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You are here: Home / Archives for nationalparks

A Walk Through Valley Forge

February 22, 2011 By Jillian

Today would have been George Washington’s 279th Birthday. With only one natural tooth left the day he was inaugurated as President (it’s true!), I can only imagine what he would have looked like today at 279. Growing up outside of Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress and where the Declaration of Independence was signed, there’s a lot of history. One of the original colonies,  there’s a lot of old (for America) history here.  The area is dotted with homes, barns and farm buildings dating back to before the Revolution.

With so many buildings hanging “George Washington slept/drank/ate here” signs, being so close to history is something I’ve always taken for granted. In fact, my favorite place to run in the area is Valley Forge National Park, a short drive from my parents. For those of you who don’t remember, Valley Forge is where the Revolutionary Army spent the winter of 1777-1778 and became an army instead of ragtag group of settlers. Although no battles were fought over 2,000 soldiers died of cold, malnutrition and disease.

A few weeks ago, with too much snow on the ground for a run, we slowed down a bit and took a walk around the park. Taking time to enjoy the natural beauty and appreciate it as a historical site, not just a nice place to run, here’s a walking tour of the park through some photos we took along the way.

Cabins in Valley Forge

Grass in the Snow

Lone cabin in a snowy field at Valley Forge

Park Bench at Valley Forge

Sledding at Valley Forge

Cabins at Valley Forge

Deer at Valley Forge

Reflection of a tree - Valley Forge

"Worm" fence at Valley Forge

A winter's sunset over a cabin at Valley Forge

Filed Under: Headline, History & Culture, Pastimes, photos, USA Tagged With: history, nationalparks, winter

Photo of the Day: Perito Moreno Glacier

February 2, 2011 By Jillian

Dad, what are those lines in the glacier? Son, that’s just where they put the waterslide in the summertime when the water isn’t so cold. Maybe we’ll come back then…

Special thanks to Flickr user bhatto for marking this photo as a favorite.

To see a few of our favorite photos from Argentina click here.

Our PHOTO PAGE has links to all of our collections on Flickr. Be sure to mark some of your own favorites so that we can include them on this column. We’ll be highlighting a different photo every day.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: nationalparks

Photo of the Day: Iguazu Falls

January 18, 2011 By Danny

The Leprechaun had to leave Ireland for South America to find a rainbow where his pot of gold would be safe. Unfortunately we didn’t find his pot of gold, but we were rewarded by some rather impressive views.  Don’t worry, we won’t be kayaking  it any time soon! Iguazu Falls National Park, Argentina (and Brazil).

Special thanks to Flickr user Itinerantlondoner for marking this photo as a favorite.

To see a few of our favorite photos from Argentina click here.

Our PHOTO PAGE has links to all of our collections on Flickr. Be sure to mark some of your own favorites so that we can include them on this column. We’ll be highlighting a different photo every day.

Remember, you have until the end of January to mark your favorites and be entered in our photo contest!

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: nationalparks, waterfalls

Guide: Hiking the “W” Trail – Torres Del Paine, Chile

January 13, 2011 By Danny

IMGP3286
Hiking the ‘W is a must do for all backpackers who manage to make it that far south. In our opinion, most do it in a way that is either more expensive or more work than necessary. Below is what we did, then some suggested changes to our path to maximize your enjoyment and minimize your time and expense. Doing this trek in 5 days, if you are a regular hiker, to me, is downright silly.  If you want to do a longer hike, with less people, do the circuit.
Access: To Puerto Natales there are daily buses from Rio Gallegos and Peritto Moreno (El Calafate)in Argentina. From Puerto Natales there is a twice daily bus, making the several hour trip from town to the park, the first leaving in the morning around 8am and the second leaving around 2pm. Both buses pick hikers up for the return trip from the park to town.

Our time in Torres del Paine:

IMGP3275Day 1: We arrived on the morning Puerto Natales bus and made it to the start of the trail around the middle of the day. We set out immediately hiking all the way up the first leg of the ‘W’ to the Torres themselves and then back down again and almost to the second leg of the ‘W’. We slept that first night in Refugio Los Cuernos.  Many would do this portion over two days but traveling with minimal gear we were able to make it with relative ease. Camping there and using the hut’s supplies rather than our own cost a couple of dollars extra but given that we didn’t need to rent equipment in town, this balanced out. It is important, even during low season to have a reservation if your planning to rent equipment.  We made a reservation and they still didn’t have enough sleeping bags to go around! Plan ahead!

IMGP3247Day 2: We had planned to get up early and hike either the second or the third leg of the ‘W’ and get to the ferry to return to the bus to return to town in the early afternoon. As I’d started the trek with a cold we decided to just walk to the ferry at Lodge Paine Grande, but this was only because of my failing health, not lack of time. Had I started the trek healthy and we gotten up and began our walking at first light we would have been fine to do at least another leg of the W.

Other options:

IMGP3230One Day Hike: Not as hard as it seems. Take the afternoon bus from Puerto Natales and overnight at the first camp, staying comfortably in their lodge or huts. Begin walking before first light and you’ll have more than enough time to do the whole trek and make it to the Lodge Paine Grande camp at Laguna Azul before dark, spending a second night there and either taking the ferry the next day or walking to park headquarters to catch the bus back in the morning. This could be done in reverse as well.  This is for seasoned hikers only who know what they’re doing.  If there is a sudden change in weather you will likely need to alter your plans dramatically and you need to be prepared for that.

Two nights on the Trail: This is probably the best option for doing the entire trek with minimal time, expense, and discomfort. If you do your first day as we did above, then you can make an easy second day viewing the second leg of the ‘W’. Get up early the third day to visit the final leg or make a longer second day and do both legs there. Whichever way you divide the final two legs, plan to spend the second night at camp.  Had I been healthy we would have gone with this option

Tips:
You can pay to stay in the huts or in the hut campsites. Equipment is available for rent within the park for camping, more expensive than in town but you don’t have to carry it, or just stay in the dormitory or the refugios. Full board can be purchased at each hut as well so if you don’t want to carry your food either, you don’t have to. When we were there everything for purchase was cheaper if paying with U$D rather than Chillean Pesos so ask in town before departing. All itineraries above can be done in reverse.

Be sure to take care of yourself while there, use the long days to pack in extra miles but don’t forget to go to sleep. Here’s a picture of the Torres del Paine National Park Topo hiking map:

IMGP3190

Filed Under: Chile, Featured, Guides, Headline, South America, Trek Tagged With: camping, guide, hiking, nationalparks, nature, patagonia

Review: SANParks South African Wild Card

April 18, 2010 By Danny

The decision to purchase the South African wild card park pass was an easy one. We were coming to Africa and we were told that within South Africa we could do our own game drives and safaris and not pay for an expensive tour or guide. With a little more research we realized that this would save us loads of money as compared to paying for these services in South Africa or elsewhere in Africa. With the SANParks Wild Card pass we were able to save even more money.

Before you decide to purchase the card be sure to do a little research on the park fees you’re due to pay without the card. For us, over 5 days in Kruger National Park, we were going to come close to the cost of the Wild Card. We figured, correctly, that if we used it even one more time it would break even and anything beyond that was effectively free. Ultimately it paid for itself more than two times over 6 weeks.

The card was easy to purchase and we did so when we first arrived at the campsite within Kruger National Park. Because we were foreigners the price was about three times as much as the locals paid, but it still made sense to purchase. At that time, the cost in South African Rand was about $250 for our “couple” pass and, considering thats what the fees at the Ngorongoro Crater worked out to be I think we made the right decision. Upon arrival at each park, we showed our card, they scanned it, and we moved on.IMGP9224

The pass was good at every single park in the SANParks system. This wasn’t only game parks but also historical and heritage sites such as Cape Point near Cape Town. The pass was also good at a few parks in Swaziland.

Additionally, the pass does give you 5% back every time you pay for lodging at the park. This is a nice feature but as we only had 6 weeks inside the country we didn’t realize we’d need to register the card in order to use it. Our last day in South Africa we went to use the R50 we’d earned (about $7) but couldn’t because the card hadn’t been registered.

Filed Under: Africa, Featured, Operators, Reviews, South Africa Tagged With: kruger, nationalparks, safari

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