Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for national parks
America’s Newest National Park
By Linda Tancs
Chiricahua National Park in Wilcox, Arizona, is America’s newest national park. First protected as a national monument in 1924, Congress recognized that its volcanic rock spires, “sky island” biodiversity and Apache and homesteading history merit national park status. Chiricahua comes from an Opata word meaning “wild turkey,” the largest subspecies of which is thriving in the park after being hunted out in the 1900s. They’re frequently spotted near the visitor center. Sometimes called a “wonderland of rocks,” Massai Point sits at the end of the breathtaking 8-mile Bonita Canyon scenic drive, offering a 360-degree view of stunning rock formations like towering volcanic spires, balanced rocks and hoodoos as well as the surrounding valleys and mountains.
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Goddess of the Sky
By Linda Tancs
The Nepali name for Mount Everest is Sagarmatha, which means “goddess of the sky.” It’s certainly an appropriate moniker, considering that Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain above sea level at 29,032 feet. The famous mountain is a key feature of Sagarmatha National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not surprisingly, hiking and trekking are primary activities, with popular routes including the Everest Base Camp trek, Gokyo Lakes trek, treks to Ama Dablam base camp and, of course, scaling the great peak itself. If mountaineering isn’t your forte, then consider a helicopter tour, or photography, or wildlife spotting such as the Himalayan monal, musk deer or Himalayan tahr. Visit now for clear views and favorable trekking conditions.
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Steaming in California
By Linda Tancs
Wildflowers peak in high elevation areas between July and September in Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. It’s one of many things to see in summer, the park’s busiest season. Snow often lingers on park trails well into the summer months, though. Once it’s cleared, you’ll enjoy the sites the area is known for, like the bubbling mud pots of Bumpass Hell, the largest hydrothermal area in the park. Likewise, once the snow clears, you can hike Lassen Peak Trail to the summit of one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. You’ll be rewarded with views of Lake Helen at the base, a high elevation lake that often has snow and ice into mid-summer. Another option is to drive Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway and enjoy the scenic vistas. A one-way journey on the 30-mile highway will take approximately one hour without any stops.
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Where the Ice Age Lingers
By Linda Tancs
West of Seward, Alaska, Kenai Fjords National Park on the Kenai Peninsula comprises the Harding Icefield, its outflowing glaciers, and coastal fjords and islands. With nearly 40 glaciers flowing from the icefield, you might say it’s a place where the Ice Age lingers. Visitors primarily access the park by road to Exit Glacier and by water along its stunning coast. Perhaps you’d like to hike the Harding Icefield Trail, or kayak, or take a boat tour to seek out playful wildlife and calving glaciers along Kenai Fjords’ rugged coastline. Humpback whales feed on the bounty of the fjords in late spring through summer. Ranger-led programs are offered between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.
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Sri Lanka’s Most Famous Park
By Linda Tancs
Yala National Park is a huge area of forest, grassland and lagoons bordering the Indian Ocean in southeast Sri Lanka. Renowned for its leopard population (the highest density anywhere), it also hosts elephants and crocodiles as well as hundreds of bird species. The animals are more likely to come into the open when the water levels are low between February and July although sightings (particularly of the elusive leopard) are not guaranteed. Safaris are plentiful.
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Where Rock Art Reigns
By Linda Tancs
Australia’s biggest national park, Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of rock art sites. Providing a fascinating record of Aboriginal life over thousands of years, some paintings are up to 20,000 years old, which makes the artwork one of the longest historical records of any group of people on Earth. Far from archival, the paintings show objects they still use, animals they still hunt and activities they still do. You can view the works at Nourlangie, Nanguluwurr and Ubirr.
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Small But Mighty in Costa Rica
By Linda Tancs
Home to verdant rainforests and white-sand beaches, Manuel Antonio National Park is Costa Rica’s smallest national park. Despite its size, it’s one of the most popular parks, where visitors flock to see wildlife like three-toed sloths, endangered white-faced capuchin monkeys and hundreds of bird species. Hiking trails are aplenty. One of the most popular is Mirador, a route less than one mile with over 200 stairs to Punta Serrucho (Saw Point), a beautiful viewpoint of the rugged coastline.
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Saxony’s Towering Landmark
By Linda Tancs
A short trip from Dresden, Germany, Bastei Bridge is one of Saxony’s most famous landmarks. Located in Saxon Switzerland National Park, rock formations tower over the River Elbe spanned by a sandstone bridge about 250 feet long. Popular with hikers, there is no shortage of scenic routes. One of the most popular is called the “Golden Triangle,” a hike that runs between Stadt Wehlen via Bastei to Kurort Rathen. Lookouts abound, like Basteiaussicht, where shutterbugs will appreciate the opportunities at sunrise or sunset.
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The Great Hungarian Plain
By Linda Tancs
Puszta is to Hungary what Big Sky Country is to the United States. It’s located in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary’s first and largest national park. A vast area of plains and wetlands, you’ll find grazing water buffalo and Hungarian grey cattle. A highlight of a visit is the showmanship of Hungarian cowboys, who display their equestrian skills in a daily horse show that runs from April to September.
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Salmon Runs in Washington
By Linda Tancs
The Sol Duc River in Washington’s Olympic National Park is one of the few places where salmon run in every season. That makes fishing a popular activity there. Chinook, coho, pink, chum and sockeye are all represented. In the late summer and early fall, visitors come to the viewing platform at Salmon Cascades to watch the determined coho salmon leap over the falls on their way to spawn upstream in the river. The Sol Duc is accessed by turning off Highway 101 onto the Sol Duc Road; the viewing platform (available year round to view the falls) is about 5 miles down the road.
