Our final morning in Rocky Mountain National Park we got an early start for the trailhead to Deer Mountain - the most accessible summit in the park. While the park is known for all of its 14ers, Deer Mountain's summit is at an easy, breezy 10,040 feet. To cut to the chase, our hike was …
Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park: Summiting Deer Mountain
These crazy times of COVID-19 have inspired us (and many other people) to prioritize visiting the National Parks and enjoying the great outdoors. One of my favorite Christmas gifts - my annual America the Beautiful National Parks Pass - has come in especially useful this year. As planned, we kicked off the year visiting new …
Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park: Trail Ridge Road
For our seventh wedding anniversary, we spent a weekend in Colorado enjoying time together in the great outdoors. In addition to spending a couple days in Rocky Mountain National Park, we drove to Colorado Springs to check out the infamous Pikes Peak. When we arrived mid-morning, traffic was already lined up to enter Pike National …
Among the many things our Washington state governor closed down in response to COVID-19 -- and the one that probably impacted us the most -- was access to local, state, and national parks and land. We love hiking and spending time in the great outdoors -- it actually seemed like one of the more responsible …
Our final day in Yellowstone National Park we explored the geyser basins around Old Faithful. We entered from the west entrance, completed the western leg of the loop road, and exited the park via the south entrance on our way to Grand Teton National Park. As we had been discovering throughout our time in the …
Continue reading Yellowstone National Park: Old Faithful and the Geyser Basins
Our first afternoon exploring the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park was incredible and left me excited for our full days of exploring the rest of the park. The weather wasn't fully cooperating but it didn't stop us from getting up bright and early, cruising into the park via the west entrance, and driving the …
Continue reading Yellowstone National Park: Grand Canyon and West Thumb
After an exhilarating hike outside Bozeman, we drove through the rain to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park -- the first major stop on my birthday road trip. Despite arriving just after lunchtime, which is much later then we would typically arrive at any national park. we had no trouble entering and driving to …
Continue reading Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin
Finding direction and purpose on the road, in the outdoors, and on the page
Finding direction and purpose on the road, in the outdoors, and on the page
Finding direction and purpose on the road, in the outdoors, and on the page
Heather's Compass 