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Articles from the Greatest American Road Trip // A Journey to all of the U.S. National Parks during the National Park Service Centennial in 2016

The Best of Death Valley National Park

With names of iconic locations like Badwater, Funeral Mountain, the Devil’s Golf Course, and Death right in the name of the parkland, it’s clear that this landscape on the California/Nevada state line was a torment to early visitors. As well prepared travelers, the only torment for us was that we did not have more time to […]

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To The Top! (of Texas): Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Have you heard of the term “highpointing”? That is the name given to the quest of outdoorsman seeking to climb the highest peaks in each of the 50 states in America. At Guadalupe Mountains National Park in northeast Texas, we scratched one off of our list. The Guadalupe Peak trail provides passage to the rooftop of […]

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Art by Earth: Carlsbad Caverns National Park

As our adventures march on this year, they are, as a collection, becoming more and more surreal. One day we’re standing on the rooftop of Texas, and the very next we are standing inside of our home planet, 750 feet underground beneath the Earth’s surface in New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park can most adequately be described […]

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Wild Days and Dark Nights: Big Bend National Park

Texas may be the Lone Star State, but there are 2,000 more stars visible in the sky on any given night in Big Bend National Park than there are in most mid-sized cities around the country. This is dark sky country. I don’t know about you, but I feel that seeing stars shine brilliantly in the […]

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A Snowy Winter Adventure in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

First published on The Greatest American Road Trip Ohio is notoriously freezing, windy, and snowy during the winter. Weather like that is tough enough for the casual driver, but for two newbie RV’ers heading onto wilderness roads with a 27-foot trailer in tow, it’s a possible deal-breaker. Wally the Airstream is our home now—we want to […]

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Seeing an Old Friend in a New Light: Shenandoah National Park

Guest post by Jonathan Irish, for The Greatest Road Trip. When we arrived to Shenandoah National Park in February, it was very much a world without color. A recent cold snap had blanketed snow on much of the mountains and trails. It had also frozen the waterfalls, and conjured high winds that were bitter cold when […]

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Knee-Deep in Nature: Congaree National Park

On photography, Jon once gave me a tip I’ll never forget: “sit, wait, and let the photo happen in front of you. Then capture it.” I was told basically the same thing about experiencing Congaree National Park by a plain-clothed volunteer ranger I sniffed out while walking on the boardwalk. “See any wildlife?” I asked as […]

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Joy’s of Off-Season Traveling

It’s easy to see why the Great Smoky Mountains are the most visited National Park of them all. The park is located in a crossroads of sorts through the American southeast, straddling the Tennessee and North Carolina state line. Winding through the heart of it is one of America’s most famed and prized scenic byways, the […]

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Mammoth Cave National Park: Journey to the Center of Kentucky

When you take your first step into Mammoth Cave National Park, you are immediately transported into a subterranean fantasy. Every step leading farther into the cave system, takes you a step further into Jules Verne’s classic novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth. I kept thinking that if the 80s epic classic film Goonies […]

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