Congaree is about 14 miles outside of Columbia, SC, in a cypress swamp with a river running through it. I was flying to Philadelphia for a high school reunion and thought I would go by way of Charlotte. From there, it is a couple of hours to Columbia, and a short hop to the park. When flooded, the boardwalks are the only way around, and some of them are flooded as well. I was there in late November, and everything was dry. There are a nice set of trails, and I spent the morning and early afternoon hiking. Saw some wild boar and some really large cypress trees. It’s a nice place, near a city but still wild.
Archive for the ‘National Park Odyssey’ Category
CONGAREE NP, 2008
September 18, 2009ARRIGETCH PEAKS, GATES OF THE ARCTIC NP, 2007
September 17, 2009This was my first trip to the Brooks Range, and one I had looked forward to for many years, as seeing the Arrigetch Peaks had been a long dream of mine. Seven of us flew from Fairbanks to Bettles (the ranger station is well outside the Park) and from there via float plane to Kutek Lake, near the Alatna River at the mouth of Arrigetch Creek. Unfortunately, due to the melting of the permafrost, Kutek Lake has gotten so small that float planes can no longer land there.
After a night camped on an island in the braided Alatna River, we started the hike up to the peaks. It is 8 miles and 2000 feet of climbing, which in the Lower 48 would be an easy day. In Alaska, it takes two hard days, because of tussocks, rock fields, outright bushwhacking, stream fording, and of course concerns about bears.
Once we arrived at a meadow under the Peaks, we had views of them in and out of clouds (mostly in clouds, as I never used my sunglasses the whole time we were up there). We took three day hikes, one to the headwaters of Arrigetch Creek, where a hanging glacier starts everything. The second was into Aquarius Valley, but the rocks were too wet and exceedingly slick for us to go all the way in. The third was up to the base of the polished granite peaks themselves, where we had dinner and got back to the campsite minutes before an all night soaking rain.
Because of the rain, we were unable to ford one of the branches of the Arrigetch, having to hike a mile uphill to find a place to cross and then a mile back down, so that 2 miles of hiking netted us about 50 yards of forward progress. It took us two days to get back to the Alatna, where we spent a day floating, a day dayhiking and another day floating until we took a nasty quarter mile portage into beautiful Takahula Lake. While the portage wasn’t long, we were hauling 14-16 foot craft through the brush. The craft were heavy, bulky and it was hot and a bit buggy. We were beat when we reached the lake! The water wasn’t real warm, but it was good enough for swimming, and after 12 days on the trail, it sure felt good to get clean!
We had dinner with a couple who at one time lived off the grid on the lake. They now come there for the summer. I had nervously watched a warm front come in all afternoon, and sure enough, the night before pickup, it started to rain. The next morning, the ceiling was coming down below Takahula Peak. As we thought we wouldn’t get out of there, two float planes arrived, and we packed quickly and got out of there before the storm hit. Later that day, a plane had to stay put on Takahula because of weather. We got ourselves through the clouds and back to Bettles, where we caught the Grand Caravan to Fairbanks. I took the red eye from there to Seattle and was home in Tucson 24 hours after leaving Takahula. Strange!
CAPITOL REEF NP, 2007
September 15, 2009Capitol Reef can actually be seen very well without ever getting out of the car. Of course, a good hike is a lot more fun, and the Park has many. One went up a stream bed, another to an arch, a third to Golden Throne and a fourth to the Chimney. There was one to an arch that I sort of saw, but it was icy and I really was spooked by the terrain. This place is hard to get to, but if one does Arches and Canyonlands, it ought to be attempted!
ARCHES NP, 2007
September 15, 2009Try to spend a day at Arches, because there are a lot of really nice things to see. Even if you don’t leave the car, you can still see a lot of beautiful arches. If you are willing to hike a little, you will see a lot more. If you are willing to put in a couple of miles here and there, well–you can see Delicate Arch close up.
It had just snowed, and I was one of the first in to the Park that day. The clouds and lighting were superb, the weather not too cold, and I only had to abort one hike at the northern end of the Park, as the rock was just too icy to be safe enough to continue.
Spent the day viewing arches and then did Courthouse at the end of the day. No arches but great rock formations!
CANYONLANDS NP, 2007
September 15, 2009I didn’t have a lot of time between Christmas and New Years’ Day, so I did what I could. Flew to SLC and drove to Canyonlands, arriving in mid-afternoon. Got a good 6 miles of hiking in, with some great views, a lot of snow, saw a coyote on the road, and Mesa Arch just as it was getting dark. It is a long drive in and out of the park, and this is one I definitely would like to come back to and spend more time!
JOSHUA TREE NP, 2007
September 15, 2009As close as it is to the LA area, Joshua Tree has a lot of space and some nice day hikes. I started off with Ryan Mountain and then did two other double digit milers. The Joshua Trees are striking, and there are hikes into Palm Oases that are interesting as well. Lot of campgrounds, but this is not a place one wants to be at the height of summer. Rainfall the year before I came was about two-thirds of one inch. That’s right. Less than an inch.
BIG BEND NP, 2007
September 15, 2009I took the 13 hour drive during June, which is not the best time to visit Big Bend. But it was great, anyway. The South Rim trail has about 2000 feet of climbing and is a nice 12-15 mile hike, depending upon whether one wants to add Emory Peak to it. I did.
I saw both summer tanagers and western tanagers. On the South Rim, one walks for several miles above the Chihuahan Desert below. I saw nobody the day I did it. But what was really neat, to this weather junkie, was the “steam” I saw ahead of me. It was humid air flowing from the south, hitting the cliff walls, being pushed up and condensing before me. This is called orographic lift and is why mountains get more rain than valleys–they provide a lifting mechanism that cools the air and wrings the water out of it, just as making a balloon with water in it smaller wrings the water out of it, too.
I also did the hike to the Window.
CARLSBAD CAVERNS NP, 2006
September 14, 2009After seeing Guadalupe Mountains, I drove to Carlsbad Caverns, which I had wanted to see for a long time. It is a beautiful cave, but I wish I could have walked back up and out rather than having to take the elevator! There are some hiking trails nearby as well. I had no idea the number of national parks with caves. There are Carlsbad and Mammoth; there are also Wind Cave and Great Basin NP’s Lehman Caves. I’m not much of a spelunker, but the cave parks are as interesting as are any of the others!
GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS, NP, 2006
September 14, 2009Shortly before New Years’, I drove over to Guadalupe Mountains NP in west Texas, arriving at 2. It was breezy down at Park Headquarters at about 5500 feet altitude, and the ranger told me that it would really be blowing on top of Guadalupe Peak. The hike is about 8 miles round trip with 3000 feet of climbing. I decided to go as high as I could before I hit wind. I went up and up, and there wasn’t much wind. Finally, with about 300 vertical feet to the summit, I realized I could do this. A short while later, I was the highest person in Texas. I was on top of Guadalupe Peak in dead calm. Now I just had to get down before it got dark, which of course, it does early that time of year. It was a memorable hike, and the views of the Salt Flats that I had driven over just 3 hours earlier were remarkable. Neat park!
THEODORE ROOSEVELT NP, 2006
September 14, 2009The second park on my odyssey, Theodore Roosevelt, is located west of Dickinson, ND, in the western part of the state. It is possible to fly into Dickinson and drive to Medora, just outside the Park.
I spent the first day driving the roads, and the second and third days doing day hikes through the badlands of the park. The main concern is staying out of the way of bison, of which there are many. There are also wild horses, which are more curious than a problem. The Paddock and Talkington trails are good day hikes without much significant climbing, nice views, and plenty of prairie dog villages. Note: the bentonite is extremely slick if wet, so rain can make some of these hikes a lot different experiences.
The third day, I went through Petrified Forest Wilderness and did a big loop using part of the Maah Daah Hey trail. On the last day, I did a loop I hadn’t done before, drove up to the North Unit and did a few hikes to viewpoints. The North Unit is very remote and rugged, but striking in its own way.
All the National Parks are special in their own way: “Teddy” was no exception.
Boreal B[l]og 