Favorite National Park you have visited
Comments
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OtherDNC is making me feel like I gotta post kid pics now.
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Other
I feel like a trailblazer after posting pics of my daughters in the travels with Lebam thread.YellowSnow said:DNC is making me feel like I gotta post kid pics now.
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Yellowstone - BRB, Old Faithful
Haha forgot to mention all the Asians when we were at Yellowstone, especially at Old Faithful (and a pretty good bit at Grand Prismatic). They definitely love our NPs.Edwin_Bambino said:
The Chinese and Japanese tourists at yellowstone were absolutely wild. They would roll up in these big tourist busses doing road trips of the country run mostly out of Vancouver BC. They would take a few pictures and then hop right back on. They mostly thought Yellowstone was more like a zoo than a national park and treated the animals like they were tame. Everyone knows bears are dangerous but I think they didn’t realize that Buffalo kill more people in the park than anything else and they would get within 10 feet of them, I never went past 50. To be fair you would see a lot of dumb fat Americans do the same thing. A big news story in the park when I was there, a married Japanese couple legit put their toddler on a wild elk who was just chillen on some grass in one of the tourist areas for a photo op. Kid didn’t get hurt but it still blows my mind.AtomicDawg said:
Tell that to the Asians with cameras. I know my place.creepycoug said:
They should.AtomicDawg said:
Grizzlies scare the shit out of me. 2 were in the meadow across from Jenny lake turn off. Saw them safely from the road.dnc said:
I've seen moose pretty close at Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Never seen a grizz in the wild. How close/scared were you? Were you strapped?AtomicDawg said:Angels landing at Zion is my favorite hike of any.
Arches is the most unique of any imo. Crazy rock formations and a lot of them look like huge dildos which is always fun.
Grand Teton though is my favorite in the country because of the mountains, lakes and wildlife. Seeing moose and grizzlies up close is awesome. -
Yellowstone - BRB, Old Faithful
Kid pic trailblazer bump for @CFetters_Nacho_Loverdnc said:Obviously all national parks are best seen outside of your car, but most of the western parks are at least worthwhile to visit even if you're just passing through. These South Florida parks are completely different, they aren't really drivable (you physically can't drive to Dry Tortugas, can barely enter Biscayne by car and while there are plenty of roads through the Everglades you really don't see anything worthwhile).
Also unlike the western parks they aren't especially hikable. Everglades is the only one where it's really an option and I wasn't especially keen on taking three people I'd be responsible for keeping alive out into a gator and python infested river.
So unlike basically every other experience I've ever had with my Dad in an NP, we invested heavily in some professional tours. I already mentioned the ferry to Dry Tortugas. We also had a boat tour scheduled to some islands in Biscayne Bay. Unfortunately my daughter had a cough and they were extra COVID cautious so we didn't get to do that one. That left us essentially walking out on a jetty into Biscayne Bay from the VC. We saw a ton of iguanas (non native species) and plenty of fish. Encountered a number of dudes who could have passed for the darkness brothers and looked like they would have played for the U 20 years ago. @creepycoug. Wasn't a single @dflea or @YellowSnow cracka fishing out there, all brothas.
So Biscayne was kind of a bust as we only scratched the surface on it. Definitely a place I'd like to explore more.
Did get a shot of Pops and the kids I can actually share there.
Now to the easily the best part of the trip. Everglades National Park is huge, iconic, unique and yet not entirely what I expected. I've always associated the Everglades with gators and airboats, and there are plenty of both. But there's a ton more to it than that.
Everglades was actually the first NP set aside for environmental/ecosystem reasons rather than scenic ones. And most of it is not what I would call especially beautiful. It is absolutely full of animal life though, and a lot of animals you're not going to see anywhere else in the NP system. Certainly not anywhere out west.
As the third largest park in the lower 48, Everglades actually preserves 7 unique ecosystems, rather than just the obvious swamp I've always associated with it. We got to check out a number of them:
Tram tour through the poorly named Shark Valley (this is what most would think of when thinking of the Everglades). Saw a number of gators here, a black snake of some sort (much smaller than a python), a few turtles and a crapload of wading birds. Most exciting experience was at the one stop the tram makes there was a nest of baby gators we were able to view from a distance. I took the kids over there, we looked, and then we heard a low growling sound. I was curious as hell but smart enough to gtfo there. Told the tour guide about it and he said "yeah that was Mama letting you know you were too close to her babies."
My son swears the guide is wrong and it was a Florida Panther who was babysitting for the Mama Gator.
CSB
We also did the classic airboat tour. Lots more wading birds and gators, and saw a bunch of turtles on this as well (softshell and hardshell). I had done an airboat tour in November years ago and the wildlife was much more plentiful so it was a bit of a disappointment for me. Apparently the water levels are lower November to April and so you see a lot more critters then. Summer is the wet season and they have a lot more water to hide in. But the other three had never been on an airboat and were very impressed with what we saw.
But the highlight for all four of us was not these more classic Everglades experiences, it was what did on the Everglades coast. The glades includes large chunks of the south Florida coastline were the river of grass meets the sea. This brackish environment is absolute gold for wildlife. We did two tour boats out here - first on the southwest side through 10,000 islands and secondly at the far south edge at Flamingo. Both were extremely worthwhile.
The 10,000 Islands trip was easily the best though. We went out amongst the mangrove island (basically a floating tree that builds a root down below the water line and creates it's own island) in this extremely shallow brackish water and honestly my big hope was to see a manatee. We did see one although we didn't get a very good look. On that end it was a bust.
But we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins who decided to ride in our wake for a good 5-10 minutes and it was probably the most fun my kids have ever had. Hell up there with the most fun me and pops have had too. Pics don't do it justice but this site doesn't have a good mechanism for uploading video so it's the best you'll get.
Also saw tons of seabirds: Ospreys and kites and plenty of others.
My son had one big goal for the trip that hadn't been accomplished - he wanted to see a crocodile. So we added an extra trip and went to the aforementioned Flamingo for another boat tour with the express purpose of seeing some crocs. We did see four or five (none especially close). We also had a much closer encounter with a couple manatees this time around including a baby one.
Both kids completed some assignments and became Everglades Junior Park Rangers which they were very proud of. My son was most excited to have seen the crocodiles, my daughter fell in love with the manatees. The dolphins were far and away the highlight for me.
All told I think we spent about 2 1/2 days exploring the Everglades.
Worth all the tim and every pemmy.
If you ever get the chance to visit it's easily my favorite one to visit of any that I've seen east of the Rockies. -
Yellowstone - BRB, Old Faithful
Your kid celebrates Fatass Day?dnc said:Oh, and my only daughter gave me this that morning to celebrate. Hope your kids gave you the honor, respect and unintentional comedy you deserve for Father's Day as well!
#RaisingBullies
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Yellowstone - BRB, Old Faithful
Even better.PurpleThrobber said:
Your kid celebrates Fatass Day?dnc said:Oh, and my only daughter gave me this that morning to celebrate. Hope your kids gave you the honor, respect and unintentional comedy you deserve for Father's Day as well!
#RaisingBullies
She celebrates me on Fatass Day.
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Other
Biscayne Bay, where the lazy @creepycoug 's sleep all day.dnc said:
Kid pic trailblazer bump for @CFetters_Nacho_Loverdnc said:Obviously all national parks are best seen outside of your car, but most of the western parks are at least worthwhile to visit even if you're just passing through. These South Florida parks are completely different, they aren't really drivable (you physically can't drive to Dry Tortugas, can barely enter Biscayne by car and while there are plenty of roads through the Everglades you really don't see anything worthwhile).
Also unlike the western parks they aren't especially hikable. Everglades is the only one where it's really an option and I wasn't especially keen on taking three people I'd be responsible for keeping alive out into a gator and python infested river.
So unlike basically every other experience I've ever had with my Dad in an NP, we invested heavily in some professional tours. I already mentioned the ferry to Dry Tortugas. We also had a boat tour scheduled to some islands in Biscayne Bay. Unfortunately my daughter had a cough and they were extra COVID cautious so we didn't get to do that one. That left us essentially walking out on a jetty into Biscayne Bay from the VC. We saw a ton of iguanas (non native species) and plenty of fish. Encountered a number of dudes who could have passed for the darkness brothers and looked like they would have played for the U 20 years ago. @creepycoug. Wasn't a single @dflea or @YellowSnow cracka fishing out there, all brothas.
So Biscayne was kind of a bust as we only scratched the surface on it. Definitely a place I'd like to explore more.
Did get a shot of Pops and the kids I can actually share there.
Now to the easily the best part of the trip. Everglades National Park is huge, iconic, unique and yet not entirely what I expected. I've always associated the Everglades with gators and airboats, and there are plenty of both. But there's a ton more to it than that.
Everglades was actually the first NP set aside for environmental/ecosystem reasons rather than scenic ones. And most of it is not what I would call especially beautiful. It is absolutely full of animal life though, and a lot of animals you're not going to see anywhere else in the NP system. Certainly not anywhere out west.
As the third largest park in the lower 48, Everglades actually preserves 7 unique ecosystems, rather than just the obvious swamp I've always associated with it. We got to check out a number of them:
Tram tour through the poorly named Shark Valley (this is what most would think of when thinking of the Everglades). Saw a number of gators here, a black snake of some sort (much smaller than a python), a few turtles and a crapload of wading birds. Most exciting experience was at the one stop the tram makes there was a nest of baby gators we were able to view from a distance. I took the kids over there, we looked, and then we heard a low growling sound. I was curious as hell but smart enough to gtfo there. Told the tour guide about it and he said "yeah that was Mama letting you know you were too close to her babies."
My son swears the guide is wrong and it was a Florida Panther who was babysitting for the Mama Gator.
CSB
We also did the classic airboat tour. Lots more wading birds and gators, and saw a bunch of turtles on this as well (softshell and hardshell). I had done an airboat tour in November years ago and the wildlife was much more plentiful so it was a bit of a disappointment for me. Apparently the water levels are lower November to April and so you see a lot more critters then. Summer is the wet season and they have a lot more water to hide in. But the other three had never been on an airboat and were very impressed with what we saw.
But the highlight for all four of us was not these more classic Everglades experiences, it was what did on the Everglades coast. The glades includes large chunks of the south Florida coastline were the river of grass meets the sea. This brackish environment is absolute gold for wildlife. We did two tour boats out here - first on the southwest side through 10,000 islands and secondly at the far south edge at Flamingo. Both were extremely worthwhile.
The 10,000 Islands trip was easily the best though. We went out amongst the mangrove island (basically a floating tree that builds a root down below the water line and creates it's own island) in this extremely shallow brackish water and honestly my big hope was to see a manatee. We did see one although we didn't get a very good look. On that end it was a bust.
But we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins who decided to ride in our wake for a good 5-10 minutes and it was probably the most fun my kids have ever had. Hell up there with the most fun me and pops have had too. Pics don't do it justice but this site doesn't have a good mechanism for uploading video so it's the best you'll get.
Also saw tons of seabirds: Ospreys and kites and plenty of others.
My son had one big goal for the trip that hadn't been accomplished - he wanted to see a crocodile. So we added an extra trip and went to the aforementioned Flamingo for another boat tour with the express purpose of seeing some crocs. We did see four or five (none especially close). We also had a much closer encounter with a couple manatees this time around including a baby one.
Both kids completed some assignments and became Everglades Junior Park Rangers which they were very proud of. My son was most excited to have seen the crocodiles, my daughter fell in love with the manatees. The dolphins were far and away the highlight for me.
All told I think we spent about 2 1/2 days exploring the Everglades.
Worth all the tim and every pemmy.
If you ever get the chance to visit it's easily my favorite one to visit of any that I've seen east of the Rockies. -
Other
We celebrate here in my house!PurpleThrobber said:
Your kid celebrates Fatass Day?dnc said:Oh, and my only daughter gave me this that morning to celebrate. Hope your kids gave you the honor, respect and unintentional comedy you deserve for Father's Day as well!
#RaisingBullies -
Other
Yo, Semite!alumni94 said:I’m currently in Yosemite.
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Other
@DerekJohnson El Capitan de Hardcore HuskyDerekJohnson said:
Yo, Semite!alumni94 said:I’m currently in Yosemite.
