The Eastside Trail that parallels Hwy 123 on the eastern portion of Mt. Rainier National Park isn’t on most people’s radar, and I like it that way! It’s usually snow-free before many other trails, and if done from the top down (with a car shuttle) is a wonderful 8-mile stroll through some beautiful old-growth forest with multiple waterfalls, ferns, and wildflowers.
I’ll let the photos do the talking for this one… I’ll just mention that there is a fantastic lunch spot with a gorgeous waterfall view about half-way.
The beaches of Olympic National Park are beautiful, wild, and rugged. And within a short drive one can be deep into one of the largest temperate rainforests in the United States.
We started by stopping at Kalaloch Beach to visit the Tree of Life, which is beginning to fall down after decades of being seemingly suspended in mid-air. Next stop was Ruby Beach, one of my favorites along the Olympic coastline. Sunshine, waves, ocean birds, seastacks, barefoot walking in the sand… all the things that are healing and restoring to me. This is a place to wander and simply be still and take it all in.
We spent 2 nights in the Hoh Rainforest campground, a beautiful area in the heart of Olympic National Park, and an area said to have some of the most biomass per square acre in the world. It’s also one of the recorded wettest and quietest places in the world. And green, every single shade of green you could possibly imagine. The climate here produces some gigantic trees.
There are several trails that can be enjoyed from the Hoh Campground: The Spruce Trail, the Hall of Mosses Trail, and the Hoh River Trail (which extends over 18 miles one way up to the Blue Glacier). We hiked these trails several times, letting the trees, mosses, lichen, ferns, and birds entertain us. No cell service out here, but it’s not needed when tuned into the incredible web of Mother Nature!! Several times we simply stopped walking to listen to nature because our footsteps seemed so loud.
The beauty and peace of this place is so restoring to me. From gigantic trees, nurse logs, mosses and ferns, to mushrooms, birds, insects, and banana slugs, it’s one of the best places I’ve ever been to see how interconnected everything is.
On our way home we stopped at Beach 4, with a beautiful bridge made from driftwood as an entry to the beach. During low tide there are some perfect rocks that beg to be scrambled on and climbed.
I recently spent several days visiting the southern Oregon and northern California coast, and the Redwood forests at Jedediah Smith State Park. I invite you to join me on a virtual trip to these magical places.
I visited 9 different places on this trip. All were beautiful. Some were pure magic and I still feel the connection to that magic just looking at the photos. As with many special places in this world, photos don’t begin to do justice to what it actually feels like to be there in person.
Bandon, Oregon:
We started by walking several miles at low tide along the beaches of Bandon, Oregon. This place is a refuge for shore birds, and simply walking and listening to the sounds of the ocean and the birds is so soothing!! We spent time exploring tide pools, finding seastars, watching birds, and taking in the fresh ocean air. Simply walking with no particular destination or distance in mind is a beautiful thing.
Jedediah Smith State Park Campground:
When the campground itself is incredible, you know you’re in a good place. Jed Smith Campground is one of those places. Our campsites were along the Smith River, with the beautiful sound of flowing water for good company. One of the trees at our campsite dwarfed my little teardrop trailer, so amazing to wake up in the morning and give it a tree-hug.
Walking along the Smith River, we found blooming native iris, lupine, black willow, and three-cornered leeks, among others. The color of the water is a beautiful dark teal, and Stout Grove, one of my favorite places on Earth, is just across the river.
While the campground was full, it was so quiet there. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being amongst with the tallest trees in the world and the energy they put out. We imagined that everyone there was under the influence of the forest magic: Calm, peace, serenity, contentment, joy.
Jedediah Smith State Park: Grove of the Titans:
Grove of the Titans is a group of ancient and massive Redwood Trees, some of the tallest in the world. This sacred grove was known by indigenous people for hundreds of years, but remained relatively hidden until its location was posted online in 1998. People searching for the grove created informal trails that damaged the forest floor, caused erosion, and threatened the health of the grove and adjacent Mill Creek.
Several organizations worked together to protect this habitat by creating elevated walkways to allow for everyone to safely visit the grove without causing further damage. More information: https://redwoodparksconservancy.org/grove-tit
Part of the Mill Creek Trail goes through what I imagine J.R.R. Tolkien would describe as a hobbit tunnel, passing alongside a huge fallen tree that has turned into a nurse log, through a forest undergrowth tunnel, right out of a fantasy tale.
From giant trees to tiny flowers like the native Asarum/wild ginger, I’m so happy this place is protected and accessible now. As with all photos of these trees, they are hard to photograph because of their massive size. It’s almost impossible to convey how large they are without a human standing at the base. This is a sacred place with all the feels of amazement, wonder, and awe. I still carry that feeling with me.
Jedediah Smith State Park: Stout Grove:
Stout Grove is perhaps my favorite grove of Redwood trees, another sacred place full of magic. This is more of a slow wander (I love how “wander” is so close to “wonder”), not a hike per se, along a very level and smooth trail – which is a good thing because it’s not a place where you want to be watching your footsteps, instead you’re craning your neck in every possible direction to take in the wonder of this place. It’s on the opposite shore of Smith River from Jed Smith Campground.
One of the things I love about this place is that it’s possible to get up close and personal with the trees, to hug them, lay a gentle hand on them as you walk by, and simply spend time being in their presence. With several benches for sitting and gazing, it’s a perfect grove for all abilities.
On this trip I visited twice, once with my friends and once alone. The grove seems to quiet and slow people down, to ask us for silent contemplation. On my solo wander it was so incredibly quiet, even though there were other people there. It’s a sacred natural cathedral that I’m so grateful for.
Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor, OR: Secret Beach:
We drove north up the Boardman Scenic corridor without a specific plan in mind, ready for adventure and the beautiful coastline. Our first stop was near Arch Rock and it was so foggy it was almost impossible to see anything, but after several minutes the fog started to lift and we were treated to a beautiful view below.
Next we pulled over on the side of the road and took a short trail without really knowing what it would lead us to. What greeted us at the end was nothing short of enchantment! Secret Beach (not so secret) is a stunning place to connect with the ocean, the threshold between earth and water and sky. We spent quite a bit of time here simply soaking in the beauty and wonder. The sound of the waves, the smell of the salt air, the incredible way light played off the cliffs and rocks and trees: An array of senses hard to describe.
This was a bonus we were not expecting, and are so very thankful that we decided to follow a little unknown trail. I feel there’s a life metaphor here… sometimes you have to take a path you’re not sure where it leads to, but there may be a treasure at the end!
Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor, southern Oregon: Whaleshead Beach:
We stopped at Waleshead Beach for lunch and more wandering. I love walking barefoot in sand and water, and here it was warm enough for me to kick off the shoes here and let my toes dig into the sand. We found a perfect lunch rock and enjoyed a simple meal (which always tastes oh-so-much-better outdoors), and then I spent time simply walking and grounding, loving the feel of being barefoot and letting my feet take me wherever they wanted to go. Sunshine, waves, sand, birds, big sky. Beautiful.
Jedediah Smith State Park, CA: Lieffer and Ellsworth Trials:
After our day exploring the beaches of the Boardman Scenic Corridor, we took a short hike at Jed Smith to the Lieffer and Ellsworth trails for more tree magic. While this area’s trees are not quite as large as Grove of the Titans or Stout Grove, it’s a truly beautiful area that is well worth a visit.
Again, these forests seem to ask us to slow down, be silent, and soak in the goodness the forest has to offer. A short 2-mile hike was a perfect way to end our magical day – coastline and oceans and forests and trees. A perfect combination!
Del Norte Coast, CA: Enderts Beach:
South of Crescent City we hiked a section of the Coastal Trail to Enderts Beach – another beautiful place with stunning wildflowers along the way putting on a show for us. Close to the parking area the lupine and California lilacs were in full bloom and stunning!
There seems to be a permanent mist along these coastlines which make the light and scenery even more beautiful. After the sensory overload of flowers along the trail, a short steep section takes you down to the rocky beach that requires a bit of rock scrambling to get down to. This is a place to sit and relax and simply appreciate the show that nature puts on for us. There were many other beautiful plants including wild strawberries, succulents, and three-cornered leeks along the way.
Del Norte Coast, CA: Yurok Trail and Hidden Beach:
The ocean and the rugged and raw northern California coastline are so delightful that we decided to hike to one more beach. From the Lagoon Pond parking area we followed the Yurok Loop trail and connected with another section of the Coastal Trail to Hidden Beach.
For a while we were the only people there, since this beach requires a hike to get to. Another perfect lunch spot soaking in the goodness of the coast. I took off my shoes, wandered and let the sand and water surround me as I explored the rock formation. More connection to this amazing Earth that we live on.
I had a lovely time at Steamboat Rock State Park in eastern Washington – of course it was actually hotter at home than there, even though I went specifically to chase the sun!!
I won’t comment much on the utterly atrocious behavior of many people camped there, other than to say extra state park rangers were called in to patrol all night long, so that those of us who weren’t acting like complete barbarians could sleep.
Climbing up to the top of Steamboat Rock is a bit of a scramble in a couple of places, but the views from the top are incredible. I spent hours in solitude, in wonderful conversation with birds and finding teensy little flowers that were happy spring was springing
My last morning there I walked/meandered the flat area to the base of Steamboat, finding some wonderful tracks (probably wild turkey), listening to more birds, and doing a bit of QiGong by the shore.
I stopped at Dry Falls State Park on the way home for a few photos… the scope of this place is hard to describe, but it’s believed to have been the largest waterfall ever known on the planet during the Missoula Floods.
An absolutely lovely, squishy, wet wander through the woods this morning with a good friend. Only found 1 mushroom, but we spent a long time taking in all the teensy details that can only be seen by really slowing down, pausing, and noticing. The mosses and fungi and lichen are a world unto themselves – an entire universe on a single tree stump. It’s so so SO important to take the time to slow down and just pay attention
(If anyone is interested in my new mindfulness with nature journal about this exact thing, here’s more information about it!)
I spent quite a while looking at the dazzling array of colors, textures, and life-forms on an area of an old stump about the size of a hardcover book. So good to pause, be still, and simply notice.
It is especially amazing being able to share time like this with someone who gets just as geeked-out as I do about the small miracles happening all around us
It’s been 4 years since I’ve been back to the MTTA trail/hut system, before that horrid thing called COVID. When friends (thank you V&J!!) invited me along on their hut reservation, I jumped at the chance. The hut is fully heated and stocked, the only things one needs to bring are clothes, food, and sleeping bag.
Because I’d be driving on my own, and because there was a good chance of overnight snow, and because I simply *hate* putting chains on my car, I opted to park at the lower parking area, which added 1.3 miles to my hike up to the Snowbowl Hut. It’s pretty much alllll up up up, and on the way there I managed to strain a hip flexor quite badly, but it was worth it.
The light was magical that afternoon, with 360-degree views of Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. We spent time at the gazebo just taking it all in, watching the light change by the minute, seeing beautiful lenticular clouds forming over Rainier and Helens, and simply spending time with good, good friends.
By sunset we were in white-out conditions with fresh snow, so those few afternoon hours of sunlight were precious and will carry me for quite some time. It was windy the following morning, with several inches of fresh snow, but when I headed back down to my car the wind kindly stopped. A wonderful way to spend 24 hours!
To the northwest of St. George, UT, I saw a trail labeled Hellhole Canyon on my trail map, so of course I had to check it out. It’s sometimes known as Kayenta Canyon as well, and skirts along the base of Red Mountain. The canyon itself is not visible from the road. There are 2 routes to get to the canyon, either following along the bottom of the wash with a lot of sand and rock, or along the upper rim of the wash, which is a bit easier on knees and ankles. I walked up the wash itself to get to the canyon and returned to my car via the rim.
Getting closer to the canyon, I knew I had picked a perfect trail to explore. I only saw 3 other people on this trail, exactly the way I like to spend time outdoors. The canyon itself veers off to the left, so to see into requires hiking along a well-seen trail into the canyon itself. As with most canyons in this area, the further one goes in the narrower it gets. I followed the trail into the canyon as far as I felt comfortable going. If I had continued on it would have required more scrambling, and I was so happy with where I was that I found a lunch spot near the opening of the canyon and spent quite a while simply taking it all in, sipping my tea, and enjoying the sunshine.
While the name might not be appealing, the canyon and surrounding areas certainly are beautiful.
Northeast of St. George, UT, I read about a hike to Yant Flat/Candy Cliffs that looked interesting. It was a long drive on a dirt forest service road from the Silver Reef area, but the road turned out to be very well maintained (definitely not something to be attempted after rain).
From the parking area, the trail is very sandy through scrub juniper and pine, with views of the Pine Valley Mountains behind. It’s the kind of trail that makes you wonder why you bothered driving out there … but it’s well worth it to come out of the scrub forest to the unique cliffs and rock formations that beg to be explored at trail’s end. Like the Fire Wave at Valley of Fire State Park, the color of the rock will be different depending on time of day and season. While it wasn’t as colorful when I was there as I had seen in photos, it was still incredible to spend the day scrambling around on the rock formations that reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book!
There are 2 main sections to explore. Along the rock areas there aren’t really “trails” per se but large areas to wander and scout and wonder at. I spent several hours simply letting my feet take me wherever they wanted to go, with the only rule being “don’t go down what you aren’t certain you can get back up.”
I love quirky, unique geology, and Valley of Fire State Park between St. George, Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada, definitely falls into that category. Nearby landscape looks deserted and desolate, until driving inside the park to find strange and contorted jumbles of red rocks and geography. It’s beautiful and well worth a visit! Simply driving the Scenic Road from the visitor center, even without getting out to explore on foot, is beautiful.
Fire Wave
The Fire Wave is about as close as you can get to the more famous “The Wave” near the Utah-Arizona border without needing a highly coveted permit. The 1.5 mile out-and-back hike starts through sand and slickrock with views of colorful sandstone and rock formations. Nearing the wave takes you onto beautiful slickrock streaked with multiple colors, and depending on the light, season, and time of day it can look like a river of fire under your feet. The Fire Wave is a rock outcrop where these swirls of color twist up the sides of the formation in a beautiful pattern. Like the rest of the area, the colors will look different depending on time of day and season.
White Domes Loop
At the end of the scenic road is the White Domes Loop, which offers a little bit of everything and is well worth a visit! Parts of this trail are sandy, others are rocky, and some are on slickrock. From the parking area the trail heads downhill through a somewhat rocky section between short canyon walls. At the far end of the loop is a short but beautiful, and non-technical, slot canyon. The return trip is slightly uphill with sand, rock, and slickrock and beautiful rock formations along the way. I love this trail because it offers a wide variety of colors, textures, views, and canyons in one short hike.
This is one of the places where Utah excels – Utah state parks are above and beyond any other state’s public places that I have ever visited. I fell so in love with Snow Canyon that I bought an annual pass, even though I would be there only 5 weeks. I certainly made good use of it. So many trails, textures, colors, areas, canyons, petrified sand dunes, and lava caves to explore here! It’s a combo-platter of all of the best in the area. Snow Canyon offers a paved bike trail, multiple hiking trails, sand dunes, slot canyons, horse trails, a campground, a visitor center, and ample restrooms and parking areas. Let’s take a tour… Snow Canyon State Park is also home to the threatened Mojave desert tortoise and many other species of animals.
Jenny’s Canyon and Johnson Canyon
Both of these are in the southern section of the park, short and easy trails into beautiful slot canyons. On weekends and holidays, both of these can get fairly crowded since there is limited space for people to spread out, but are both well worth seeing.
Whiptail Trail
The Whiptail trail is a paved bike/walking path paralleling the main road for the lower 2/3 of the park. There were many times that I parked my bike at the upper area, drove to the lower section and hiked up, then coasted on my bike back to the car. Perfect! At one point on the Whiptail trail I almost ran over a 4-foot gopher snake sunning in the late November sun. After stopping and watching it for a while, it finally slithered into the trailside plants.
My favorite route for hiking was combining 4 trails. I left my bike at the Lava Flow trailhead, drove down to the parking area by Sand Dunes, and pieced together these 4 trails to end up back at my bike, then coasting on 2 wheels back down to my car. Pretty much a *perfect* hiking/biking day.
The Hidden Pinyon Trail takes you through some wonderful rock formations at the core of Snow Cayon, part rocky, part sandy, all wonderful. The observation point at the junction of Hidden Pinyon and Petrified Dunes was where I liked to spend time just sitting and looking out in 360-degrees across the length and width of the canyon. A perfect lunch spot, very rarely seeing other people up there.
Petrified Dunes trail is just that, massive sand dunes hardened into rock, with the trail literally scrambling up the sides with markers leading the way. It’s an excellent workout, and another spectacular spot to simply sit and take it all in. I preferred hiking these dunes south to north, with the steeper sections going up and less steep going down. In the opposite direction, be prepared for toe-jamming into your shoes. While there is a “trail” marked across the dunes, it’s a wonderful place to simply explore anywhere, roaming around with the changing views.
Butterfly Trail is a shorter connector trail from the lower section near Petrified Dunes toward the Lava Flow trail, where there are a few small lava tubes/caves that can be explored for those wishing to do so. It’s a really beautiful area, one to not skip over just because it’s shorter.
Lava Flow Trail is in the upper, northern section of the park, where the landscape changes from red sand and petrified dunes to fields of dark, sharp lava rock. To the north are white rocks and cliffs. The color palette here is stunning. We went into one of the lava caves, and while considering the other one decided against it since it required some climbing and contortion to enter that we didn’t feel like attempting that day, and it was crowded so we didn’t want to get stuck at a bottleneck there.
White Rocks Trail
Near the northern, upper entrance to the park is a section of stark white rocks, in contrast to the red canyon walls, sand dunes, and the black lava fields. The trail here is very sandy, and an excellent workout even though it’s not steep. So much variety of terrain in one area!
West Canyon Road – Bicycle
The West Canyon Road is closed to motorized traffic, and is very well maintained so it’s perfect for cycling. The road winds through the floor of the canyon, at the heart of the park. From the access point at the southern Sand Dunes area to the end of the road inside West Canyon and the return trip back is almost exactly 8 miles through incredible terrain, with views all around. Unlike many of the hiking trail viewpoints from above, this road covers the lowest portions of the park, inside the canyon walls.
Padre Canyon – Crazy and fun!
I wanted to experience a more remote area of Snow Canyon State Park with a bit more challenging hiking, and Padre Canyon is exactly that. As with other trails, I parked my bike above at the Red Sands/Hidden Pinyon trailhead, and drove back to the southern, lower entry station. From the entry station, the trail skirts cliffs to the west of Snow Canyon through non-park land, passing by Tuacahn Amphitheater. Past the performing arts center, the trail heads up an increasingly narrow, rocky canyon. As the canyon narrows and gets steeper, the trail becomes progressively more challenging with large boulders and trail-finding through rock fields, with some light scrambling required in sections, but nothing technical. The saddle that the trail goes over is always ahead and above.
The top of the saddle offers amazing views in both directions, both Padre Canyon where I came from, and down the other side into Snow Canyon State Park. It’s a perfect spot to find a lunch rock, rest, and take in the views.
After resting, the trail heads down toward Snow Canyon and the Red Sands trail. Cairns mark the trail in some places, and one spot requires skirting rocks to avoid 2 pools. Once the Padre Canyon trail connects with the Red Sands trail into the main area of Snow Canyon, it’s deep sandy walking for quite a while, which is an excellent form of exercise – thank goodness for beautiful views to distract from shoes filling up with sand! At the end of Red Sands I took the Hidden Pinyon Trail back to where my bike was parked, and coasted down the Whiptail Trail back to my car. What an exhausting but gorgeous day!
