Travel, Explore, and Capture--Activities
Hiking Posts
Beacon Rock – Columbia River Gorge – Washington
Beacon Rock is an 848-foot (258 m) basalt monolith on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, and there's a trail to the top of it. Not around it, not to a viewpoint below it — up the face, on a walkway of 52 switchbacks and 22 bridges bolted and cribbed onto...
Horsetail and Wahclella Falls – Columbia Gorge – OR
Horsetail Falls and Wahclella Falls – Columbia River Gorge – Oregon Wahclella Falls dropping in two tiers into its amphitheater on Tanner Creek, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon Horsetail Falls and Wahclella Falls are two Columbia River Gorge waterfalls about fifteen...
Banks-Vernonia State Trail – Portland – Oregon
The Banks-Vernonia State Trail is a 21-mile (34 km) paved rail trail between the towns of Banks and Vernonia, about 30 miles west of Portland, Oregon. It was Oregon's first rails-to-trails conversion, built on a logging railroad grade through the Coast Range...
Golden and Silver Falls – Coos Bay – Oregon
Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area holds two waterfalls over 250 feet (76 m) tall at the end of a gravel road in the Coast Range east of Coos Bay, Oregon. Silver Falls drops 259 feet (79 m) and Golden Falls 254 feet (77 m), which makes them the second and...
Cape Arago Scenic Loop – Coos Bay – Oregon
The Cape Arago Scenic Loop is a short coastal drive west of Coos Bay, Oregon, that strings together three state parks in about four miles (6.4 km) — Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago — plus a sea lion haul-out, a lighthouse you can see but not visit, and some of...
Olympic Peninsula Guide – Washington
The Olympic Peninsula is the northwest corner of Washington State — a roughly circular block of land bounded by the Pacific on the west, the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north, and Hood Canal on the east, with Olympic National Park occupying close to a million acres...
Rocky Brook and Murhut Falls – Hood Canal – Washington
Rocky Brook Falls and Murhut Falls are two short waterfall hikes on the Hood Canal side of the Olympic Peninsula, about twelve miles apart on Highway 101 near Brinnon, Washington. Together they make a comfortable morning — a little over three miles of walking for two...
Mount Spokane State Park – Spokane – Washington
Mount Spokane State Park is a 12,444-acre park in the Selkirk Mountains about 30 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington, with 100 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and panoramic views from the 5,883-foot (1,793 m) summit. It is the largest state park in...
Olympic National Park – Hurricane Ridge & Sol Duc – WA
Olympic National Park covers nearly a million acres on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and holds three distinct ecosystems inside one boundary — glaciated peaks, temperate rainforest, and 73 miles of wild Pacific coastline. It's big enough that no one visits all of it,...
California Redwoods Guide – Highway 101 – California
The coast California redwoods parks of Northern California run about 150 miles (240 km) along Highway 101, from Crescent City near the Oregon border south to Garberville. This guide covers that whole corridor: the four parks of Redwood National and State Parks in the...
Biking Posts
Banks-Vernonia State Trail – Portland – Oregon
The Banks-Vernonia State Trail is a 21-mile (34 km) paved rail trail between the towns of Banks and Vernonia, about 30 miles west of Portland, Oregon. It was Oregon's first rails-to-trails conversion, built on a logging railroad grade through the Coast Range...
Mount Spokane State Park – Spokane – Washington
Mount Spokane State Park is a 12,444-acre park in the Selkirk Mountains about 30 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington, with 100 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and panoramic views from the 5,883-foot (1,793 m) summit. It is the largest state park in...
The Pinellas Trail – St Petersburg’s Iconic Rails to Trails
The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a 75-mile, paved, multi-use trail extending from downtown St. Petersburg, Florida to Tarpon Springs. The Trail, created along a portion of abandoned railroad corridor, provides a unique, protected greenspace for walking, jogging,...
Rails Trails – Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park
The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park Canal Trail isn't really a rail trail, it started as a towpath along the canal. But, it's so scenic and in such a great area that it had to make our list! The 184.5 mile long Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is located along...
US National Whitewater Center – Charlotte NC
The US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte NC has 1,300 acres of protected land offering 40 miles of mountain bike and hiking trails; the world’s largest man made, recirculating whitewater river; a large ropes course and zip...
Rail Trails – Banks-Vernonia State Trail
Banks-Vernonia State Trail is a 21 mile easy-grade, linear rail trail from Banks, Oregon to Vernonia, Oregon. The Banks-Vernonia State Trail is the first rail trail in Oregon, and repurposes a route that was once used to haul lumber from old-growth forests to...
Incredible outdoor adventures – Zion National Park, Utah
Zion National Park is Utah's first national park. It was granted national park status in 1919, after starting out as Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. “Mukuntuweap” is the Paiute Indian word for “straight canyon” or “straight river” . The main focus of Zion...
Amazing trip to the Scottish Isles – Scotland Bike and Schooner
We've done four bike and barge trips now, and they just keep getting better and better! If you aren't familiar, bike and barges are trips where you live on a boat for the duration of trip but then the boat takes you to several different locations for you to bicycle...
Scotland Bike and Barge Day 6 – Tobermory to Glengorm Castle
Our last day on the bikes unfortunately started out as another wet one. Because of the weather forecast and steady morning rain, only about half of the riders made the revised ride to Glengorm Castle and back. The revised ride was only about 12 miles (19 km) round...
Scotland Bike and Barge Day 5 – Salen to Tobermory
Bike day 5 was our first rainy day of the trip. Because of the rain we waved off the side trip (10 miles round trip) to the brilliant white beach of Calgary Bay and continued directly back to Tobermory. The Flying Dutchman made the short trip in the morning to drop us...
Skiing Posts
Mount Hood Scenic Byway and Timberline Lodge – Oregon
The Mount Hood Scenic Byway is a 105-mile (169 km) loop from Portland, Oregon that runs east through the Columbia River Gorge, turns south through the Hood River Valley, and climbs around Mount Hood — at 11,245 feet (3,428 m), Oregon's highest point. Six miles up a...
Mount Spokane State Park – Spokane – Washington
Mount Spokane State Park is a 12,444-acre park in the Selkirk Mountains about 30 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington, with 100 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and panoramic views from the 5,883-foot (1,793 m) summit. It is the largest state park in...
Sierra Nevada Ski Area – Spain
We recently spent several days snow skiing at Spain's Sierra Nevada ski area. What an incredible experience! There are at least five reasons we think Sierra Nevada is one of the ski world's best kept secrets, and wouldn't be surprised to see it experience huge growth...
Sightseeing Posts
Latest Posts on Sightseeing Travel
Seattle Ferry Day Trip – Bainbridge Island – WA
The Seattle–Bainbridge Island ferry is a 35-minute passenger and vehicle crossing of Puget Sound, run by Washington State Ferries, the largest ferry system in the United States. Riding it round-trip out of Poulsbo or Bainbridge Island turns into an easy Seattle Day...
Beacon Rock – Columbia River Gorge – Washington
Beacon Rock is an 848-foot (258 m) basalt monolith on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, and there's a trail to the top of it. Not around it, not to a viewpoint below it — up the face, on a walkway of 52 switchbacks and 22 bridges bolted and cribbed onto...
Horsetail and Wahclella Falls – Columbia Gorge – OR
Horsetail Falls and Wahclella Falls – Columbia River Gorge – Oregon Wahclella Falls dropping in two tiers into its amphitheater on Tanner Creek, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon Horsetail Falls and Wahclella Falls are two Columbia River Gorge waterfalls about fifteen...
Bonneville Dam Fish Ladder – Columbia Gorge – Oregon
Bonneville Lock and Dam sits on the Columbia River about forty miles east of Portland, and the Bradford Island Visitor Center on the Oregon side is free, open daily, and has underwater windows into a fish ladder. That last part is the reason to stop. You walk...
Mount Hood Scenic Byway and Timberline Lodge – Oregon
The Mount Hood Scenic Byway is a 105-mile (169 km) loop from Portland, Oregon that runs east through the Columbia River Gorge, turns south through the Hood River Valley, and climbs around Mount Hood — at 11,245 feet (3,428 m), Oregon's highest point. Six miles up a...
Bandon Beach and Face Rock – Bandon – Oregon
Bandon Beach is a wide sand beach on the southern Oregon coast, scattered with sea stacks — the eroded remnants of headlands that once stood further out. The best known is Face Rock, a basalt stack roughly 70 feet (21 m) tall that, from the right angle, looks like a...
Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area – Reedsport – Oregon
The Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area is a 1,040-acre (421 ha) stretch of pasture and wetland along Oregon Highway 38 east of Reedsport, managed to hold a year-round herd of 60 to 100 Roosevelt elk. You watch from pullouts along three miles of highway. There's no fee, no...
Golden and Silver Falls – Coos Bay – Oregon
Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area holds two waterfalls over 250 feet (76 m) tall at the end of a gravel road in the Coast Range east of Coos Bay, Oregon. Silver Falls drops 259 feet (79 m) and Golden Falls 254 feet (77 m), which makes them the second and...
Cape Arago Scenic Loop – Coos Bay – Oregon
The Cape Arago Scenic Loop is a short coastal drive west of Coos Bay, Oregon, that strings together three state parks in about four miles (6.4 km) — Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago — plus a sea lion haul-out, a lighthouse you can see but not visit, and some of...