap-Up

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Fall Wrap-Up

Hello Everyone!! It’s been entirely too long since I last posted on this blog and for that I am genuinely sorry. As my tour season progressed, it got busier and busier and I got more and more worn down. I didn’t have much free time at all in September or October and what little I did have was spent trying to catch up on some sleep and rest up for the next tour. I ran 15 tours this season spanning the country from Seattle to New Orleans and Los Angeles to Glacier National Park. Most were at least a week long and each presented its own joys and challenges. In summary, it was another amazing summer guiding tours of the United States, but I’m thrilled to see it in my rearview mirror as I look ahead to what is to come this winter.

After I last wrote in September, I headed north to Seattle where I ran a two week trip through the U.S. Rocky Mountains to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It was late in the season to be camping that deep in the mountains, and we woke up with ice on our tents more than once. That trip ended up in Salt Lake City, where I turned around and started back towards Seattle the following day on the same trip in reverse (but this time thankfully in hotels instead of tents). While both of those trips were late in the season and many things had already closed down for the winter, the crowds were thin and we did some amazing hikes. We also spotted plenty of wildlife including a handful of moose, a couple of bears and two different wolf packs in Yellowstone. I was able to get out on my own and hike up to Grinnell Glacier, one of my favorite hikes in the country, and ended up in about five inches of snow near the top. The days were short and cold, but we had a really good time out there on both trips.

After the long drive down from Seattle, I set off on another two week trip. That one started in San Francisco, took us out through Yosemite National Park and then brought us down into the desert where we visited Bryce, Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks and also Monument Valley on the Navajo Reservation.

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August on the Road

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August on the Road

Hello Everyone! I apologize for how long it’s been since I last wrote, but it’s been a hectic and crazy month out here on the road. Until this past weekend, I had not had a day off in over a month and I’ve covered a lot of ground during that time. I guided four trips in a row which took a lot out of me, but I had great passengers with me and we saw some amazing and beautiful places. I have another solid month of guiding beginning in just a day or two, but I wanted to drop you all a quick ‘hello’ and share some of my favorite photos from this last month on the road.

I started with an old favorite – a six day hiking tour in Yosemite for Intrepid Travel. While I’ve done this trip several times including twice earlier this summer, it’s still nice to spend so much time on the trail and to show people one of my favorite National Parks. The waterfalls were still going strong for August and it was the first time I’d been able to get up to hike Cathedral Lakes in the high country this year. These hikes left everyone pretty tired, but I know every one of those passengers had a great and memorable trip and will remember Yosemite fondly for the rest of their lives.

After bringing that group back to San Francisco, I left the following day for Seattle where I started a six day trip to Portland via Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks. It had been 20 years since I was last in Olympic and it was really nice to be back in this beautiful and often overlooked park. We did a whale watching tour, explored the Hoh Rainforest and walked by the Pacific Ocean looking out at the beautiful sea stacks of Second Beach. While I used to spend a lot of time at Mount Rainier, that’s another park I haven’t been to since before the pandemic. On our first day there we got some fantastic clear views of the mountain and I’m glad we took advantage of them because our second day was almost entirely shrouded in fog. We still had a nice hike and then headed on to Portland where we visited the International Rose Test Garden (it is the City of Roses after all) and then had a quiet dinner in the park before calling it a trip.

Half of that group stayed on with me for the next six days and a lovely Swedish couple joined us as well. That week brought us from Portland all the way back to San Francisco. We visited Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, ate smoked salmon with a lovely couple who run an indigenous salmon business on the Warm Springs Reservation, Kayaked in a volcanic crater near Bend, Gazed out over Crater Lake National Park and cruised the California Coast feasting on some fresh oysters. We finished with a walk through Muir Woods and a lovely view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I got a day to wind down and wind back up again and the very next day I picked up my last group of that run for a fast and furious 15 day tromp through some of America’s best National Parks. We started off with a few days in Yosemite and then had to duck around Death Valley due to the rains from Hurricane Hillary, staying in Tonopah instead. After a quick trip to Cathedral Gorge State Park, we went on to Zion and then had two great days at the North Rim of Grand Canyon. You may remember that the last (and only) time I was at the North Rim, I was recovering from Covid so I didn’t push myself too hard out there. This time I headed deep into the Canyon on the North Kaibab Trail and it was really nice to see the Canyon from a different angle. We headed from there to Monument Valley to spend some time with the Navajo and then had two great nights in Moab visiting Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. Then we were off to Salt Lake City to learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from the Mormon missionaries at Temple Square. Finally we spent three days in the splendor of Yellowstone before winding up our journey in beautiful Bozeman, Montana.

It was a long but quiet ride back to San Francisco from there, but I did get a few days to catch up on some sleep and a few other things before turning north again to Seattle where I am writing to you from today. Tomorrow I will meet another group and we will be headed east from here to Glacier National Park, my favorite place in the whole world. Then we’ll have some nice days in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons before winding up in Salt Lake City. I’ll get a day to myself there and then turn around and do the same trip in reverse bringing me back to Seattle in the first week of October. It’s going to be cold in the Rockies by then, but it should be quiet and beautiful as well and I’m really looking forward to it.

I don’t think I’m going to get much of a chance to do anything here on my blog over the next month, but I’ll check back in with you when these two trips are done in October. The summer sure flew by this year, but time flies when you’re having fun. I hope you’ve all had a great summer out there, wherever you are and that you’re looking forward to cooler days ahead. Thank you, as always, for reading and I hope you enjoy this little sampling of photos of some of the spectacular places I’ve been this summer.

-Mike

(Click the link to see my favorite photos from this month)

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In Focus: Yellowstone National Park

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In Focus: Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is one of the most extraordinary places on the face of the Earth. Sitting atop a volcanic hotspot, Yellowstone is home to more than half of the world’s thermal features with over 10,000 within the park’s boundaries. Yellowstone is also home to the greatest concentration of large mammals in the lower 48. Established in 1872 as the world’s first National Park, it has drawn visitors from every corner of the globe. Charles Kuralt once called the Beartooth Highway, which brings you in the northeast entrance to the park from Red Lodge, Montana, the Most Beautiful Road in America, and I agree with him. This road (which is only open in the mid- to late-summer months) will lead you to Lamar Valley, dubbed “America’s Serengeti” for the diversity of animals found there. Bison, moose, bear, wolves and coyotes can frequently be found in the valley if you get up early enough and have a keen eye. From there you’re off on the main park road which runs in a massive figure-8 around the park. Where to stop can often be overwhelming to first-time visitors, but a few of my favorites are Mammoth Hot Springs, Midway Geyser Basin (home of Grand Prismatic Spring), Morning Glory Pool, Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Don’t forget to stop in the beautiful Inn at Old Faithful, an amazing old log-cabin style hotel, where you can get some Moose Tracks Ice Cream and enjoy a great view of the world’s most famous geyser. Beyond those highlights, my biggest recommendation is to get out of your car and go for a hike. It can be easy to get frustrated by all of the other tourists in the park, but those frustrations will fade with the crowds when you’re a mile down the trail. I hope you enjoy these photos from the world’s first and one of my favorite national parks.

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In Focus: Grand Teton National Park

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In Focus: Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park is one of my favorite parks in the west. It’s often overshadowed by its more famous and more popular brother just to the north, Yellowstone, but it is definitely deserving of more than just a photo stop on the way to or from. I often tell my tour passengers that when I drew mountains as a child, I was drawing the Tetons whether I knew it at the time or not (in reality, we had a large painting of the Tetons in our house, so maybe that had some influence). The Tetons are one of the youngest mountain ranges in the country, giving them their jagged contours. If you get there early in the morning, you may be able to catch a breathtaking reflection in one of the many lakes that lie at their base. There are, of course, dozens of trails throughout the park, ranging from simple 20 minute jaunts to multi-day treks into the wilderness. I’ve definitely seen more moose in the Tetons than I’ve ever seen in Yellowstone and I’ve also seen bear, bison and elk along with a multitude of birds and small mammals as well. The historic buildings along Mormon Row and in a few other spots in the park are favorites of photographers. It’s also the only National Park with its own airport, although flying into it isn’t cheap. If you ever get the opportunity to visit, Grand Teton will definitely dazzle your senses. I hope you enjoy these photos from another of our magical National Parks.

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