Home on the road; the 1970 Ford Van. Twelve thousand miles in three months.
In 1987 I took off for
a three month trip around the USA! Backpacking throughout two dozen
National Parks was the ultimate dream come true!
Home on the road; the 1970 Ford Van.
Twelve thousand miles in three months.
In the backcountry in Glacier National Park.
Alpine Meadow in Rocky Mountain National
Park. (looking for a campsite)
This was the first year that Mount St. Helen was reopened to
hiking. It was a 5000 foot ascent on scree, so an alpine start (4 a.m.)
was required. At 3:30 I was hanging out at the trailhead with a friend
I met the night before, and the women in the red shirt (Kelly Ryan) came
up to me, read my T-shirt, and said "...WAAF, awesome radio station,
where ya from?" It turned out that she grew up down the street from
me, and was in school with my sister! We laughed and hugged, and
climbed the summit together, then that night we stayed at the local campground,,,,,
and the four of us went to the local Cougar Tavern to watch the New England
Patriots on Monday Night Football! Kelly; cheers to ya! Gimme
a shout sometime!
I've done this hike three times now;
the "Wilderness Coast" of Olympic National Park. This is probably
my favorite hike in America. You'll have to plan it carefully, and you
will need a tide chart, since many of the headlands are impassable when
the tide is in. But the trek is so beautiful, and with tons and tons
of driftwood, you'll have a nice "campfire" every night!
After climbing Mount St. Helen, I
decided to climb Mt. Hood too. Only got about halfway up, but spent an
awesome night camped above treeline!
*
This was the second of about a dozen
great hikes in the Tetons of Wyoming!
Grand Canyon National Park; another
place that if you visit once, you'll go back to again and again!
*
Spent my 30th Birthday here!
I'd spent two months in 1981 visiting most of the major National
Parks of the western USA, but that was a honeymoon trip, and I only spent
about 3 days in each park, barely enough time for a driving tour. What
I really wanted to do was spend a week or three backpacking the
major trails and loops in each of the parks. So I worked three
jobs for awhile to save some cash, got myself in prime physical condition,
then hit the road!
I headed west to Colorado, then visited most all of the National Parks in a counter-clockwise direction. The major parks were Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, (couldn't get into Canada; not enough $$), Cascades in Washington, Olympics, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, the whole Oregon coast, Yosemite, Death Valley, the five parks in Utah (Arches, Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, and Capital Reef), Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, then home by late October. The trip was awesome, but way too short; only three short months. So I went back in 1990 for 5 months! Most of my time was spent backpacking, and driving the back roads to the next National Park. I used the van fortranspo and as a resupply base. I easily spent two thirds of the nights in the backcountry!
A couple years later, in 1992, I spent 3 months out west with Ricky, mostly climbing. I took off again by myself in 1994, with Mtn bike and canoe. The next few years I went to Central America and South America. I've also put together a TRAVEL PAGE.
My travel days on hold for a while, but whenever you get
the chance to go somewhere;
Go For It!
Created by Tim D., Copyright © March 1998 (updated Jan, 2000)