Episodes

We get a lot of questions from people asking us what parks they should visit during specific times of the year. On today’s episode we’re going season to season, talking about which parks are great to visit during the winter, ...

From historic hotels to jaw-dropping vistas to spectacular hiking trails, Glacier has it all. Because of its mountainous terrain, activities and sights are clustered in several unique areas of the park and along the central p...

The Crown of the Continent, Glacier National Park is one of the most visited and beloved destinations in the National Park System. In this part 1 of 2 episodes on the park, we discuss one of its most unique aspects: their bac...

Over the years while we explored the national parks, we also found a lot of unique and authentic places to eat, and today we’re sharing some of our favorites. In this mid-summer bonus episode, we provide a sampling of great r...

Our country’s national parks are frequently referred to as “America’s Best Idea,” for good reason. There are 423 National Park Service sites that protect everything from natural wonders to historical sites to endangered anima...

The southwest corner of South Dakota has an incredible variety of National Park Service sites to explore, and one of our favorites is Badlands National Park. From its mixed-grass prairie to its jaw-dropping geologic rock form...

It’s time again for our monthly mailbag episode where we answer questions from our listeners about national parks and other public lands, as well as questions about gear, hiking trails, and a broad range of travel-related top...

Only a three-hour drive from Seattle, North Cascades National Park looks like you’ve traveled all the way to Switzerland. With its 300 glaciers and soaring mountain peaks, North Cascades is a wilderness park best explored on ...

In the third episode of our series about volcano parks in the Pacific Northwest we’re featuring Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park, which has one of the most stunning scenes in any national park: a sapphire-blue lake situated...

Rising more than 14,000 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. In this episode we discuss this active volcano and the incredible national park that surrounds it, one of the oldest p...

What’s the most difficult day hike we’ve ever done? Without question it was climbing to the top of Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in WA state. Mount St Helens is part of the Cascade Range: 13 volcanoes that lie i...

It’s time for our monthly mailbag episode again, where we answer questions about national parks and other public lands, as well as gear, camping and a broad range of travel-related topics. Some of the questions/topics we disc...

What’s in your backpack? To prevent emergencies from happening while you’re hiking, and to deal with any that might arise, it’s important to include items from the Ten Essentials list. The National Park Service encourages all...

Alaska’s eight national parks contain some of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the NPS system, but two of them, Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley, consist of nothing but millions of acres of wilderness. There are n...

One of the most beautiful state parks in the country, Utah’s Dead Horse Point State Park, offers jaw-dropping views and incredible hiking trails. You can also rent one of nine yurts for a camping experience that combines the ...

It’s time for our monthly mailbag episode again, where we answer questions about national parks and other public lands, gear, camping and a broad range of travel-related topics. Some of the questions/topics we discuss in this...

New Mexico has so many natural and historical wonders you’ll have to visit several times to see them all. But if you have a free week, might we suggest that you start in Albuquerque and make a big loop the way we did a few ye...

When we set out to visit all of the national parks, we drove past countless national monuments on our quest to check all the parks off our bucket list. Thankfully, in the years since we completed our original goal, we’ve retr...

Who hasn’t dreamed of seeing the tallest peak in North America close up? Denali, at 20,308 feet in elevation, and its namesake national park are breathtaking to behold. In this episode, we share stories from our two visits to...

Our first all-mailbag episode. Thank you for all the questions and comments you’ve sent to us about our podcast. We thought we’d try something new and dedicate an entire show to answering your questions. It was a lot of fun r...

In this episode we take you with us on a journey to six of our favorite state parks as we talk about what makes each of these parks unique and why we think they’re astounding. With more than ten thousand state parks spread ac...

Saddle up, partner! Apologies for the corny opening, but—spoiler alert—more horse-related puns are awaiting you in this episode. We’ve taken many treks into wilderness areas in the past ten years, yet most of them have been o...

Taking a wish out of Karen’s bucket, in 2016 we braved the hike down into the Grand Canyon to Havasu Falls with our friends John and Lolly. Fortunately, we both scored lodging in Supai Village, on the Havasupai Indian reserva...

In this episode we talk about some of our favorite hikes in the national parks. It took us a couple of tries to record this one because we had too many on our original “favorites” list. (We may have to do a follow-up episode ...