Grand Teton National Park & John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway

Players:  Jenny & Jake
Date of Visit:  A few times during Summer 2005, but camped overnight in July

Website:  www.nps.gov/grte
Location:  Wyoming
Entrance Fee:  $25 per car, good for both Yellowstone & Grand Teton for 7 days
Type of Trip:  Overnight trip from Yellowstone
Park Passport Stamps Available:  4 for Grand Teton, plus 1 for the Rockefeller Memorial Parkway

Trip Report: During the summer of 2005, when I was living and working in Yellowstone, we made several trips down to the Tetons and Jackson, Wyoming.  To me, the Tetons epitomize what mountains should be...rising nearly 7000 feet from the Valley below, with a sparkling blue lake at their base.  It's hard to look at those craggy mountain tops without wanting to hike right up the side :)  Like it's neighbor to the north (Yellowstone), Grand Teton offers plenty of hiking, camping, fishing, wildlife watching, and so on.  It is also one of the premier climbing destinations in the Rockies.  Due to its slightly lower elevation, many of the trails and visitor facilities on the valley floor are accessible a little earlier in the spring than some of the places in Yellowstone.  Trails at higher elevations, however, may not be snow-free until mid-July.  Grand Teton is also a much smaller park than Yellowstone, allowing you to get a really good feel for the park in just a few days.

Tetons & Lake Jackson

Blue Ridge Parkway & Shenandoah National Park

When most people think of the National Parks in the United States, they picture the snow-capped Rockies of Grand Teton, the geysers of Yellowstone, or the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite.  Although these parks are magnificent and deserving of a visit, the parks that lie closest to the most number of people are actually in the East.  In this post, I'll outline Shenandoah National Park -- only about an hour from the major population center of Washington, DC.  We'll also take a look at a road that provides an opportunity for Sunday driving at its best, the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Shenandoah National Park
Players:  Jenny & Zach
Date of Visit:  June 2010
Website:  www.nps.gov/shen
Location:  Virginia
Entrance Fee:  $15 per car
Type of Trip:  Drive-through (Wish I could have stayed longer!)
Park Passport Stamps Available:  5 (including a special 75th Anniversary Stamp only available in 2011!)

Driving through Shenandoah

Trip Report:  Shenandoah National Park encompasses the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains; the Blue Ridge is an old mountain chain, and years of erosion have worn them down to gentle peaks.  To the east of the Blue Ridge lies the farmland of Eastern Virginia -- making for some terrific views.  Shenandoah National Park is long and skinny, only a few miles wide but stretching 100 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Front Royal to Waynesboro.  The Skyline Drive is the main park road, and travels the length of the park.  Besides the scenic drive through the park, there are many things to do here:  camping, hiking (the Appalachian Trail runs through the length of the park), viewing nature, learning about history, and so on.  Shenandoah benefited heavily from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) efforts in the 1930s, and several of the park's buildings are remnants from that period.  In addition, this is one of the few outdoor/hiking parks where you can witness the changes history has wrought -- the Lewis Mountain area was originally built as a segregated area for African Americans.  Even more interesting, and something I really want to do someday, is stay in a hiker's cabin in the park run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club :)  However, on this trip, all we were able to do was to drive through the park.