Landscape Arch

Where: Arches National Park
Trail: Landscape Arch
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1.6 miles round trip
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pets: no


Even though the adventure rating is only a 2, it's still an awesome hike with a great view. The day we went, it was crazy windy at Arches NP. It was especially windy in the beginning part of the trail, where you walk through all narrow "hallway" of rock. Once we were out of that, the wind settled down considerably. It was an easy hike starting at the Devil's Garden Trailhead. The trail is well marked and easy to navigate with some uphill areas, but nothing too strenuous.

Zion National Park

Where: Zion National Park
Trail: Emerald Pools Trails to the Kayenta Trail
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 2.6 miles
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: no


We took the shuttle from the Visitor Center to the Zion Lodge. Across the from the lodge, we crossed the bridge over the Virgin River and began the Lower Emerald Pool Trail. The Lower Pool was my favorite. The brilliant green of the foliage and the light green of the pools was beautiful.

We continued on up the steep trail (there are many steps carved in the rock) to the Middle Pool, which was very small. It's chained off because it's very dangerous. Foolish people have crossed the chain and stood in the pool, which is very slick, and slipped and slid over the edge, plummeting to the lower pool and their death. There is no swimming in the pools for very good reason.

After yet another steep climb and a bit of rock scrambling, we made it to the Upper Pool. When it's not crowded, it's a great place to sit and relax from the hike. Stop a moment and just listen to nature.

We hiked back down the upper trail and then took the Kayenta Trail. The trail has moderate drop-offs, but overall is less strenuous than the pools trails. There is a more gradual decline down the mountain. It offers spectacular views of the Court of the Patriarchs and the other surrounding peaks.

The Windows at Arches

Where: Arches National Park
Trail: The Windows Trail & Double Arch

Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1 mile loop & 1/2 mile RT
Adventure Rating: 2 Stars
Pets: no


Note: I am a fan of going off-trail now and then, however, Arches National Park is one place you really need to stay on the trail or on rock. The desert floor is covered in microscopic cyanobacteria that "bind[s] together grains of sand, creating stable sites for algae, moss, and fungi to grow." Basically, that black crusty soil is alive and storing nutrients/water for the plant life. So, do NOT step on it.

Park in The Windows Section. We hiked to the North Window around to the South Window and finally around to the Turret Arch. It's an easy hike that can be made more fun by climbing on the rocks and boulders.

From the same parking lot, you can hike to the Double Arch. It's a short hike, but once you get to the arch, there is plenty of rock climbing/scrambling.

Whiteoak Canyon at Shenandoah National Park

Where: Shenandoah National Park
Trail: Cedar Run, Cedar Run Link, Whiteoak Canyon Trails
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 2 miles (I think)
Adventure Rating: 3 Stars
Pets: Allowed on some trails 

Originally, we planned to hike the Whiteoak Canyon Trail to the Whiteoak  Fire Road to the Cedar Run Trail, beginning at the Whiteoak Canyon parking lot. That hike is 7.9 miles, and after 3 days of hiking in various locations, we decided we weren't really up for that (especially since we thought it was only 6 miles).

Instead, we hiked a short ways on the Cedar Run Trail until we hit the Cedar Run Link Trail, then we took that over to the Whiteoak Canyon Trail. We hiked up that to the Lower Whiteoak Falls and then hiked the Whiteoak Canyon Trail back to the parking lot.

This is where the Cedar Run Link meets up with the Whiteoak Canyon Trail.

Buttermilk Falls at Cuyahoga Valley NP

Blue Hen Falls

Where: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Trail: Unmarked Trail
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: ?
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: Allowed on leash

We parked at Blue Hen Falls, which were very cool. Originally, we were going to hike to them from the Boston Store Visitor Center, but we ended up just parking there. I found a website that mentioned Buttermilk Falls and knew we had to check it out. It's not marked on any maps that I could find, but if you hike downstream from Blue Hen Falls, you'll find it. There is a rough unmarked trail heading that direction, but we spent most of our time walking on the rocks along the stream. The water was shallow enough that we could cross back and forth across it. It was way fun.

Buttermilk Falls

The linked website says that you should visit Brandywine Falls before spending time on this one. If you're judging the falls on size, then sure, I guess they are right. However, I completely disagree with this statement. I found the Brandywine falls so uninteresting that I didn't even take a picture of them. Nor did we bother to do the hike. The Buttermilk Falls might not be amazing, but the adventure of finding them was amazing. I say don't even bother with Brandywine.

Ritchie Ledges at Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Where: Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Trail: Ledges Trail
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 2 mile loop
Adventure Rating: 3 Stars
Pets: Allowed on leash

We started at the parking lot and hiked 0.2 miles to the first fork in the trail. We took a right, hiking 0.3 miles to the Ledges Trail, just south of the Ice Box Cave. We hiked past the cave, going north until we came to the steps that cut across the top of the Ledges Trail. After that, we hiked south to the overlook. From there, we hiked north on the connector trail and then cut across the field to the parking lot. I think the whole trip lasted about 2 hours, but probably because we stopped a lot to climb on rocks and explore off trail. It was definitely an awesome short hike.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Where: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Trail: Lakeshore-North Country Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous
Distance: 14 miles one-way
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: Allowed on some trails, see website

Prior to driving to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for camping and hiking, I made reservations with Alger County Transit to have them pick us up at Little Beaver Campground (where we parked our car) and drop us off at Miner's Castle. This allowed us to hike back to our car (since the trail isn't a loop).

We got to Miner's Castle between 8:30-9 AM. Even though it was August, the morning was quite chilly--good thing we dressed in layers. We hiked to Miner's Beach and spent a lot of time exploring the beach, rocks, and boulders.
The hike along Miner's Beach was a bit rough (hiking in soft sand always is), but we weren't in a hurry. At Mosquito Beach, we took the trail inland to see Chapel Falls, except we took the wrong trail and missed it completely and arrived back on the lake at Chapel Beach. Between the Mosquito Falls trailhead and Chapel Beach, the forest thins out and becomes very sandy--which made hiking a lot tougher, especially this late in the trip.

It was about that time that we realized that we were way behind schedule. It was also about this point that I realized that I may have miscalculated the length of our hike. I still don't know how I did this, but prior to the hike, I thought the trip was 7 miles. If you read the info above, you know the hike was actually 14 miles. This posed a problem for us since we were planning to take a Sunset Cruise. We really started pushing hard at this point, trying to get back to the car in time. The last two miles were exhausting. Every rise/hill we came upon, we were sure the car would be on the other side. The disappointment when we couldn't see it was devastating. 

Eventually, we made it back to the car, completely and utterly exhausted. At the time, it wasn't all that fun, but it has become a funny story... Remember that time we accidentally hiked 14 miles? And my brother refuses to ever go hiking with us again.

Big Bend National Park

Where: Big Bend National Park, Texas
Trail: Window Trail
Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous
Distance: 5.6 mile round trip
Adventure Rating: 4 Stars
Pets: Not allowed on trails

Big Bend National Park was my first real hiking trip. Go big or go home, right? The park is over 800,000 acres, so there was no way we could see all of it. We chose the Window Trail because it seemed to be the most scenic. The hike out is downhill and much easier than the hike back, which was all uphill. The elevation change on this hike is 980 feet, which you will notice when you're on your way back. We started our hike in the morning because we knew the afternoon would be too hot. But it's Texas, so even in the morning, it was pretty warm out.