Hiking the Mt. Healy Overlook Trail in Denali National Park

Our final morning in Denali National Park we decided to hike the Mt. Healy Overlook trail, a 5-mile, 1,700 feet of gain hike to a viewpoint at 3,500 feet. We added some mileage to our hike by starting the the Denali Visitor Center campus parking area and catching the Taiga Trail over to the Mt. …

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Denali National Park: Bus Trip

When we booked our trip to Alaska to explore Denali National Park, we really wanted to go as far into the park as we could. We were visiting too early in September for the road lottery, where you can try to get permission to drive your personal vehicle beyond Savage River, so our only option …

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Hiking the Savage River Trail in Denali National Park

After we spent the morning exploring Fairbanks, we headed south for Denali National Park. By late afternoon, we were checking into the Denali Park Hotel, which is about 15 minutes north of the park entrance, just as a thundercrack split the sky. Storm clouds were gathering in the east but to the west, the sky …

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Highlights of Fairbanks, Alaska

We spent Labor Day weekend in Alaska, exploring Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Denali National Park. We went on an Alaskan cruise four years ago that served to whet our Alaska appetites, and I was thrilled we could head north again to explore parts of the interior and a new national park. We flew into Fairbanks Friday …

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Motorcycling the Oregon Coast

The final leg of our motorcycle loop through Oregon and California was riding north along the Oregon coast. We've been wanting to take the bikes along this particular route since we moved to Washington, and six years later we finally made it happen! We spent three days riding from Arcata, California to Port Orford, Oregon …

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Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

I've been wanting to explore Oregon's coastal sand dunes for several years. Although we didn't have enough time to do all of the ATV exploring I would have liked during my birthday motorcycle trip through Oregon and California, we did dedicate a few hours of our itinerary to completing a short hike in the 31,500-acre …

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Exploring Redwood National and State Parks

I was thrilled the weather cooperated for our day re-discovering Redwood National and State Parks during my birthday motorcycle trip through Oregon and California. While we had driven through the park about 10 years ago on our road trip from San Francisco to Seattle, it was a completely new experience being on the motorcycles and …

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