Located in the heart of southwestern Washington, most people have at least heard of this mountain’s name; Mount Saint Helens.
This fantastic Pacific Northwest mountain is famous for its eruption back in 1980, but also for the magnificent opportunity that hikers have to climb Mount St. Helens.
It’s quite the thrill to climb up over the ridge and finally say that you’ve stood on the summit of one of the United State’s most well-known peaks.
When we visited Moab, Utah, we have to admit that our primary goal was to explore Arches National Park and all its brilliant trails.
But since we had an America the Beautiful National Park pass and wanted to see as much beautiful nature as possible, it made sense for us to add on a drive through Canyonlands National Park just about 35 minutes away by car. It wasn’t until we arrived that we realized there was yet-another park worth checking out nearby, the much lesser visited Dead Horse Point State Park.
Since we did not time our visit correctly to add in a visit to Dead Horse on our Canyonlands outing, we returned on a separate day to check this one out (with another 70+ minute round trip drive- whoops). After visiting both, we realized that these two parks would be completely doable on a single visit for those who plan better than we did.
So in this one, we thought we’d share a bit more about what you can see in both parks plus highlight why these two parks make a perfect duo for a day trip from Moab.
Prior to taking an out west road trip, my brother (who is trying to go to every national park in the country), told us to pick up the America the Beautiful Pass to save money as it is “the best deal in the USA”.
This card, clocking in at $80 per year, gets you entry into every paid national park in the country plus thousands of other sites managed by entities like the National Park Service (NPS) and others.
It took just one trip for this card to pay itself off, and after that we still had 12 months of free access to all of the amazing sites around the country.
I hate to say it, but my brother is right– it really is the best deal in the USA!
So in this one, we thought we’d share more about what all you can get with the pass, planning logistics to keep in mind, and other tips for planning your visit to a national park in the USA!
Most trails at Arches National Park in Utah are, for lack of a better word, popular. They are so popular, in fact, that unless you get to the park before permitting hours, odds are good you’ll be on the trails with dozens upon dozens of fellow hikers.
But there are still a few trails within the park that most visitors do not attempt, and the trail to Tower Arch is one such hike. We wouldn’t be surprised if more than 20 people take the hike on any given day, and that is due to just how remote this particular trail is.
So in this one, let’s share a bit more about the Tower Arch hike- what you can see, hiking concerns, and how to get there to begin with!