If you aren’t familiar with how Google’s Search Engine works here’s a very quick overview. Google has a bunch of bots crawl the entirety of the internet and categorize websites. You can think the bots as a bunch of invisible librarians collecting websites and cataloguing them to different shelves in a giant, digital library. People who manage websites have a number of standards to follow to help these bots navigate and categorize a website. In the industry, we call these standards Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short.

For this article, I am targeting an old blog post and updating it to target specialized, lightly competitive topics or keywords in an attempt to rank on google search results for a niche market. Basically, I’m trying to target a very specific subset of Google Searches that less websites would be covering and competing with me over.

Getting Started with Content Improvements

First off, you’ll want to ensure you’ve installed Google Search Console and Google Analytics, so you can begin tracking searches that lead to your website and page traffic. This will help you track the results from your changes. You aren’t going to get to the top of Google Search in a day but you need to see if you’re making progress otherwise you’ll need to try another strategy or more keywords.

The content of the post I’m targeting for this article was a simple listing of a few hikes I had done over the summer in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. It was just a list with some minor descriptions and pictures but it had already gotten some visits from user’s who had naturally found my website through google searches. We call these types of visitors organic traffic in the digital marketing world. 

Step 1: Research Keywords

Keywords or the words and phrases that may be in a reader’s search must be relevant to the content you are creating. The key is to think about your target audience and how they would search for something. For example, if I was targeting locals to an area I might use specific city or feature names such as Ithaca or Seneca Lake whereas if I was targeting tourists I might want something more general such as Finger Lakes or Northern New York. There are many useful Keyword planning tools (some free, some paid) that help your strategize what you should target.

Start by Making a list of relevant Keywords for your Article

Examples of Keywords from my blog post include: Hikes, finger lakes, waterfalls, dog-friendly, New York State, Seneca Lake, Ithaca, Nature, Trails, Lakes, Watkins Glen, Parks, Finger Lakes, Fingers Lake, Ithaca New York, Letchworth State Park, Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, Seneca Lake, Robert Treman State Park

Make a list of Long-Tail Keywords 

These are more specific searches visitors who are more likely to be looking for your exact content would use, we call those high-intent visitors. 

Mine Include: 

• Finger Lakes Waterfalls
• Hiking Trails near Ithaca, NY
• Best Hiking in the Finger Lakes

Now Find Keywords with Low Competition

Keywords planner tools will be vital for this part but you could also just search your keywords and see how many articles surface to get an idea of how competitive it is.

If you are just starting out, It’s better to find a more specific, less competitive market to surface your content than to try to compete with more general terms. While the reach for these keywords will be smaller, the likelihood of ranking higher and serving the needs of a website visitor will increase. Most Google Search users don’t go beyond the first page of their search results so it’s more important to rank higher on smaller volume searches than rank lower for high volume searches.
For my blog post I determined, Finger Lakes Waterfalls would have much less search volume than New York trails but be far less competitive for those words. 

Based on my research it also became clear that “hiking” and “trails” provided more value than the word “hikes” and I have several hikes at parks that have high ranking values so I may want to try to add mentions of those places higher up on the page but I will cover that when I get to Step 3.

Step 2: Create an Optimized Headline

The Do’s & Don’ts of creating Optimized Article Headlines that are attractive to readers and Google Search bots

DO

Do include keywords in the headline. 

Keywords help search engines find and categorize your page and it’s valuable for users searching for content.

Do use words to create an emotional connection with readers.

Articles with titles that trigger an emotional response increase the likelihood that someone will connect with it and want to read the article. 

Do include proper names and places. 

If your blog post covers a person or a place, be sure to include that in your title. Searches with proper nouns are common and generally less competitive than general search terms. I.e. Finger Lakes Waterfall Trails vs Waterfall Trails

Do try writing more than one headline. 

Write several headlines for the same piece of content and pick the best one that most reflects your content and targeted keywords.

DO NOT

Do not use a headline that doesn’t reflect the content of the website. 

This will cause people to leave, in marketing lingo, we call these “bounces” and there’s no real value in web visitors that leave right away. 

Do not write a long, verbose headline just to include more keywords. 

These do not help SEO and they are less likely to be clicked by a user, keep it to 50-60 characters. The search engine crawlers don’t process anything beyond that character limit anyway.

Do not include a barely coherent headline that’s just full of your researched keywords. 

This is commonly known as Keyword stuffing. It is a page ranking technique that attempts to trick the search engine bots into ranking a page by including unnecessarily repeating words and phrases. It includes adding words out of context or using words that aren’t relevant to the page content. Not only does this ruin a visitor’s experience of a page this could cause the offending website to get penalized. Google could decrease a website’s ranking or remove it from google search results entirely. 

My Current Headline:

Hikes & Parks in the Finger Lakes Region

Potential New Headlines

• New York’s Finger Lakes Trails: 15 of my favorite hikes near Seneca Lake
• New York’s Finger Lakes : 15 of the Best trails near Seneca Lake
• New York: 15 incredible lake & waterfall trails in the Finger Lakes
• 15 Gorgeous trails near Seneca Lake in New York
• New York: 15 incredible dog-friendly Finger Lakes hikes near Ithaca
• New York: 15 Incredible Hikes near Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region
• 15 Hikes near Seneca Lake
• 15 Family Friendly hikes near Ithaca, New York
  

Step 3: Populate Your Meta Data

The Meta Description is a hidden description on the webpage meant for search engine bots. It’s what’s usually shown to Google Search Users in the Search Engine Results Page aka the SERP. This can be considered a very short introduction to your content in a couple of sentences and should include targeted keywords while still avoiding keyword stuffing. I want my meta description it to be compelling enough to entice a user to click through to my article but also informative to the search engine to make sure it helps the page rank on Google Search. Another important note is it should be under 300 characters.

One of the best tools for maintaining and auditing metadata on WordPress sites is the Yoast SEO Plugin.The Yoast SEO Plugin is free, though there is a premium version but it is vital for anyone on WordPress that wants to get started with SEO Optimizations on their website.

Current Meta Data Description:

NONE

New Meta Data Description:

From beautiful waterfalls to tranquil green lakes, The Finger Lakes offers some of the best waterside trails in New York State. Here are 12 of my favorite trails that are completely dog-friendly.

Step 4: Optimize Content to Rank in Search

Since I’m working backwards and cleaning up an already written blog post, the main thing I want to focus on is including variations of my keywords through my writing and adding an introduction. This will help search engine bots and human visitors understand the content of my website and also helps enhance my writing for human readers since I’m not repeating the same words over and over again.

The main focus of this update is to include keywords in the first paragraph. Such keywords as Finger Lakes Trails and Seneca Lake Waterfalls since those are general enough to cover most of my content but specific enough to get the appropriate audience. 

In my current article I went right into the list without an introduction at all. Not only is this not helpful for page rank, it’s not a great experience for a reader who might not be as familar with the Finger Lakes or what the area has to offer. 

I want to remember include the keywords at a regular cadence but I do not want to go overboard. Not only could this potentially get penalized for keyword stuffing (see the explanation in Step 1) but this doesn’t make for a very good article for a human reader. 

Step 5: Add Optimized Visuals

You want users to stay on your web page and read your entire article, one way to do that is to use visuals to keep a reader engaged. Even though the amount of time on page is an indirect factor in getting to the top of Google Search results, it does help and it provides value for visitors to continue to experience a website. 

It’s important to ensure all videos and images are the appropriate size for the page. Large media will slow down the loading time of the page and create a bad experience for your visitors.

I recommend optimizing images through a free image optimization tool, there are plenty out there if you just search around. If you use WordPress there are a several quality plugins that will handle this step for you, all you have to do is upload the image and it will compress it for you with zero effort.

If you are using another CMS check to see if it already supports image compression or research ways to compress images yourself. I prefer to optimize my images before uploading them to WordPress, a favorite tool of mine is ImageOptim, which only works on Mac computers but they offer alternative tools if you visit their website.

Step 5: Add Alt Text to Images

In addition to adding visuals to create a better experience for your users you want to ensure that all of you images have alternative text or Alt text. Alt text helps images surface in Google Search and are another gateway for users to enter your page.  Alt Text also helps visually impaired readers know the content of an image. If you are on WordPress adding alternative text is very simple. 

A few key points to remember when making alt text for a blog’s images:

• Limit the characters, Use 125 characters or less
• Describe the image and be specific as possible
• Since you’re already limited on characters don’t bother including “Image Of” or “Picture of”
• Use Keywords that are relevant to the picture.

The Yoast SEO Plugin on WordPress will warn you if you are missing alternative tags on images anywhere on your page. Another helpful feature of the free version of the tool.

Step 6: Link to additional Blog Posts

Don’t force this but if you happen to mention past blog posts that are related to your current topic and potentially valuable to your reader then link to them. Not only does this keep users on your site and keeps them engaged, it also helps show the value of your content to search engines

The Yoast SEO Plugin also makes note if a page is missing internal links (pages on the current website) or external links (pages on other websites) internal links.

Step 7 : Publish your updated posts and keep an eye on your analytics

If you followed my previous article about installing Google Analytics and Google Search Console on your website then you already have the tools ready to start see how your page is doing. You won’t see immediate results, that’s the frustrating things about website optimization, it’s more a wait and see sort of game. In the meantime you can log into Google Search Console and trigger your updated web page to be re-indexed so Google sees the changes sooner and then wait and see if it helps with your web traffic.

Conclusion

As I mentioned there are additional factors, beyond content optimization, that go into where a page ranks. Those factors include more technical aspects of a website such as page speed, schema, mobile friendliness, domain age and authority, and user experience. Which I will cover in a future blog post, subscribe to my blog for future updates.

Keep in mind that applying these changes to a brand new website on a new domain might take a bit longer to surface results so be patient. 

The post Get to the top of Google Search in 7 Simple Steps – Using WordPress appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

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. 

The post Visiting Redwoods National and State Parks appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that provides statistics on web visitors and basic analytical tools for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and marketing. Google Analytics is a very powerful tool but I recommend starting small and focusing on core visitor insights relative to your goal whether it be boosting website traffic, decreasing bounce rate (people leaving your site) or increasing time on site.

Google Search Console is a powerful and free SEO tool provided by Google. It allows site owners to check on page indexing status and provides resources to optimize website visibility on its search engine. Through Google Search Console you can measure your websites search traffic and performance, see keywords are driving users to your website and address optimization issues. One important note is that Google Search Console only supplies data on unpaid Organic Google Search Results, which simply means how many users are finding your site via natural google searches without the help of any paid for ads to drive them there.

The key difference between Google Analytics and Google Search Console is Google Analytics focuses on the traffic of people that visit your website while Google Search Console focuses on how the Search Engine sees and ranks your website.

Getting Started with Google Analytics

Google Analytics** is a breeze to setup on any website and is compatible with any WordPress site. You can easily install and setup Google Analytics with Site Kit by Google, the official Google WordPress Plugin. There is no fee for the Google Site Kit Plugin WordPress Plugin or for Google Analytics. You can also skip the Plugin and install Google Analytics manually though that may be a bit more challenging and I’d only recommend that to users familiar with WordPress themes or WordPress development. I have some options for manual installation laid out below.

Step 1: Create a Google Analytics 4 Account

Whether you’re using the Site Kit WordPress Plugin or manually installing Google Analytics on your site, you will need to configure you analytics account. Head over to analytics.google.com, login to your google account and create your analytics account!

If you are just getting started with Google Analytics, I’d recommend going with Google Analytics 4 since Universal Analytics is going to stop working in 2023. You will get the latest and greatest with Google Analytics 4 anyway so there’s no reason to not switch.

2. Setting Up Google Analytics 4 on your website

After you’ve finished exploring your dashboard click the “Setup Assistant” Tab on the top lefthand side of your sidebar. You’ll see some options to get started. Click on the Tag Installation Step and then press the button for the “Web” Platform.

Set up your website URL and Stream Name. Make note whether your website is https or http and set that with the dropdown. It’s also important to note if it’s www.[somedomain].com or [somedomain].com. Once you fill out that information click “Create Stream”

You will then be taken to a Web Stream Details Page for the final step in adding this to your website. I’d recommend selecting the first option “Global Site Tag” unless you are familiar with Google Tag Manager and already have it configured.

If you click the Global Site Tag Option and open it, it will show a code snippet that you have to copy and put into the head of every page on your website. Thanks to the power of WordPress we should only need to add this in one place.

In the next step will decide on how we want to add the Google Analytics Tag to our website.

3. Adding Google Analytics 4 Global Tracking Script to your website

The following instructions are for adding a Google Tracking Script to a WordPress Website, if you are using another CMS such as Joomla, Shopify, or Squarespace look at their documentation on how to add analytics tags or reach out to your website provider’s customer service. This is a fairly common ask so they should have instructions readily available.

On to our WordPress options, if you aren’t using the plugin it can get a little tricky.

Option 1 – Use Site Kit by Google to add the Google Analytics code Snippet to your WordPress website

This is the easiest solution, install the Site Kit by Google Plugin and follow the steps to connect your account and it will install the required scripts for you.

Option 2 – Add Google Analytics Code Snippet through WordPress theme settings

This would depend on the theme you are using and if it’s configured to support custom Head content. In WordPress Admin – Go to Appearance in the sidebar -> Themes -> Select the Customize button on your active theme.

If your theme does support custom header code, you might have to do some digging to find it. Look for a field called “Header Code” or “Head Code”. If you do find it, just paste the entire code snippet into that field of the theme and hit save.

If you can’t find, you might be out of luck and you’ll have to look at Option 3.

Option 3 – Edit WordPress theme header.php file to add Google Analytics Snippet

If you have access to your WordPress theme files you just need to find the header.php file in the theme folder and the Google Analytics code snippet to the top of the <head>. Paste it as close to the top of the head as possible.

Once you follow those steps you will be ready to start tracking website visitors through Google Analytics!

It may take a bit for the bulk of website data to populate but in 10-15 minutes you can visit a page on your website and check your Real Time Report to make sure your snippet is working properly.

Getting Started with Google Search Console

To get started with Google Search Console you need to verify ownership of your domain. Head over to search.google.com and click “Start Now”. Enter the information for your domain. You’ll get a popup that asks you to verify domain ownership via a DNS record.

This may sound intimidating but this is easy to configure through your whomever you bought your domain from and another bonus is if you bought your domain from any of the following providers listed in the dropdown under “Any DNS Provider” You can just select that option and verify through your account without having to add a TXT Record.

If you didn’t purchase your website from the listed domain providers you’ll have to do it manually. The best way is to look up how to add a TXT Record in the documentation of your DNS provided. Each provider is different so it doesn’t provide much benefit to show my provider’s details. It is really straight-forward once you do find the documentation, it took me longer to find where I should add the TXT Record then to actually add it.

After you add the record go back to your Google Search Console setup and click “Verify”.

One you’ve verified your Domain on Google Search Console you can Use Google Search! Similar to Google Analytics it may take some time for all of the data in Google Search Console to popular.

So go take a break and come back to your GA and GSC accounts and take a look at your data tomorrow! Happy Tracking!

The post Setting Up Google Analytics & Google Search Console appeared first on Paige Ponzeka.

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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1. Harness & Seat Belt

Nova loves traveling with the windows open and I wouldn’t feel as secure with it if we didn’t have a harness and seat beat. No matter how secure you feel about your dog staying planted in their seat, it just takes one second for the worst to happen, better to be safe than sorry. Most importantly this protects your pup from bouncing around the cabin if you find yourself in an accident. 

2. Traveling Waterbowl

I love these traveling Zippy Bowls from Kurgo. They fold down into a little taco that is easily throw into a bag or stuff into a pocket and are great for hiking since they can balance easily on uneven surfaces. I take the kurgo Zippy Bowl every where Nova and I go but I also have one of those collapsible travel bowls always hanging in my car. 

3. Reusable Water Bottles & Reservoirs

To save money and the environment I always keep a couple of refillable water bottles on hand. Before heading out on a long drive I fill them up and throw them in my passenger door cup holders. I carry a few different bottles; This Collapsible Hydrapak reservoir for longer drives, these Platypus SoftBottle water bottles are lightweight and also double as water for my dogs pack and I always keep the classic Nalgene filled for me.

4. Portable Pet Hair Vacuum

If your dog sheds, I highly recommend a Pet Vacuum both for your car and anywhere you may stay along the way. Nothing is worse than driving down the road with your windows open and seeing a wind-whirl of hair circle you. I highly recommend the BISSEL Pet Hair Eraser, it might be a little pricey but it’s great at picking up pet hair and holds a charge fairly well.

5. Seat Cover or Pet Hammock

A car seat cover is a must have if you’ll have a dog in your backseat. There’s so many options that it’s hard to recommend a particular one but I will say, if you have a small or medium-sized dog, this Kurgo Half Hammock Seat Protector looks really interesting, especially if you’ll have passengers or additional supplies in the other seats. I currently use a full seat cover like this Frisco Quilted Water Resistant Bench Car Seat Cover

6. Travel Food Bag

Dog Food bags are bulky and not the easiest to carry around. I picked up this food Grade ICEMULE DryPack and use it to carry any leftover food to our new destination. It’s made of Nylon, so its foodsafe, it’s waterproof, durable and extremely lightweight.

7. Odor-Proof Bags

I picked up these LOKSAK OPSAK Odor-Proof Bags from REI, they’re mainly meant to detract bears on camping trips but I’ve found them great for when I have to hike out with a poop bag when I’m out on the trail and don’t have to smell it along the way.

8. Portable Dog Pad

I love this Ruffwear Highlands Dog Pad it’s not thick enough to sleep on every night but we use it when my dog wants to snooze outside or if I want to stop for lunch and give my dog a place to rest. It’s also great if you use the “Place” command. I’ll probably be snagging a thicker everyday bed sometime soon.

9. Enrichment toys

One of the best engagement toys out there is the kong, almost every dog owner has one. These are great to keep a dog occupied when left home alone. I usually stuff it with some combination of wet dog food, peanut butter and dry treats.

10. LED Safety Collar

Whether you’re on the road and need to take a quick walk down a darkened street or you’re arriving late to a destination and want to give your dog some time outside before turning in, an LED safety light or collar is never a bad idea. The best thing is they weigh almost nothing and take up minimal room in a bag. I like the Nite Ize Nitehowl Rechargeable LED Safety Necklace it can cycle through colors, which drains the battery a bit faster but I think it really draws attention to the dog.

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I’m not sure I’ve quite figured out a rhythm to visiting national parks, am I supposed to visit a number of times over multiple days or one long visit, I’m still unsure but perhaps the experience is whatever you want it to be. 

Anyway in Death Valley I made a mad of several “Sights” I wanted to see. Those Included: 

Devils Golf Course – An immense area of rock salt eroded by wind and rain into jagged spires.

The visit to Death Valley was short, I think in the future I’d stay for a couple of days inside the park and get more long hikes in. 

Next stop on my trip was Las Vegas!

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Of course, I love a good mountain overlook. A great waterfall is always incredible but there’s just something about the bones of an old resort or mansion that has been swallowed up by nature. Every abandoned thing has a story that’s fascinating, either it’s rich in history or evidence of a changed culture. I’ve explored the foundations of an estate destroyed by fire along a popular hike in the Hudson Valley in New York and found an old hotel up in the Catskills. I’ve found the bones of a old village swallowed up by nature.

Then I stumbled upon a little place along the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea was originally created by accident when water being diverted from the Colorado River for farming broke through a canal and water drained into a dry lake bed for two years before it was fixed. By this time a massive lake was formed which became known as the Salton Sea. The lake should have dried up but it was continuously fed with water from area farmers. During the 1950s and 1960s it was an oasis in the dry, barren desert and the shores of the Salton Sea became a popular tourist destination and resorts communities sprung up at its shore. It also was a popular bird-watching destination as it became a resting spot for migrating birds.

In the 1970s scientists first started ringing the alarm bells, warning that the lake continue to shrink. Then in the 1980s disaster struck, chemicals from farming drained into the lake and contaminated the water. Massive die-offs of birds and fish occurred. The water became so salinity that large fish kills would happen, leaving the beach lined with thousands of fish carcasses and the smell drove down the tourism at the Salton Sea.

The issues with the Salton sea continued into the 90s. The water run off from farms was reduced so the sea began to shrink, the exposed lake beds led to toxic dust that affected nearby communities and reaches as far as Los Angeles.

Bombay Beach, the area I visited on my way to Palm Springs was one of those Resort towns that ran along the Salton Sea. The once popular destination for beach goers now has a population of 231 as of 2020. It’s full of a number of abandoned structures and has since become a mecca for artists and nomads.

During my visit I explored a complex of abandoned buildings covered with graffiti, a drive-in art piece, and the numerous art installations down by the water. Checkout my photo gallery for some of the items I checked out while I was in the Bombay Beach.

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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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My stay was a 2 bedroom apartment with a modern kitchen and a shared backyard with the host, William and his 2-year-old Bernedoodle, Charlie. Charlie had about 20 pounds on Nova but they became fast friends and they played in the backyard often. One day, I found Charlie sitting outside my door holding his tug toy and patiently waiting for Nova to come out.

Most of the backyard was turf, which I’ve come to notice seemed to be the direction a lot of homeowners have taken in water challenged areas such as Phoenix. Nova wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom on the turf for sanitary reasons so, while I had a backyard we could hang out in I couldn’t just let her outside to use the bathroom so we still had to go on our regular walks.

December morning walks in Phoenix were very different from those back on the coast so I didn’t have much to complain about.

In New York City, there were a lot of large metropolitan areas within a hour or two drive but Phoenix felt like a giant blob of metropolitan areas all tuck together. One large area seemed to bleed into another and they all seemed to have their own personality. Next to Phoenix is Glendale, AZ were the Arizona Cardinals play it felt like an older piece of the city. I spent a lot of time in nearby, Scottsdale, AZ hiking trails, visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s west coast outpost and enjoying a cute little shopping district. I went to Mesa, AZ to visit the Holiday lights at a local farm and saw holiday lights on display at a Nature Preserve in Gilbert, AZ. I drove no more than 30 minutes to each of these areas and the transition from one city to the next was seamless.

1. Lights at the Farm at Vertuccio Farm – which was completely outdoors and dog friendly. They had gorgeous displays and photos ops that took full advantage of. There was also a petting zoo, synchronized light shows, ice skating rink, mazes, pony rides, outdoor games and sweet shops.
2. Riparian After Dark at Riparian Preserve – Another dog friendly activity for a very affordable price Nova and I enjoyed a walk around the preserve and enjoyed the light displays. It was relatively short but there were food trucks in the parking lot if I wanted to make a longer stay of it.
3. APS Electric Light Parade – This tradition happens after dark in Phoenix and has a parade of cars, float, buses and really anything with wheels you can imagine completely decked out in holiday lights and decorations. I didn’t realized how big of an event this was, I tried to find a spot to stand just as the parade was about to start and the entire sidewalk was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. People seem to make a whole day of it and have cook outs and coolers with lawn chairs.
4. Scotttsdazzle Holiday Extravaganza – Not a singular event but I’m adding it to the list because they had some gorgeous decorations to explore and I walked by a couple of outdoor paint classes that seemed pretty cool. It happens in Old Town were all the cute boutique shops were so I could get some shopping done and swing by and look at the directions. They have a calendar of events over a two month period and some looked genuinely fun.
5. ZooLights – This was one of my favorite events. This wasn’t dog friendly since it takes place at a zoo but the decorations were just incredible. The entire zoo was decorated and there was a massive synchronized light show over a lagoon.

Phoenix had been my first winter and first Christmas season outside of New York and it felt so bizarre to be walking around holiday shows at night in a light jacket or a hoodie. It felt a little challenging to get in the Holiday spirit in such warm weather and it felt comical when booths were selling hot chocolate on a warm Phoenix night.

Of course, hiking was on list in Phoenix, AZ though if I were being honest I was getting a bit sick of the desert terrain. Everything was just brown or that red clay. My hiking boots and sneakers were stained from hiking in the ashy, red clay. I admit that I saw my first saguaro cactus in real life I was giddy like a child. But they were so common around the area that got pretty accustomed to them. Like old trees with thick trunks and towering branches, large saguaros could have started growing long before I was born, and probably were and there’s just something incredible about plants that have been around for so much.

My favorite artist, Dale Chihuly had a couple of exhibits going on in Phoenix; one at the Desert Botantical Garden and another at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. I managed to visit both installations

I most recognize the name Frank Lloyd Wright from that famous house he built that is on top of a waterfall that circulates around social media often but there are a lot of people I know that are huge Frank Lloyd Wright fans. I’ve never really familiarized myself with his work and didn’t even know that he build himself two homes; Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Scottsdale. I bought tickets as a part of a short tour through the house and got to learn a bit about Wright, his family and his work. 

While I can understand that he was an incredible architect there were some qualities of his personality and seemed to toe the line between eccentric and asshole.  

For example, portions of his home were originally constructed without windows but once Wright and his wife decided to move to Phoenix full-time they needed to install windows and air-conditioning to put up with the desert heat. While the team was installing the windows, they informed Wright that a couple of large vases would have to be moved to install the windows. Wright refused to move the vases and the team instead had to CUT HOLES IN THE WINDOWS to work around the vases. 

Also forgetting to mention that he had an entire team of apprentices working on the house while living in tents in the rugged Arizona desert while he and his wife stayed at a nearby hotel and drove up to the sight everyday.

My last week in Phoenix felt more like winter than the first week. I took myself to a few of my old haunts my last week, as I usually do, I went to Cartel Coffee Roasting Lab in Old Town Scottsdale and forced myself to write a little bit after being couped up due to the dreary weather.

I made the mistake of saving some of my bucket list, touristy hikes for the end of trip which had proven to be a big mistake. Most of the hikes I’ve wanted to do were short but popular rock scrambles that have been inaccessible over the holidays either due to traffic or weather. The other day I got to the parking lot for Echo Trail, the popular trail that leads up Camelbak mountain but by 9:30am on a holiday Monday the parking lot was already closed. The weather for the rest of the week wasn’t as cooperative.

I’m sad to say that the Echo Canyon (Camelbak) hike didn’t happen this visit but I’ll be back another time to conquer it!

Tuesday, I drove out to Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. It’s another popular trail but it’s more of a strenuous uphill hike than a climb which meant I felt comfortable doing that in wet weather. However, the weather managed to hold off for the most part and Nova and I stayed dry for our entire hike.

On my last Monday the host who I’ve become very friendly with left for a trip to Mexico with his pup Charlie. I was sad for Nova since Charlie and her had become such good friends but I was also weirdly sad myself to see someone I had grown familiar with over the past month leave. I have been going through this weird cycle of being sad at the end of a trip by excited for my next adventure and as I was packing up in Phoenix and getting ready to say goodbye I was excited to move on to my next stop, Palm Springs, CA!

So my adventure continues

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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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