These destinations are deemed the highest coolness for old geezers in rather less than hiking trim but who are interested in going walkabout anyway.
Craters of the Moon National Park
High uniqueness due to ancient lava flows and likely a sharp sense of the mystical but questionable merit photographically except for B&W art shots. Due to the distance from Fort Worth at about 1350 miles, this one is a long drive for what is likely a short walk.
Sequoia National Park
High uniqueness due to the giant sequoias and likely high mysticism from being in their presence. It seems slow, reflective rambling about could be revealing but the long drive is intimidating.
Bryce Canyon
High uniqueness but unknown mysticism. Likely it's high since Bryce Canyon is said to be important in Indian history. This is aggressively beautiful as with few other places in the world and the starkness must be a stunning thing to see for yourself. The five-in-five deal which tours five Utah parks in five days is cool if you want to do it by bus and have lots of jingle (i.e. about $2000 for a singleton) but that's not at all the plan for the geezers.
Of the ones which have been suggested lately, this is likely the most practical but it's still a long run at a thousand miles or so.
Carlsbad Cavern
Unknown if this is unique as caves go but it has a huge reputation, in part for the enormous population of bats which live there and which leaves each evening and returns before morning. It's said to be fabulous to see them emerge by the millions and there is quite a bit of hiking through the cave but with unknown physical requirements.
This one easily the most practical for minimal dollars and short range with yield of possible high coolness. Maybe that's a trial run with Yevette before doing something more ambitious with Cadillac Man.
All of these possibilities offer hiking in loops to get back where you started. The Way of Saint James is a point-to-point hike and you go into it knowing you may never reach the other end of it. We perceive a fundamental spirituality in that which has nothing to do with religion but rather it's coming more into touch with that aspect of existence which is overshadowed by the general ground clutter of noise in the cities, etc.
Hiking in a loop is not so likely to be a pilgrimage so much as an exercise but that's still huge goodness, it's just not the same thing.
Craters of the Moon National Park
High uniqueness due to ancient lava flows and likely a sharp sense of the mystical but questionable merit photographically except for B&W art shots. Due to the distance from Fort Worth at about 1350 miles, this one is a long drive for what is likely a short walk.
Sequoia National Park
High uniqueness due to the giant sequoias and likely high mysticism from being in their presence. It seems slow, reflective rambling about could be revealing but the long drive is intimidating.
Bryce Canyon
High uniqueness but unknown mysticism. Likely it's high since Bryce Canyon is said to be important in Indian history. This is aggressively beautiful as with few other places in the world and the starkness must be a stunning thing to see for yourself. The five-in-five deal which tours five Utah parks in five days is cool if you want to do it by bus and have lots of jingle (i.e. about $2000 for a singleton) but that's not at all the plan for the geezers.
Of the ones which have been suggested lately, this is likely the most practical but it's still a long run at a thousand miles or so.
Carlsbad Cavern
Unknown if this is unique as caves go but it has a huge reputation, in part for the enormous population of bats which live there and which leaves each evening and returns before morning. It's said to be fabulous to see them emerge by the millions and there is quite a bit of hiking through the cave but with unknown physical requirements.
This one easily the most practical for minimal dollars and short range with yield of possible high coolness. Maybe that's a trial run with Yevette before doing something more ambitious with Cadillac Man.
All of these possibilities offer hiking in loops to get back where you started. The Way of Saint James is a point-to-point hike and you go into it knowing you may never reach the other end of it. We perceive a fundamental spirituality in that which has nothing to do with religion but rather it's coming more into touch with that aspect of existence which is overshadowed by the general ground clutter of noise in the cities, etc.
Hiking in a loop is not so likely to be a pilgrimage so much as an exercise but that's still huge goodness, it's just not the same thing.
6 comments:
Given the areas you're considering here, I'd say you have other more viable options available. I've been to Craters of the Moon and also been to Bryce. (Have never been to Sequoia, but I've been to Redwood which is the same thing - very tall trees.)
Craters of the Moon is way off the beaten path. It's a cool sight and I found it very photogenic, but it's also remarkably small. There's a bit of hiking available in there and you can get a pass at the ranger station to go off trail, but seriously, after you've climbed one cinder cone there's really no need to climb another.
CotM is not very far from Yellowstone, however. If you want surreal landscape, the ability to get off the beaten path, and more scenery than you can ever imagine, Yellowstone's your place. Late May is before tourist season (although parts of the park may be closed due to late snow or early bears.) Mid-September is ideal since again, it's after tourist season and the elk are in rut. If you haven't seen elk herds with bugling bulls at the head, you really need to add it to your list.
Carlsbad is nice. I've been there. The Natural Entrance tour is amazing, as is the general tour of the main cavern. It's only good for a day or two, though, and after that you've exhausted it. Now, the evening bat flight out of the natural entrance is a sight to behold. If you do go to Carlsbad, remember that White Sands is not far away, and - for the fun of it - neither is Roswell.
Bryce Canyon requires hiking on somewhat steep trails with loose rocks. The access road is at the top of the canyon, so to get the full effect you must hike down - way down - into the canyon and then, of course, hike back up. Given the elevation, that hike back up can be challenging.
As beautiful as Bryce can be, I much preferred Zion. It's in the same area, but your hiking is all at floor level as is the access road. Personally, I liked Zion better than the Grand Canyon.
Now, if you want diversity with amazing beauty, check out Moab, UT. It's the hub of an outdoor paradise. Arches and Canyonlands are both there, and the jetboat tours on the Colorado River are not to be missed. (I did a jeep and jetboat all-day tour that was the highlight of the trip.) You could spend weeks hiking in both Arches and Canyonlands. If you want to experience the ancient cultures, the number of petroglyphs in Canyonlands is astonishing. Moab's not that far by car from Mesa Verde, either, although that's basically a one-day tour of the cliff dwellings.
For what you're trying to achieve, I really recommend looking at what's around Moab.
Excellent review and Craters of the Moon sounds like I was anticipating so that's a scratch. Too far for short-term coolness.
Sequoias remain mixed since one sees 'lotta trees' but I see all kinds of life and I like sometimes to sit and just watch them, maybe an hour or so, to see what emerges. Creatures are moving around anyway but I don't notice them until I kind of let it happen. That still seems a potentially high value target but a long drive to get there.
Bryce Canyon sounds like what I had feared, it's not practical for perishable old geezers lest we become statistics in Hiker's Monthly with nothing more than the caption: dumb asses sure planned this one perfectly.
Sounds like Carlsbad is worthy with large coolness and easy proximity but the big splash is still in Utah although it's really, as you saw, in the Moab vicinity. It's just fantasy now because it's 99F on the exterior aspect so I ain't hikin' anyplace but that's a draw for a cave, tho, since that heat shouldn't get inside.
The temperature in the Cavern is 56° year round. It doesn't deviate by more than a degree or two. Outside, naturally, it's hot as hell. One of the really cool draws in Carlsbad, though, is the bat flight. It happens at dusk every night when millions of bats emerge from the cave at once. August and September are the best times since that's when the baby bats also join the flight. (No electronic devices of any kind permitted.)
https://www.nps.gov/cave/planyourvisit/bat_flight_program.htm
This video was taken in '08, before the prohibition on cameras and phones was implemented.
https://youtu.be/yLufIO5fZ6o
How's that for coolness?
That really would be exceptional and I guess some joker in the crowd has to talk about how chaos theory can explain why they don't crash into each other but Bat Brain up there has to do his best Bruce Lee to say, "Bats don't need to computers to figure it out."
It's a long run but locally there's the Botanical Gardens or the Zoo for meandering about without feeling like I'm supposed to be doing something. Unknown but there's probably a bigger zoo in Dallas and that sounds stupid right from the top. Airport is in-between so do it with a zoo as well. Should be bigger for better care of more animals. The Gardens sound like the move but it's too damn hot. It really is that dry heat although Yevette isn't too pleased about humidity. This feels like the Sahara after Cincinnati / Rhode Island and it's surprisingly more tolerable.
Roswell!! How fun is that!! By the way, I believe the three trails for sequoias are currently closed-but you can check that out at the National Parks website. Channel Islands look pretty cool. Oh by the way (big trees) trees around Hosea took a hit in last nights storm (tornado). The caverns sound like just the thing-wonderful!!
I heard Cincinnati got whacked and I'm so glad to see you didn't get whacked with it. Texas doesn't have so many trees so usually houses just float away in floods down here. Unknown if you would consider that an improvement, tho (larfs).
Roswell does have kind of pilgrimage quality around it and probably there's not much to see but it would be kind of a riot just being there.
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