The Redwoods National and State Parks are located along the coast of Northern California, just south of the Oregon Border. These parks are unique in that it is a collection of parks; 3 parks are owned by the State of California and 1 park is owned by the US government. They are all very close to one another or share borders so National Park and State Park employees work together. So you may stop by the Visitors Center for a state park but see a lot of National Park merchandise in the gift shop or a National Park employee in the parking lot.

The Redwood National and State Park sprawls over 131,983 acres up along the California Coast, you could spend weeks visiting different areas of the park but you could tackle the most popular parts of the parks in a long weekend. 

You may recall that there is another park known for its massive trees. Sequoia National Park is home to giant sequoias. Though redwoods and giant sequoias are closely related they have quite a few differences. Giant Sequoias have an immense trunk and are larger by volume but the Redwoods, though slender, grow much taller. Both Redwoods National and State Parks and Sequoia National Park are worth a visit since the tremendous size of each of these species of trees cannot be captured on camera, you must stand under them.

In addition, since redwoods and giant sequoias thrive in vastly different environments these trees thrive in; Sequoias are found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains while the Redwoods grow near the Pacific Ocean on the California coast which sets up the place for some very different areas to explore during your visit to both parks. 

There is no cost to visit the Redwoods National and State Parks since no parks have entrance fees. However, there are entrance fees to drive up to the popular Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon but both places accept America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series. There are also fees for camping and specific day-use areas throughout the parks. You can head to the park website for more details on pricing and availability. 

Explore Star Wars Filming Locations in the Redwoods National and State Parks

You might feel like you’re on a different planet when you walk among the towering Redwoods and you might be right! The Redwood National and State Parks were the filming locations for the Planet Endor scenes in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It’s hard to figure out exactly where the movie was filmed and it’s rumored that some of the scenes were filmed on private lands but there isn’t harm in heading down some trails in some of the rumored parks! All of these hikes are under a mile, easy and family-friendly.

• Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park  – Cheatham Grove Trail 
• Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – Stout Memorial Grove Trail
• Humboldt Redwoods State Park – Founders Grove Nature Trail 

Visiting Redwoods National Park With a Dog

Redwoods National and State Parks were one of the least dog-friendly areas I’ve visited in my travels across the country. It is pretty standard that dogs aren’t allowed on trails in most National Parks but I found it hard to find any trail that was dog friendly in the vicinity. Fortunately, there are a handful of areas that welcome dogs and enough to get you through an extended weekend or weeklong stay if you have a high-energy dog you need to exercise before heading on the trail! I’d recommend stopping by one of the visitors’ centers to speak to a ranger or find a helpful pamphlet about all the dog-friendly trails or parks. Don’t forget to check out my article on the 10 Things You need when Hiking with a dog. Here are some of my favorite trails to visit with a dog: 

• Cal Barrel Road – 3.6 Miles – Easy –  One of the few trails that takes you through the Redwoods that is dog friendly. This is a must-do if you are in the area with a dog. 
• Dry Lagoon Beach – Though not a park of Redwoods National Park, this is a part of Humboldt Lagoons State Park, it still is a great place to stop with a dog if you’re heading through the Redwoods. 
• Gold Bluffs Beach – Mainly just a picnic area but the elk are known to sometimes roam the beach so even a short sniffing walk around the picnic area could be a fun adventure for you and your dog.
• Avenue of the Giants Auto tour – Since dogs are allowed in the parking lots the Avenue of the Giants 31 Mile auto tour is another good option if you’re traveling with a dog. You can catch a map at one of the entrances just off of Highway 101. Another bonus is that it runs parallel to the highway so while it will make your trip north or south a little longer, you aren’t going out of your way!
• Go Elk “hunting” – Another mostly car-bound adventure, sometimes the Elk can be found near the Elk Meadow Day Use Area, or Elk Prarie Campgrounds inside Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Remember, dogs are allowed in parking lots or on the roads but they aren’t allowed on trails and keep a safe distance from the elk. 
• Stop by a visitors Center – There are 5 visitors centers across the different parks. The parking lots and paved paths around the visitors center are dog friendly.
  • Hiouchi Visitor Center in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
  • Jedediah Smith Visitor Center in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
  • Crescent City Information Center in downtown Crescent City
  • Prairie Creek Visitor Center in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
  • Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center in Redwood National Park

Best Hiking in Redwoods National and State Parks

You’ll have to leave the dog at home to check out the rest of these trails. Some of the best hikes in Redwoods National and State Parks are listed below. Remember that is a lot of the park to explore so if you’re looking for more hikes stop by the visitors’ center

• Cathedral Trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
• Boy Scout Tree Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
• Tall Trees Grove Trail in Redwood National Park – See some of the biggest trees in the world
• Fern Canyon Trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
• Lady Bird Johnson Grove Hike in Redwood National Park
• Clintonia Trail Loop in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
• The California Coastal Trail(CCT) runs through several Redwood Parks and has various accent points but my favorite is just off the Klamath Overlook and takes you past a beach where you may come across some Sea Lions – Hidden Beach and False Klamath Rock. If you need a break from exploring the redwoods I highly recommend checking out this trail!

Best Places to stay when Visiting Redwoods National Park

During my visit, I stayed in Klamath, CA which is just about in the middle of all the Redwood National and State Parks. It’s a very small town with a gas station, convenience store, a casino, hotel, and a few restaurants. Orick, CA is another nearby area with a similar smalltown vibe.

Crescent City, CA or Eureka, CA are two alternatives for those looking for larger cities with more options for post-hike dinner or drink options. Both are coastal cities so you’ll have gorgeous views steps from your stay but the trade-off is you may have to travel further to your hikes in the Redwoods National and State Parks. 

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Not only are you beating all of the warm weather crowds that flock to the National Parks this time of year but you get to enjoy the snow-covered mountains amongst its famous towering trees. 

The History of Sequoia National Park

Established in 1890, Sequoia National Park protects over 400,000 archers of forested mountains. Sequoia National Park is also home to Mount Whitney which is the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,505 Feet above sea level. The park is just south of Kings Canyon National Park. Kings Canyon National Park can be entered by driving north up Generals Highway from Sequoia National Park, however, this portion of the road is closed during the winter months leaving Kings Canyon National Park only accessible via State Route 180. 

Sequoia National Park is most notable from the trees from which it gets its name, the giant sequoia trees. One particularly famous giant sequoia, General Sherman Tree is the largest tree, by volume, on Earth. Which is a specific claim to fame. On paper, it might seem like a bizarre claim to fame but you can only truly grasp the sheer size of this tree when you are standing in front of it. 

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park are still recovering from a massive September 2020 forest fire that led to its partial shutdown and still several of it’s popular trails lead through very obviously burned-out terrain. It does put visitors at greater risk of experiencing washed-out trails, rock slides, mudslides, and falling trees but I experienced no issues during my hikes. I was impressed by how much work the Rangers seemed to get done in maintaining the park trains. It’s important to note, though some of its mature giant sequoia trees have charred bark, many of its most famous and largest giant sequoia trees are still alive and thriving.

The land that encompasses Sequoia National Park was first home to the “Monachee” Native Americans who mainly resided in the Kawash River drainage in the foothills region of the park. Seasonal residents including the Tubatulabal Native Americans. They used the eastern part of the park as summer hunting grounds. 

You can find pictographs at several sites within the park left behind from the tribes that first called this land home. They can be found at Hospital Rock and Potwisha

Getting to Sequoia National Park

The best way to enter Sequoia National Park is through Three Rivers, California. This quaint little town has the last gas station before you enter the National Park. I would suggest filling up since there aren’t any gas stations inside the park. There’s also Sequoia Coffee Company,   an artisan coffee shop with fresh coffee drinks, a limited selection of sandwiches, and delicious griddle donuts. There are a few other lunch and dinner spots along the ride into the park including; a sub shop, a bbq joint, a food truck, a sweets and ice cream place, and a few markets to stop for groceries and souvenirs. There is also a hardware store that would be a great place to pick up some supplies if you are heading into a winter play area or looking to camp in the warmer months.

Where to Stay when Visiting Sequoia National Park

If you are looking for somewhere for a long weekend stay I would highly recommend Three Rivers. It is quiet and easily accessible to the park. There are a few small Inns and Riverfront cottages in town but the town is rather small so if you are looking for somewhere with more of nightlife you won’t find that in Three Rivers. But Three Rivers, CA is an incredible launching pad into Sequoia National Park since it is an easy 15-minute drive to the park entrance.

If you were willing to trade traveling a bit further to the park entrance for a bit more selection in the bar and restaurant scene, I would Visalia, CA. Visalia, CA is a much larger city with many more options for post park visits but you will have to sacrifice a longer drive to Sequoia National Park since Visalia is about 45 minutes away from the park entrance.

What to do in Sequoia National Park in the winter

An absolute must when visiting Sequoia National Park is the General Sherman tree. Though there was some snow and ice along the trail during my winter visit most visitors seemed okay in a pair of rugged hiking boots. Normally I’d recommend trekking poles and microspikes kept in the backpack of any winter hike and they would be useful during this trip.  If you are looking to get into winter hiking I would recommend picking up a set from Kahtoola or Yaktrax.

Sequoia National Park gets snow from December to May but the snowiest seasons are generally February to March. I went to visit Sequoia National Park in mid-March and though it got hit with a few end of the week snowstorms Generals Highway, the winding road that leads up to the Sequoia groves, was only closed for a couple of days and opened up for some early Sunday hiking so the trip was still salvageable. 

The best way to get updates on the road conditions in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park is to follow the Alerts on their website and to call their line for road conditions – (559) 565-3341 (press 1, then 1). Don’t rely on the weather report in the foothills or in nearby Three Rivers. The foothills were usually 10-20 degrees warmer, so if Three Rivers got rain there was a good chance the mountains were getting snow. 

If Sequoia National Park does get hit with some snowstorms during a winter visit there are still plenty of activities surrounding the park that make it still salvageable. There are plenty of activities in Sequoia National Park if it snows. See the list below 

1.  Marble Falls Trails – Moderate – 7.4 Miles. The entrance to this trail is just off the Potwisha Campground in the foothills of the National Park. It can be a bit narrow at points and though it is rated as moderate I would put it on the easier end of moderate. This trail has incredible waterfall views along the way and ends at the foot of cascading waterfall down gorgeous white stones.
2. Paradise Creek Trail – Easy – 5.5 Miles – Though rated as easy this trail gets a bit more challenging towards the end but you’ll get some beautiful river views as a payoff.
3. Visit the Foothills Visitor Center 
4. Follow Highway 180 north and Visit Kings Canyon National Park including Grant Grove.
5. Visit a dedicated Snowplay Area in Wolverton or Grant Grove – Remember to be careful and Pack in and Pack out your sled, even if it breaks.
6. Ski & Snowshoe in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park. A few places nearby offer rentals.

If there is some snow on the ground but Generals Hwy is still passable grab your trekking poles and hit the trails! it’s highly recommended you download offline versions of the maps since trails can be hard to find in the snow. 

These are my favorite winter hikes in Sequoia National Park:

1. General Sherman Tree Trail – Easy – 1.2 miles – This is paved the entire way, the only thing that could make this trail minorly challenging is the compacted ice that forms on the concrete. This is also a great launching point for other park trails that are listed below.
2. Congress Trail – Easy – 3.0 Miles – A bit more rugged than General Sherman Tree Trail but this takes you along some of the other famous trees in the grove including The House, and The Senate (get the theme yet?).
3. Giant Forest Loop Trail – Easy – 7.0 Miles – Another great trail that launches around the General Sherman Tree trail. Can get icy in the winter.
4. Big Trees Trail – Easy – 1.3 Miles – Be prepared for snow conditions but this hike is a wonderful way to explore the groves if you’re short on time.
5. Moro Rock Full Trail – Easy – 3.8 Miles – While this trail is considered easy it’s really hard to find in the snow and it also goes through some burned areas so I had a lot of trouble keeping track of where I needed to be without constantly looking at my map. Another option would be to hop on the park roads that close in the winter. You still get some hiking since the roads aren’t plowed but they’re a bit easier to follow. This trail leads up to the top of Moro Rock but it’s closed if it’s snowy or Icy, be warned that a great portion of the stairs sits in the shade and they get extremely icy and dangerous. If it is icy, the trail is closed and you aren’t climbing these stairs without crampons.  I would plan to tackle this later in the day in the hopes that the ice has warmed up and melted in the afternoon sun. After wandering this trail make sure to stop by the Giant Forest Museum and Park Gift Shop.
6. Crystal Cave Trail – This trail had been closed due to damage caused by the Wildfires but when it does open up this short trail is only available by booking Ranger guided tours but it lets you enjoy some time in a marble cavern. When it opens back up add this on your list.

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I rang in the New Year in Palm Springs, CA, deciding to treat myself to this ritzy locale after it came strongly recommended from a friend from California.

I spent most of the first weekend in Palm Springs, driving to a couple different hikes. Palm Springs is located just under an hour drive away from Joshua Tree National Park. I did a couple of Hikes at Joshua Tree: 

1. Fortynine Palms Oasis Trail is a 3.1 moderate out and back trail that’s located on the northern end of Joshua Tree National Park. It leads to mini forest to palm trees. I will say the only warning to this trail is there aren’t many Joshua Trees along the way. It’s a great accessory to other hikes but if you could only hike one trail in Joshua Tree I wouldn’t recommend this one.
2. Black Rock Canyon to Panorama Loop Trail was a great trail. 6.7 miles of moderate hiking but nothing really technical, just some rocks and some steep inclines. I brought my treking poles with me and I was happy I had them It leads to incredible views and there’s some great trees along the way.

Since Dogs aren’t allowed in Joshua Tree National Park and Nova had to stay home for my hikes in the park. I decided to make one of my days over the weekend a Nova day. We drove up into the San Bernardino National Forest and we did some snow hiking. She was really excited to see snow, something I thought we were going to go the whole winter avoiding. It was a little icy so I had to put on my micro spikes which can be a little exhausting to hike with, so we did a much shorter hike than we expected at just under 2.8 miles. Despite the snow I was really comfortable warm in just a light jacket and leggings.

I injured my ankle back around Atlanta (October) and it’s still nagging me especially after a busy weekend so I had to spend the next couple of days recovering and stayed local while I worked in the morning/afternoons. The time difference had taken me a bit of getting used to. I love getting up early in the morning and going for runs and working out but lately I’ve been just getting up and working since 7:00am on the west coast is already 10:00am in New York so I can’t really start much later than that. It had been nice to be able to wrap up my days at 3:00pm and still have a couple of hours of sunlight to work with it.

After one of my workdays, I took Nova for a walk around the downtown area of Palm Springs and ended the walk with a date shake which I’ve never heard of before but there were signs for them all over town so I had to try one. They seem to be milkshakes sweetened with dates. There are a number of date farms just outside of Palm Springs. I saw a few of them at Villagefest, Palm Springs weekly Thursday Night Market where I managed to pick up some local produce including fresh Dates.

I started my new year on a hike and I came up with the start a story during my time on the trail. Instead of letting the idea just come and go I decided to hop on the computer and start writing. I spent many of my evenings writing and left Palm Springs with forty-four pages written in a developing story that was still not complete.

I don’t talk about it much but I originally went to college to major in psychology and minor in creative writing until the housing market crashed and I was suddenly at one of the most expensive schools in the country and mounting student loan debt. I decided to change my major to something that was a little more guaranteed to get me a job outside of school, computer science. 

Majoring in Computer Science was quite the pivot. I stopped writing long essays by my junior year and instead my mid-terms were long complicated programs or working circuits. 

I’ve already found writing relaxing and rewarding. I started writing a lot when my mother was sick in high school and there was just something about getting lost in a story, in your own story that’s just really exciting. I don’t entirely have a plan for this story but I’m still working on it and I’m going to see where it takes me.

I left Palm Springs after a very short week, heading back east towards Las Vegas, NV where I was going to meet with some New York City Friends for a softball tournament, more on that later. But first I had to checkout another popular desert park.

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Dec 30

One week, almost 20 hours of driving through three states, two overnight stops and one “road” that was really just a slab of cement with a creek running over it defines my first week of December. 

I had been dreading this long driving stretch since I began planning the December portion of my trip this past January. I knew I would be driving through empty desert where rest stops and gas stations would be scarce and admittedly I was a little scared of this portion of the trip. I’ve never been in a place so isolated and I didn’t know what to expect. 

What I got was an absolutely stunning drive through vast desert landscapes. 

I normally plan a few stops along the way, especially on longer drives such as the trips I was about to take. The stops are usually about an hour or so apart so I don’t have to scramble to find a gross bathroom at a gas station (I refuse) or have to walk Nova along the side of the highway (if I’m strict about my potty locations Its only fair to be strict about hers too). These little road trip itineraries have worked out fairly well since Nova and I have found ourselves having lunch at a small local park or an empty Love’s Travel Stop Dog Park (which are my new favorite places on the road.) 

I’ve also been trying to visit small, local coffee shops along the way, though after a particularly jittery drive during this trip I’ve decided to limit myself to ONE caffeinated coffee on long drives. Especially since I regularly drink decaf.

My first stop was an hour and a half outside of Austin in the cute little town of Fredericksburg, TX where I grabbed a pour over coffee at Caliche Coffee Bar & Ranch Road Roasters. Nova and I took a quick walk around a park down the road to check out the Christmas decorations the town had already put up.

We made a few more stops at a couple of Love’s Travel Stops on the road so Nova could stretch her legs at the dog park and we even got in a few minutes of play time with another traveller who was headed to El Paso, Tx. 

Austin had been a weird mix of desert landscapes. There was evidence of small cactus on the ground and it had the typical desert sand in several of the hikes there were also lots of green grass and flourishing tree lined trails that didn’t quite feel like you were in a desert but as I drove deeper into Western Texas I was really getting a feel for what a true desert looked like. 

I arrived in Marfa, TX in the late afternoon. A few coworkers had recommended this quirky artistic town to me. I unfortunately made the mistake of visiting the tourist town in the beginning of the week when most shops were closed but my stay was short anyway, I doubt I would have had time to visit much of anything had I been there for very long.

My Airbnb is Marfa was absolutely delightful. The small apartment complex like building was playing oldies on a small classic radio when I walked in and it made me feel like I stepped back in time. Across the street was the Presidio County Courthouse, a gorgeous rose pedal pink building with a great little yard for walking dogs. 

After a short walk and unpacking the necessities, sunset was a less than an hour away so I decided to take Nova to the Marfa Lights Viewing Platform I had seen on the side of the road on our ride into town. The Marfa Lights are a mysterious set of lights that occur at random intervals throughout the night. There are a number of theories as to what causes the lights; anything from aliens to car headlights but it still attracts enough tourist attention that they have a whole platform dedicated to it. 

Since it was early in the week, Nova and I hung out with just a few others who came by to see the lights. In the small talk we made while waiting for the sunset I learned that most of the visitors were nomads, most were living out of their RVs and stopping in Marfa on their way to somewhere else, some of them seemed to not know where that “somewhere else” was and we spent more time discussing options for travelers next destinations. About twenty minutes after sunset we saw a pair of lights in the distance, a local pointed out the ones that were “real” Marfa lights and the ones that were not (such as a red blinking light at the top of a radio tower). I watched the lights for a while before turning back to the parking lot and stumbling to my car in true and utter darkness.

Speaking of darkness, another incredible sight in the small town was the night’s sky. I found myself just starring up and gawking at how many stars I could see and all the constellations I could finally make out. It’s one of those experiences I knew I could never capture with a photograph so I didn’t even bother trying but the visual will stay with me forever. I regret not putting Big Bend National Park in my itinerary for that visit since the park was just an hour and half away from Marfa but I will be visiting that area again in the near future when I can leave my pup Nova at home. 

We left Marfa bright and early the next morning, driving by Prada Marfa on my way out of town and pulling off at a scenic stop to catch a glimpse of the sunrise poking its head over the mountains along my route. 

Nova and I stopped in El Paso, TX for a quick hike to stretch our legs after a long couple days of driving. In a breathtaking preview of what was to come in my December Desert hikes, Nova and I hiked a few miles with a wave of mountains in the background before turning back to the car to continue on our drive to Alamogordo, NM. 

Alamogordo is a small city just outside of White Sands National Park, which is why Nova and I were stopping there for a few days. White Sands National Park is dog friendly and I had plans to work a couple days and hike White Sands before moving on to our stop for the Month of December.

In the short time I was in Alamogordo Nova and I had couple of run-ins with loose or abandoned dogs near our stay, fortunately they were all friendly but it left me a little uneasy. One morning at the dog park we came across a cute unfixed male pit mix who seemed to have been dumped at the dog park and quickly fell in love with Nova. He was very friendly but a little timid with people. I had hoped he had just escaped his home and ran to the dog park because it was  a familiar place where he remembered he had a lot of fun but when I dropped him off at the local shelter they mentioned that they had had a number of dogs abandoned there since it was less than a block away.

Here’s hoping that this cute little guy gets rescued or adopted soon (if he hasn’t already!) 

After all of the dog adventures, Nova and I finally found some time to swing by White Sands National Park. 

We hiked 5 miles in the rolling hills of the sand dunes and it was a surprisingly incredible workout. Sometimes I found myself climbing on my hands and knees trying to scale a hillside and other times I floated down a steep incline, ankle deep in flowing white sand. 

Nova was in love. 

She would get so excited she would jump a few feet ahead of me and just start digging for no reason and just stop and continue walking again. She’d attack my feet whenever they got buried in a climb down a sand dune.

The sun was just setting as we were wrapping up our hike so we climbed to the top of a dune and watched the sky change to light pink as the sun fell below the mountains before we headed back to the car to get the sand out of my boots and Nova’s paws.

Five miles isn’t a very long hike for either of us but the dry heat of the desert mixed with hiking in the loose sand knocked both Nova and I out for a couple of days. I hadn’t been that sore in a long time and Nova seemed to sleep for days.

Next we headed for our final destination, Phoenix, Az but we still had a long 7+ Hour drive ahead of us so I planned a long pit stop in Tuscon, AZ. There I stopped for a Coffee at Big Heart Coffee and went to a local dog park. I came across quite a few travellers at the park. One couple was traveling in the opposite direction and heading back the way I had just come while another woman was about to start her #vanlife in February. 

Then we finally landed in Phoenix after an exhausting week of travelling.

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Normally when I think of National Parks I think of sprawling landscapes and forests. But in my travels I’ve come across a number of National Parks that were a little different and are more full of history than they are full of nature though Hot Springs has a bunch of nature. My apartment for this stay was inside a large pocked of town in the surrounding lands of the National Park.

There was also a private side trail available that allowed Nova and I to hop on a trail right around the corner from our drive way. This was great for getting to a small section of the park but since Hot Springs National Park sort of looped around us it wasn’t easy to get to all of the trails without hiking quite awhile so I did end up driving some trails. 

Hot Springs is most known for its number of thermal springs and throughout the park there are different fountains that allow visitors to collect from the springs, each fountain is fed by a different spring, some hot and some cold and in my humble opinion, each tastes different. I preferred the hot spring just outside the park office.

Part of the tradition of the thermal springs is that the water powered several historical bath hours for years. Some of the bathhouses have long gone out of business but the structures are still in place and preserved by that National Park Service. One building was being retrofitted with modern enhancements on it’s historic bones while other buildings had already gotten new occupants. One Building housed Superior Bathhouse Brewing, a brewery that uses thermal spring water to make their beer. It was a nice sized brewery but it was required a wait during peak hours, even if you didn’t want to eat there. There was also another building that housed the Parks gift shop. 

During my two weeks in Hot Springs, AR I started only drinking thermal spring water, I started my mornings or trips to the grocery store with piling my empty water bottles into my trunk and filling them on the way home. The closest spring was about a mile or so walk from my apartment and was actually easily accessible either by street or trail. 

Besides the hiking and outdoors I also checked out some local bars and shows. There is this one bar, Maxine’s Live, right on “Bathhouse Row” which is really just the main downtown strip of Hot Springs, AR. Maxine’s Live seemed very much an everybody bar. Not quite a queer bar but not NOT a queer bar. 

Maxine’s Live hosted drag shows on Thursday and on this particular night it was hosting a Burlesque Show. I had never actually seen a burlesque show so when I found my table at the back of the bar I had no idea what I was about to see. 

I have fallen in love with Burlesque. 

I think the weirdest part was that I not only saw one Burlesque show in Arkansas but I saw two. A few days later I saw another show by a different troupe, though one of the same performers, at Central Theatre. This Burlesque show was halloween themed, there was blood and gore and possessions and murder and they even did an ode to Scream, one of my favorite horror movies of all time. 

My favorite part of Burlesque is how body positive it seemed. Perhaps it was just my experience in Arkansas but to me it seemed that it wasn’t just a thing for “skinny” chicks. Actually it seems that it was MEANT for curvy people. 

One of my final outdoor activities I planned in Hot Springs was a trip to the off-roading park. I’ve never driven a vehicle on off-road trails but booked a rental for a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was driving a two-seater UTV with two other cars full of tourists, a two-seatter like mine with a young couple and a four seater with an older couple and their two teenage sons.

There was also a guide on the trip who took his job very literally. There wasn’t much instruction to driving a UTV just that “you hit the gas pedal to go and the brake to stop” and we were on the move. 

UTVs kind of look like a golf cart on steroid. They have a robust open cage to protect occupants in the case of a roll over, a pretty barren cab and it sits on these massive wheels and a really intense suspension system. 

With the guide leading the pack we couldn’t really go very fast, and we really only took easy trails that had use going up shorter inclines and climbing small rocks. There was also some puddles that I soon enjoyed plowing through at top speed after leading the rest of the pack get ahead of me. 

I hit one rather gnarly puddle and underestimated how deep it was and completely filled my cabin with water. Fortunately the water drained quickly but everything in the cabin was covered with mud including my phone and myself. I had to stop to clean off my sunglasses because they were covered in dirt. When I got out of the car the only clean spot was the seat where my butt was seating

It was an absolute blast. 

While my stay in Hot Springs, AR was relaxing, two weeks may have been a bit much in this little vacation town. I was excited to get a move on when I left Hot Springs, AR on Halloween and headed to my next stop. I had a long drive ahead of me.

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It feels rather poetic that I picked a place historically known for its position smack in the middle of the fighting between the north and the south. The divisions that still very much exist, well over a century after a war that sparked because of them.

Harpers Ferry sites on WV’s border, with Maryland to the north and Virginia to south. As a strategic point during the Civil War, it was often fought over and had a revolving door of occupations between the Confederate and Union armies. Harpers Ferry National Historic Park is full of hiking trails through rolling landscapes and old farm lands where some of the more famous battles took place. There are more historic battlefields 20 – 30 minutes away including Antietam & Monocacy both just north, in Maryland.  

I’ve never been much of a history buff but I found myself enthralled by the rich American History that surrounded this little bed & breakfast city that also entices outdoor enthusiasts, which is what brought me here in the first place. 

Its strategic desirability, and the occupying armies seeming inability to defend it, had a lot to do with its landscape, Harpers Ferry sits in a valley between two large rivers; the Potomac and the Shenandoah. That means there are a lot of great vantage points accessible all over the valley. It’s impossible to be disappointed by any trail that has “cliffs” or “overlook” in the name. You’re probably in for a heart-pounding workout but you are going to be rewarded with an expansive view up a river or overlooking downtown Harpers Ferry. 

There’s also tubing, kayaking and whitewater rafting available along the rivers. The tubing in particular seems to draw a huge crowd in the summer months. Buses shuttling tubers up and down the Pototmac run all day on the weekends and as you pass over Sandy Hook Bridge which overlooks the Potomac you can see bright green and orange tubes floating gently down the river alongside some rafts and a couple of kayaks. 

I, of course, was one of the those tubers.

I had been dying to tube down a river since my stay up near the Delaware River in New York.The experience in Harpers Ferry was fun, especially since I had good company, but I’m not sure I’d pay the $30 to do flat water tubing against since the experience itself was a little bland. Many people load up a floating cooler and tied up their group somewhere along the river to just sit and drink which wasn’t entirely my thing. I had plans to park the tubes and swim but the river was much too shallow to swim comfortably. According to locals the rivers are at their lowest in August. However they do have “white water tubing” where you ride a tub down some rapids which sounds more up my alley. I’d probably try that next time.

The hiking around here has been *chef’s kiss* magnificent. It helps that trails are walking distance from my place but I’m at about 15 hikes this month which would bring my total since starting this trip to over 30. That sets me on pace to crush my goal of 56 hikes in 2020. Look for a post about all of my favorite Harpers Ferry hikes coming soon.

Speaking of hiking, another reason people flock to Harpers Ferry is because it’s the (emotional) halfway point of the Appalachian Trail or the A.T. for short. The A. T. is the longest continuous foot trail in the world, starting in Georgia and ending in Maine, it stretches over fourteen states and extends over 2,000 miles. It has it’s own culture of backpackers and hikers that hike the entire trail but for recreationally day hikers like me, walking the famous trail known for its white blazes make me a little giddy. I’ve now hiked the A.T. at least once in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, & Virginia.

Harpers Ferry hosts the Visitor’s Center for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. An organization that partners public works, such as the National Park Service, and private entities to protect and maintain the extensive trail systems that connect the A.T. If you’ve ever hiked a white blaze on the east coast you most likely were on the Appalachian Trail and you can thank the ATC for it. You can support the ATC and the A.T. here.

Besides visiting the ATC website, if you’re interested in learning more about the Appalachian Trail I’d recommend Bill Bryson’s Book, A Walk in the Woods, it’s a great read about his adventures on the trail and Bryson even stops to go over the history of some of the portions of the hike and the Appalachian Trail itself. 

If you’re also reminded of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, one of my favorite books, she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, a similar trail on the west coast. The book is still a great read.

My accommodations in Harpers Ferry was a lovely three story apartment that featured a deck on the second floor that overlooked the mountains and a picture window on the third floor that gave you a gorgeous view from the couch. Three stories sounds like a lot of space but it’s the equivalent of a set of rooms stacked on top of each other.

You walk into the front door into a kitchen with a small dining area, which is where I spent most of my days working and to the immediate right is a half bathroom that has another small room for the washer and dryer. You head up a set of spiral stairs to the master bedroom which also has a master bathroom. You head up another set of spiral stairs and there is a living room area with a couch and TV that can also double as a second bedroom.

It may seem bizarre to some of you but I was really excited about the concept of having my bedroom on a separate floor as the rest of my living space. I lived in the same house my entire life as a kid and it was a one-story home and then I moved to NYC apartments so I’ve never got to understand the concept of going upstairs to go to bed. The novely wore off quickly when I’d get ready for bed to only realize my I left my water bottle in the kitchen and had to navigate the spiral stair case in the dark again

Reflecting back, I hadn’t really had a desire to visit Harpers Ferry until I was trying to figure out a halfway point between my July and September stays and randomly saw a picture of the area on my news feed and was struck by how beautiful it was. It was nice to come into this stay without any expectations or planning and to just go with it.

I’ve really enjoyed my time in Harpers Ferry, WV and while I’m excited to keep my adventures going to my next stop, for the first time I’m a little sad to leave behind this beautiful gem of a town.

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