Jim Travels The World

Catch up on the first part of the adventure  here . 5.21.14 Drive through windy roads for what feels like forever, stuck behind a houseboat clogging the road. Beautiful views of green valleys and peaks, but taking twisty turns on tiny mountain roads behind  A FRIGGIN HOUSEBOAT is kinda stressful. Finally made it through dirty and disappointing Eureka (the tv show grossly lied to us) to coastal redwoods and beaches. Drive to Kalamath cliff overlook at crashing waves against rock. it's just like that scene in that one movie. You know the one I'm talking about. Then drive to ladybird Johnson meadow, a forest walk though a bunch of redwoods. The late afternoon light is perfect. you didn't believe me. I'm hurt. Saw a bear sprint across the road, first non-human non-deer animal we've seen. Bummer that I've never witnessed a bear in Colorado, but have seen them every time I come to California. Where y'at, bears? 5.22.14 Continenta...

5.17.14 We're off on vacation! No kitty, you can't go. No kitty, that's a bad kitty. We arrive in Reno, the littlest big city in America. Wait, that's not right. Biggest little city? I dunno, neither way makes much sense. Anyway, we're just here to get the rental car to drive to Lake Tahoe.  As Reno fades and we drive into California, the surroundings look just like any Colorado mountain town. Feels like home. 5.18.14 Hanging out with Lisa's cousin's family at the lake house, bumming around Tahoe. Great views, and we take a small hike down to the lake. 5.19.14 Drive across the middle of California to get to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Since it's still pre-Memorial Day, we're not sure how much of the park is going to be open. That's just the price you pay to avoid the summer crowds. I much prefer early and late season... always-crowded places like Yosemite and Grand Canyon almost don't feel like national...

I know the title makes it sound like some kind of charitable environmental movement. Not so much. One of my life goals is to hike every trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. I've been at this since about 2006, and since that time, I've documented every trail hiked on a map of RMNP. It's a combination of day hikes, snowshoeing , overnights and multi-day backpacking . I have no idea how many total miles I have done, but their website  (if you believe their slanted, liberal media opinion) says that there are over 300 miles of trails in the park. I've hiked somewhere around 200 of those miles in the last 7 years. This summer, I completed another 50 miles in 2 separate three-day backpacking weekends: (arrows added in case you're an idiot) 1. From Cache le poudre trailhead up to mirror lake, 29 miles out and back (unless you're Australian , then it's return ) 2. CO river trailhead to poudre pass, then to lake of the clouds, then loop ...

ERMAGERD BERNUS PERST! On the return trip from North Dakota to Colorado, we made a swing into Wyoming (as one usually does, of course) to see Devil's Tower National Monument. From far away, you get a view of the nubbin of this 800-foot rock that was the setting of the alien landing scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. nubbin The bittersweet joy of National Monuments– as opposed to National Parks– is that they contain an equal amount of natural beauty, but there's just not that much to do there. Devil's Tower, if you're not a rock climber (and I am one, but not that day), has little appeal outside of the 30-minute paved trail that encircles the base. I think we spent more time in the gift shop. Still, that's a damn big rock. And pointy, too. Follow my blog with Bloglovin HV9JQHH3U4G7

Day 5 Up from the motel and tried to find a place for breakfast in Medora. It's one of these tiny seasonal towns so everything is shut. We're told that the only option is at the convenience store, and yep, that's the place to be. Everyone in town is hanging out there. One thing that surprises me about North Dakota (and South, too) is the lack of accents. I guess I expected everyone to sound like the movie  Fargo , but not so much.  Drive into the park, it's mostly history lessons about Teddy Roosevelt at the visitor center. I'd heard of the Rough Riders and the story about getting shot, but here's some awesome facts (from Amazing Ben ) He stood outside and gave a two-hour speech in Milwaukee immediately after being shot in the chest in an assassination attempt.  It was only after the speech ended that he went to the hospital to get the bullet removed. While he was out West, some douchebag named Mike Finnegan and his gang stole TR's boat...

On the second night of Badlands, at about 10 pm, a windstorm so fierce came through the campsite that the family across from us packed up and left. A single woman in a tent had to sleep in her car after wrestling with her tent for a half hour as her rain fly became an umba-rella whipping in the wind. Never heard wind so violent in my life. Fortunately for us, we had the foresight to forego the tent and pack my Element for camping. Roughin it, bitches. The car rocked back and forth a little bit, but nothing so serious as destroyed tents In morning packed up left Badlands. On our way up north, we had to stop through Wall, South Dakota to visit the famous Wall Drug . It's sorta impossible not  to visit Wall, since as soon as you enter SD, every ten feet there's a billboard enticing you to visit with signs like "free ice water!". How can you turn down free ice water? Wall Drug is basically a mini-mall, themed like a wild west saloon. it's c...

Day 2 Checked out of Alex Johnson in Rapid city and drive to badlands. Got a bit lost on the way (Google Maps, you are not  infallible), but got to see more prairie, so that was awesome (sarcasm). Badlands is a dry desert collection of mud mountains like goblin valley state park. All of this is like a less impressive version of Utah. alright, so I'm a harsh critic . I expect a lot from my national parks. Vacations ain't cheap, know what I mean? We mostly drive through park today, hung out at the visitor center and took pictures of bison. The impressive thing about Badlands is, I think, is that it's a desert inexplicably in the middle of hundreds of miles of lush prairie land. These lands are bad. Windy. Like, cinch-the-baseball-cap-so-tight-that-I-can-feel-my-brain-being-squeezed windy.

Day 5: life in the slow lane From 3 Rivers we enter Sequoia national park, and it's exactly what I expected. Temps are much lower and the park is less populated. After 3 days fighting with other tourists for a seat on the shuttle, this will be a welcome change. plus, there's the biggest tree in the world. Suck on that, Yosemite ! Spend the afternoon doing chill forest strolls among the giant trees. No ruthless inclines, no crowded visitor center. Less infrastructure, as my Aussie boss Rohan would say. Came very close to a bear and cub in a meadow, got to watch them scale trees and play. Came within about 50 feet of them, which is the closest we've ever been to a bear. That alone was worth the trip. Unfortunately, they were scurrying about and we couldn't get any clean pictures. not pictured: bears a-scurryin' Technically no hiking today, but did about 4 miles of forest trails Campsite, dinner, s'mores. I used to hate sitting around at the campsite; I felt like I...

Day 1: in Fresno they got that indo  Flew in to Fresno (100F when we landed... holy crap, we throught fall was almost here), picked up the fly blue rental, then hit up REI for some gear. Rei signs here are bilingual. Don't get that in Boulder. Stop at In n Out Burger, the best thing about the west coast. Drive to Oakhurst and hit the motel  Day 2: into the Yosemite.  kinda hard to miss el cap. it's like bam all up in your face Hit the park then visitor center for trail suggestions. Hike up four mile trail for a good view of half dome. aww shit, that's the stuff right there Then set up camp these signs are everywhere. jeez, it's just a little highly-contagious rodent-borne virus . what's the big whoop. dinner at the deli and a ranger presentation about some big-shit hotel in the park  Day 3: outside the box  Drove 2 hours to Tuolumne (twah-loom) at the northern edge of the park. Good choice because its at 8k feet and much cooler than yesterday. It's mid Sept...

Day 4 Up early and on the shuttle towards Kaibab trail. By the second day I had surrendered my will over to the will of the shuttle routes, and had much more serenity as a result. Left the car at the campsite all day.   Went down Kaibab trail into the canyon, maybe 3 or 4 miles and back out. Spent a good deal of time resting and staring into the canyon. The most amazing thing was, since it as a partly cloudy day, watching the canyon walls change color before my eyes as the sun ducked in and out of clouds. After the trail, I'm exhausted, and go back to the tent to take a nap. Then I begin the long shuttle route journey from my campsite to the west end of the park to watch the sunset. By shuttle, it can take hours to get from one end to the other, with several bus changes. I watch the sunset from one of the most western viewpoints in the park, and its remoteness makes it much less crowded than watching from the visitor center overlook as I did last night. Then, long shuttle ride back...