OT - Friday Drinking/Favorite National Park Thread
Watching the Tigers, drinking a few Oberons, and researching our next National Park trip.
What's your favorite National Park? Least favorite? Just read this 538 interesting article on how the NPS has never been more popular: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-national-parks-have-never-been…
Like many, I have a goal to hit all 58 National Parks. My stretch goal is to accomplish that by the time I turn 40 (10 years... god, I'm getting old). But, Alaska and Hawaii will make that tough.
I'm new to the NP-craze and I've hit some of the big ones, but not many: Smoky Mtn, Arches, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Everglades, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Rocky Mtn, Grand Canyon most recently. Just 49 to go! Hoping to hit California this fall for a few; maybe Cuyahoga since it's so close.
My favorite was easily Zion. I'm a water guy, in general, and hiking the narrows was so fun. Angel's Landing was fun despite my relative fear of heights. I'll definitely go back. I barely remember much of Everglades; I was a kiddo.
Atop my list to hit include: Glacier, Olympic, Crater Lake and (believe it or not) Death Valley.
I did two tours at Camp Davis, 1976 (Geology 116) and 1978 (Geology 440). Best college learning experiences I ever had. Bruce Wilkinson was an arrogant prick, but a great, great prof and teacher.
Yosemite and Grand Teton NPs for me.
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Drinking Senjyu Kubota sake and eating sushi and listening to the Stooges. I love Yellowstone and will go back in August. But we are so spoiled by our national park system, it is extensive and amazing. I'm a lot older than you and will visit most of them much later in life. When I was your age my main concern was feeding my newborn and finishing my doctorate. Two things that didn't exactly go hand in hand.
Been to all on your list. I would recommend Yosemite, Hawaii Volcanoes, and Carlsbad Caverns among others.
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Fun fact: Isle Royale National park which is located just south of Thunder Bay, ON is supposed to be as beautiful as it is remote. It averages less visitors in a year than Yosemite does in a day.
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Drinking Otra Vez gose style. Good.
Yosemite is great. Was there last weekend.
I love Yellowstone the most. Something about seeing wolves and grizzlies in the flesh that makes me feel alive. Glacier is pretty cool too.
Well that's a fun fact to know and yell. Those would be the top two NP on my bucket list.
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Yellowstone is probably my favorite because there's so much going on in addition to the natural beauty. But it's so hard to pick just one. Also in the running are Glacier, Hawaii Volcanoes, Smoky Mtn., Denali/McKinley, Everglades and Grand Canyon. On my must see list are Yosemite and Acadia.
OP -- do yourself a favor and visit Death Valley. It has its own stark beauty. The salt polygons are amazing, the sand dunes are fun to climb, and the scope is immense (the largest national park not in Alaska). We were there in the spring, which is a great time to visit.
Drinking a Summit Keller Pils tonight to start out. A very crisp, well done pilsner. Next, on to a Bauhaus SkyHigh IPA.
I'm hoping to get the OK to drink again in a few weeks, so perhaps then I'll be able to join these threads in earnest in that respect.
One of the more fascinating trips I was on many years ago was a trip to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, primarily because of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The walk around and near the volcano itself was fascinating to me, to see the scars left by the 1980 eruption and the life trying to re-establish itself again. As much as I love the NPS, the sites of natural disasters are one of my weird hobbies.
in the mid-1990s. Truly incredible! The tree trunks were still there, lying on the ground and all pointed away from the summit. I wonder what it looks like today.
Drinking a Pipeworks imperial stout.
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Yellowstone amd Yosemite are my favorites. Grand Canyon is my least fav.
Did you hike down into the canyon? I didn't get a whole lot from just looking down into it from the rim, but really enjoyed hiking to the river and back (though I didn't enjoy the next morning -- God was I sore!)
Something a bit different: Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, eh? Maybe not the most beautiful but a pretty amazing and underrated place.
in a few minutes, power outage kind. love those, as long as nobody gets hurt.
we all hustled to get barn chores done ahead of that though. wonder what the cows think when it hits - they stay outside, but all the others are in the barn or hen house.
drinking cheapo red wine, as per usual.
RIP #9
Sam Adams Summer Ale
Minute Maid in Houston was my favorite national park.
Least favorite-Cinergy Field, where the Reds played before Great American.
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Rocky Mountain National Park
I live in CA so we frequent the NPs out here. Annual trip to Yosemite is great. Driving into the valley is just breathtaking. Joshua Tree is highly overrated in my opinion.
I haven't been, but from what my wife has told me and from the photos, it seems like Zion is otherwordly, in the best way.
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Just got back from a week in Yellowstone last Sunday and it was AMAZING. I've never seen so many mountains. Granted I'm from the Midwest so any mountains is a lot of mountains. But here's some photos I snagged:
Just an absolutely beautiful place.
And NO I DIDN'T PUT A BABY BISON IN MY CAR, BUT THANK YOU FOR BEING THE 800TH PERSON TO ASK.
The Badlands, Isle Royale,Grand Teton, Grand, Canyon, Smokey Mtns, and Yellowstone. Well that's six but what the hell. All unique, which ia a prequesititige anyway but Yellowstone is bar far the most beautiful I've seen and offers so many beautiful spots. Love the fact we have to play second fiddle to the animal life. aaaaaaaaaaa
As long as we're playing games, which park national park was decommisioned and is now a state park?
I cheated