Trips about Mountains
Tumac Mountain
One of the other REU students was an avid hiker, and got two of us to go hiking with her up Tumac Moutains - in the Cascade mountains. Not the hardest hike, but very nice and beautiful scenery. The only problem was the large number of mosquitoes - more than I've ever seen before. In fact, it's possible to see them in some of my photographs. Still, we did survive to make it back down the mountain.
Adirondacks
Lydia, my then girlfriend, and I went on a weekend trip to the Adirondacks - the country's largest state park. We ended up staying at a bed and breakfast in the area of Keene Valley, a beautiful area that had lots of great hiking opportunities. The first day we were there we took the John's Brook Trail from Keene Valley itself, including a stop at Bushnell Falls, a somewhat hidden but nice waterfall along the trail. The water was freezing, even though it was the middle of June. The following day we hiked to Avalanche Lake, site of several avalanches throughout the years. The trip was a lot of fun and I would love to get back to the area sometime. It also made for some great photographs.
Day 5: Rocky Mountain National Park
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
We spent the next day and a half around the Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a beautiful area, with the mountains surrounding you on all sides, and one of the highest roads crossing the mountains at around 12,000 ft.
During the evening, we stopped at one of the hot springs in the area that Colorado is known for.
Day 7: Mesa Verde National Park
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
One of the most amazing national parks, though not the most beautiful, is Mesa Verde National Park, which preserves the ruins of the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi civilization that mysteriously disappeared. We only had the morning and thus had very little time to look around, but we did manage to go on one of the cliff dwelling tours, which is definitely an amazing experience.
Day 7: Colorado to Utah
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
Probably my favorite driving of the trip, the scenery from Colorado to Utah (and through Arizona) is absolutely breathtaking. The only blemishes was the poor state of the Navajo Nation, which takes up much of northern Arizona. Still, I'd love to come back and explore this area more. As part of the trip, we got to drive over the Colorado River a few hundred miles north of the Grand Canyon, where the river still looks somewhat like the Grand Canyon, though definitely much narrower. Also, we definitely didn't miss stopping at the Four Corners.
