Cherry Pie in Capitol Reef National Park

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Cherry Pie in Capitol Reef National Park

The most memorable part of Capitol Reef National Park was the pies. Yes, baked pies: apple, strawberry-rhubarb, cherry, peach, and mixed berry pies. All fresh, all warm if you get there early enough, and the perfect (luxurious) serving size for two.

The pies were for sale at the Gifford Homestead, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a small farmhouse and cultural demonstration site, situated amongst the 200 acre Fruita Rural Historical District and just a short walk from the Fruita Campground where we stayed for several nights in June.

We made it a daily ritual to go for a sunrise hike and, upon returning, grab a cup of coffee and pie from the Gifford Homestead. If I had to imagine heaven, the Fruita District of Capitol Reef might be in my top three scenarios. Still, there was much more to the national park…

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Five Days in Longmont, Colorado

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Five Days in Longmont, Colorado

Longmont, Colorado is the perfect epicenter for a mountain adventure, whether the priority is hiking, beer, food, bicycling, coffee, or photography. It’s 16 miles from Boulder, 30 miles from Fort Collins, 39 miles from Denver, and 43 from Rocky Mountain National Park, but it’s a suburb entirely worth its own visit if you want a hub from which to access these locations.

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Hoodoos and Hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park

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Hoodoos and Hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is known for its hoodoos, those orange spires reaching up from the desert floor like spikes in an ancient god’s torture bed. Despite the well-recognized landforms, Bryce Canyon receives far fewer visitors than nearby Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks, so it’s worth visiting to avoid the crowds of summer.

Bryce Canyon is in southwestern Utah, an hour and 20 minutes northeast of Zion National Park, four hours and twenty minutes north of the Grand Canyon, and two hours and ten minutes southwest of Capitol Reef National Park, all worth the visit if you can spare the time. The nearest cities are Las Vegas, NV, nearly four hours to the southeast of BCNP, or Salt Lake City, UT, which is the same distance, to the north.

While visiting Bryce Canyon for five days this month, I was amazed at the formations our earth can take. Keep reading →

Zion National Park: A Mystical, Challenging Environment

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Zion National Park: A Mystical, Challenging Environment

Zion National Park is a place that inspires religion, with its cathedral-like mountains and the restrained garden-like feel in its valleys. I wasn’t necessarily inspired to the local religions of Utah, but I could feel how this unique national park made me want to strive for something bigger, loftier, higher. For five days, I chose the park as my idol, worthy as it is.

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Book Review: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

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Book Review: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

As I made my way into the vast expanse of Big Bend National Park, I felt I was on another planet. I was totally unfamiliar with this landscape: the heat, the sun, the prickly plants, and, of course, the sand and stone.

At times, I felt the beautiful expansiveness of this protected area. At other times, death became a pervasive thought. As a pale-skinned Yankee, I couldn’t keep myself from thinking how dangerous this landscape seemed and how awful (and easy) it would be to die here.

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