“Going to the woods is going home.” -John Muir, 19th-century naturalist and conservationist That is exactly how I felt as I drove into Yosemite National Park! After spending the previous day traversing the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, I chose the route into Yosemite with the fewest switchbacks and the lowest elevation. One day of high elevation, white knuckle driving was enough. I am so grateful I made that decision! Driving into the west side of the park on 140 followed the beautiful, loud, powerful cascading Merced River. The spring melt thrashed over…

Wow! I mean WOW! The trees in Sequoia and Kings Canyon Natiional Parks are incredible! The sheer volume of the individual sequoia trees, with the majestic heights and incredible girth, drew me to the parks, yet I was less prepared than I expected. I didn’t realize that sequoia trees are larger in volume than redwoods, though coastal redwoods grow taller. Sequoia National Park was established as the nation’s second National Park in 1890, largely due to naturalists and conservationists like John Muir. They were upset by the wholesale logging of the sequoias and other trees throughout the Sierra Nevada and…

Since I started this journey about nine months ago, I have had the privilege to douse my toes in the Atlantic Ocean, swim with sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea, collect shells from a beach at the Gulf of Mexico, dip my hand in the Rio Grande River and ride the waves at the Pacific Ocean. Wow! What a privilege this journey has been, and it’s not over yet! There is something that happens to me when I am on the water. I don’t know how to describe it… Maybe it has something to do with the expanse of the…

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting to see when I entered Joshua Tree National Park, but it was way beyond my expectations! With elevations from 536 to 5,814 feet there are two distinct desert ecosystems contained in its 794,000 acres. The western half of the park is in the higher cooler Mojave Desert, which is the home to the Joshua Trees, and the eastern half is in the lower Colorado Desert, which is home to the creosote and cholla cactus. The park also is filled with intriguing unique rock formations. Entering the park through the west entrance, I…

Forging ahead on my National Park hunt, I made the choice to stop at the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service has created collectable tokens for National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. I started collecting them last September with my first one being from the Dry Tortugas National Park. I was so close to the Grand Canyon, and having been there before, I thought I could stop at the visitor center and pick one up. I ended up spending the majority of the day hiking along the South Rim. I am so glad I chose to stay and…

When you think of a petrified forest, do you think of a painted badlands? I didn’t, but that is what I found at the Petrified Forest National Park. Unexpected, but beautiful! Those of you who know me well, know how I feel about trees and how they feed my soul. That said, there was no question I would have to visit the petrified forest. Petrified Forest National Park actually has two sections with a 28-mile scenic drive that connects them. The northern section, which is where I started, has a painted desert, with canyons stretching through striped mound of geological…