Tag: Mountains

Mashley’s Adventures – The Conclusion of A Quest

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Current Location: Campton, NH

The journey is difficult, immense.
We will travel as far as we can, but cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or to learn all that we hunger to know.
~ Loren Eiseley

~~~~~//~~~~~

After our stop in Rhode Island, we continued north to Maine and into our final park for this particular quest, Acadia. It was awfully exciting to cross over that last state border and then enter Park land! Last year, our goal was to visit New England in the fall, to see the fabled colors of the changing leaves. And, seeing the variety of trees displayed across the hills, we can only imagine that they live up to the descriptions. However, we’ve really been loving the underrated spring colors – vibrant shades of green with splashes of white, pink and purple as the flowering trees are blooming and showing off. Plus, since we visited just before Memorial Day there were only a handful of other visitors in the area. Some of the stores and campgrounds were not yet open, but with more of the park to ourselves we were more than satisfied with the trade-off!

The moment we crossed into Maine. Last state!

Heading into the Mount Desert Island portion of Acadia, we parked at the visitor center and hopped on our bicycles to tour the gravel carriage roads through the park. We pedaled past some amazing views of and over Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond and ate lunch overlooking Bubble Pond. Back at the RV we traded pedal bikes for the motor bike and worked our way down half of the park loop and back up through the town of Bar Harbor. It was finally check-in time at the campground so we headed that way to get settled for the night.

Bridge along the Carriage Roads

View from the bicycles of Eagle Lake in Acadia.

Farther along on the bicycles we came to Jordan Pond.

Cadillac Mountain is the first place in the continental US to experience dawn, so we had to be there for the experience! Unfortunately, since the sun rises just before 5 that meant that our alarms sounded all too early and we had to hop on the motorcycle for the chilly ride. Hitting snooze too many times, we just barely made it for the sunrise itself, though the colors in the sky during our approach were spectacular and well worth the early start. It was a cloudy day, which kept it cool and limited views but made for dramatic, scarlet colors during the sunrise. Once the sun was up we stayed on the peak while making tea and eating a light breakfast. After eating we hopped back on the motorcycle to complete the loop road and explore a bit more before migrating over to another section of the park, the Schoodic Peninsula, the quieter and less visited area of Acadia.

Sun rising on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park

Schoodic Woods Campground is only a couple years old and we really enjoyed being somewhere that looked new! It’s probably one of our favorite campgrounds of the last couple years with big, private sites and easy access to biking and hiking trails. We were also among the first to pull in this year, since it was opening day of the season, and the rangers and volunteers were in exceptionally good spirits. After settling in we grabbed our bags and headed out to explore some of the nearby hiking trails. The next morning we set out on bicycles to check out the one-way loop around the peninsula. It runs along the coastline, so we got to enjoy crashing waves and views of the mountains across the harbor almost the whole ride. Rain was moving in for the afternoon, so it was overcast and windy – the cool temperatures and threatening rain kept us moving along. We stopped to explore the visitor center at the Schoodic Institute Education and Research Center, learning about the Naval Communications Base that was there until just recently and the various education opportunities afforded. The wind seemed to be picking up so we beelined back to the RV. Just after returning we noticed the first few raindrops falling, so our timing worked out quite well!

View from one of the Hike-In sites at Schoodic Woods Campground

Winter Harbor

Watching the angry sea crash onto the granite coastline on Schoodic Point

Schoodic Point

View from the Park Loop Road on the Schoodic Peninsula

* all 47 National Parks in the Contiguous US!!
* each of the lower 48 States!
* ~55,000 miles traveled

Our visit wasn’t nearly long enough, but we forgot to take into account Memorial Day Weekend when making our reservation and the impending hoards of campers flocking to the campgrounds… so we ended up heading into New Hampshire, aiming for the White Mountain National Forest. We didn’t have high expectations of finding a campsite, but luckily did manage to find a delightful spot in a forest campground off the Kancamagus Highway (I still don’t know how to pronounce this), where we tucked in for the weekend. It seems that we beat the bulk of the crowd. Whew! Saturday morning we hopped on the motorcycle for a trip along the White Mountains Trail, a national scenic byway. It heads along the Kancamagus Highway through the mountains. As in Maine, the views are spectacular, with the spring foliage and flowers exceeding expectations.

The White Mountains in NH

Just above Lower Falls in the White Mountains

A roadside cascade in White Mountains National Forest

We’ve enjoyed the rural sections of New England more than expected. It reminds us of the Pacific Northwest a little, except less crowded, which greatly appeals to us. We do hear horrible things about the bugs, which we’ve been able to miss thus far between cool temperatures and windy days, so there’s always that to consider.

A completed journey and full map – well mostly, just ignore Hawaii and Alaska down there – adventures for another date.

Our next short adventure is in the works – having one of our nieces join us for a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. While in the Kentucky area, it made sense to pick her up from Tennessee en route to Maine, though we ended up moving too far north for that to be feasible. Now we’re meandering south for a couple days break before sharing an adventure with her. Maybe we’ll spark in her some wanderlust and a love for our nation’s public lands 🙂

Longer-term plans are still in the works, with a variety of options being considered. Until then, we’re basking in our completed quest of visiting each of the Lower 48 states and the National Parks there-in. If there is one thing we’ve learned from our journey, it’s that there is still so much to explore and our options are limitless.

Woohoo!
Matthew & Ashley

Mashley’s Adventures – Appalachian Country

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Current Location: Smyrna, DE

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
~ Marcel Proust

~~~~~//~~~~~

This week’s update is a little delayed (meaning it’s over 2 weeks late, oops!) so we have a few things to share with you. As of the last email we had just surprise visited our families in Kentucky (which was really fun!). We finished up our time there with a huge RV spring cleaning, both inside and out. I went through and reorganized many of our storage compartments and cabinets, goodwilled some items, and deep cleaned the window crevices to remove 46 national parks worth of sand and dirt that had accumulated. The NPS tells you to take nothing and leave only with memories, but we could have made a small mouse-sized beach complete with dunes with all the sand I found hiding in odd nooks and crannies. Matthew handled most of the outside, and it was no better. Having spent the last few months driving through desert sands, mountain sleet, and bug clouds, our front end looked like a morbid modern art painting. When we left Moab, the red dust blowing about had stuck to all the bug explosions on the front of our rig, creating a very interesting and colorful pattern of splatters. Very embarrassing (for me anyway). All this to say, we were really dirty and spent a lot of time cleaning. Now I can look at our home unashamedly (at least for a little while, until the bug swarms start again).

C-L-E-A-N!!!!

We left west Kentucky and moved east to Mammoth Cave National Park. Being Kentucky natives, we have visited the cave in the past, so for this visit we decided it would be fun to explore the above ground section of the park. There is a lot of very nice hiking and bicycling that we really enjoyed. The Mammoth Railway Bike Path ran right by our campground so we spent an excellent day enjoying some pedaling on it’s wooded, gravel path. Other than one heart pounding moment on the trail when Matthew and I almost ran over a snake it was a very pleasant ride. There were scattered thunderstorms during our visit, so we also played about a thousand rounds of UNO. This UNO marathon sparked an idea and Matthew suggested we start a Lifetime UNO Tournament (where we will keep a running score until one of us dies). Right now Matthew is winning, but I have at least 40 years to regain my lead, so the odds seem pretty good.

the River Styx Spring at Mammoth Cave

the Echo River Spring at Mammoth Cave

CCC stone cabin that housed chlorination plant

On the railroad bike & hike trail

From Mammoth Cave we made an overnight stop in Lexington, KY to visit some dear friends. We had a blast catching up with them and also got to indulge in our most favorite donut/coffee shop of all time, North Lime Coffee and Donuts. If you ever go through Lexington you should stop just to go there. Best. Donuts. Ever. We may have gone twice during our 16 hour stay in the area; there is no such thing as shame when it comes to North Lime.

visiting North Lime Lex

  • 46 National Parks (of 47 in the Contiguous US; Holy Cow we’re almost there!!)
  • 40 States (of the lower 48, woot-woot!)

On to West Virginia we headed and happily stumbled upon New River Gorge National River. What a beautiful area amongst the rolling Appalachian Mountains! We spent a night here and motorcycled down in to the gorge the next day for a little refreshing scenery before heading on to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

New River Gorge bridge in West VA – a world-record holder

The coolest bathroom

At Loft Mountain Campground in Shenandoah we snagged a superb campsite, right on the edge of the ridge with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and the Appalachian Trail about 10 steps down from our site, separated only by a thin line of trees. The sunsets from here were stunning, with the layers of blue and purple rolling mountains draped against the backdrop of a glowing pink sky and orange sun. Complete with a gentle breeze, the smell of moist air and spicy pine, and the chittering song of birds. This part of the country may not be as dramatic and awe-inspiring as the West, but it has a quiet, subtle beauty that is all it’s own.

sunset reflection

Sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah

Sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah

We spent 4 days in Shenandoah, enjoying some motorcycling along Skyline Drive, a day of hiking on the Appalachian Trail, and generally just absorbing the pretty views and sunsets. By happy chance, we even met a fellow nomad at a little coffee shop called The Blue Elk Coffeeshop in Elkton, VA while doing some online route research. He and his wife are wedding photographers, originally from the area, and currently traveling and living full-time in their truck camper. It was fun to sit and chat about our common interests in RVs, travel, and coffee (you can see some of their beautiful photos on instagram @thesearchers.co).

Hiking on the AT

lunch on the AT, overlooking Skyline Drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains

Now we’re on the road again, headed over to Maryland and Delaware for a bit of a U.S. history lesson.

Putzing along,

Ashley & Matthew

Mashley’s Adventures – Mountains and Hot Springs and a pause

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Current Location: Benton, KY

You rest now. Rest for longer than you are used to resting. Make a stillness around you, a field of peace. Your best work, the best time of your life will grow out of this peace.
~ Peter Heller

~~~~~//~~~~~

Looking at the weather last week, we realized that we had only a one day window to visit Rocky Mountain National Park without being snowed in. So we sped up to make it in time and enjoyed a day’s visit. Though it was sunny and dry down at the visitor center as we climbed up into the mountains snow covered the ground. We layered up and headed out onto the snow-covered trail to Nymph and Dream Lake. It was easy enough to follow existing tracks and we quickly arrived at Nymph Lake, enjoying the view of the mountains around us and the empty trail. We walked around the frozen lake and on to Dream Lake, though we turned around before reaching the end since it had snowed over-night and the trail was far less obvious and it had begun snowing, obscuring any view. Almost back at the parking lot we checked out what we could see of Bear Lake.

heading to Nymph Lake

rocky outcrop above Nymph Lake

next to Dream Lake

hiking beside Dream Lake

After lunch we hiked up to the nearly frozen Alberta Falls and then explored the open roads of the park, enjoying the views of the mountains and across the valleys.

elk in the valley

Since weather was moving in we headed on, trying to beat the worst of Denver’s evening traffic. Still not sure if we managed that, but we ended up working our way south, back through part of Kansas (still not our, um, favorite place) and then into and across Oklahoma, which we found much more visually interesting.

crossing Route 66 in Oklahoma

It seems that the storms were also migrating east, it was very windy. The worst gas mileage on the trip thus far was on the nice flat Kansas land. The wind, coming right at us, pushed us back, dropping our mileage. Ironically, we had the best for the prior tank, climbing through the mountains.

On we headed to Hot Springs, AR. In the park, we hiked up Peak Trail to the Mountain Tower and back down to explore Bathhouse Row. It’s a different type of park, set right inside the city. Thus, we didn’t have high expectations, but we ended up really enjoying it. Touring Fordyce Bathhouse was fascinating. It’s been restored and shows off the “state-of-the-art” technology and methods used in the 1920s. The Ozark Bathhouse holds the art collection, mostly creations of past Artists in Residence. Matthew really enjoyed seeing the work that’s been created from the program – and was encouraged to see that “I could do that!”

hot spring water

showing off on the Promenade

Ashley found her dream shower – 17 nozzles!

lifesized – not something Matthew feels like he could do

fresh hot spring water

  • 44 National Parks (of 47 in the Contiguous US)
  • 38 States
  • 6.3 mpg, the worst yet!

And since then we’ve been taking a break – it feels like we’ve constantly been on the go since leaving North Carolina in February. So we’re ready for a break. After visiting Hot Springs we moved on a bit more and surprised both our families by appearing in their driveways. What fun it was to get to catch them off-guard and to spend a few days visiting. We’re currently parked and sitting still, doing a deep-clean of the RV (inside and out), catching up on some maintenance, and generally enjoying a bit of a break while soaking up time with loved ones.

In a few more days we’ll continue on, beginning the final leg of our trip, the loop up through the north east. Until then, we’re enjoying a bit of recuperation.

Catching our breath,

Matthew & Ashley

Mashley’s Adventures – Canyons and Contemplations

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Painted Wall in Black Canyon

Current Location: Monument, CO

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence on the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.
~ Seneca

~~~~~//~~~~~

Even though it’s only been a few days since our last update, we’ve still managed to cover some ground – changing states and visiting another National Park! Over the weekend we rode into the northern portion of Canyonlands called Island in the Sky for another visit and then on Sunday we packed up and headed out.

We headed east, returning to Colorado in order to visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It’s a relatively new park, only having been instated in 1999, though it’s been a National Momument since the mid 1900s. Even though there isn’t snow on the ground and the roads are all open, it’s still a bit early in the season to visit. On the one hand, that means that we’ve been avoiding crowds and it’s been peacefully quiet, but that’s because it’s been chilly during our visit. We hopped on the motorcycle for a trip down into the canyon on the East Portal Road to ride alongside the Gunnison River. It was quite a steep ride down, Ashley kept sliding forward on her seat! Being inside the canyon is a unique experience. It’s beautiful, but also intimidating. Like being inside a slot canyon that has teeth!

At the bottom of Black Canyon, next to the Gunnison River

The Gunnison River

After checking out the visitor center and watching the park movie about the early exploration of the canyon (including the use of inflatable mattresses to raft the river!) we continued to the end of the road to check out the overlooks. Unfortunately, the weather was threatening rain/snow so we didn’t stay out for long and retreated to the RV to warm back up. While the weather wasn’t as bad as predicted, there were some snow patches still sticking in the morning, though they melted quite quickly.

  • 42 National Parks (of 47 in the Contiguous US)
  • 16% grade on the road
  • 36 States

Pictures fail to capture the colors, depth, and general sensation of the canyon.

Looking down into Black Canyon

These last few months everyone’s been asking about our upcoming plans, both for the next leg of our quest and the”what’s next” after we finish. As for the next leg of the quest, we have only a handful of states and National Parks left to visit and the current plan is to finish visiting them all by the end of July. After exploring what we can of Rocky Mountain National Park here in Colorado, we can head back east through Oklahoma and Arkansas (Hot Springs NP) then to Mammoth Cave before working our way up through New England to Maine and back down to Savannah, GA in July for a family get-together. Three weeks later we have a 25-day permit to hike the John Muir Trail in California.

We’ve considered spending more time here in the west, exploring more deeply and finding a job to add more to the gas fund, but with the fixed family meet-up in July and the JMT in August, we’d be pushing our completion date into next year to avoid winter in New England. While we don’t want to rush to finish, or feel like we’re simply checking places off a list, we are eager to begin the next stage of our adventure. We’ve currently visited more parks than states, which means that we have a lot of driving ahead of us, more miles than exploration. That makes our final leg fairly straightforward to complete and gives us the option to count the JMT as the grand finale (and with Mt. Whitney being both the finish line and the highest point in the lower 48, literally ending on a high point!)

And then we get to begin our next adventure in life. After much pondering, consideration, and discussion we’ve decided to… wait and see! We have lots of ideas about what sounds best but are currently delaying the decision. It’s hard not to think about it since we’ve had so many questions from famiy and friends, but part of our rationale is that we get lost in the debate and forget to enjoy our current location and adventure over concern about the future. By focusing too much on future plans we forget to enjoy and appreciated the present, and the amazing things we are experiencing at this very moment. It’s a hard balance that we are continually striving to make. We have put out some feelers looking into future options, so we’re not ignoring it completely, but at the moment we’re aiming to appreciate the amazing journey that we’re currently on.

Adventuring appreciatively,

Matthew & Ashley

Mashley’s Adventures – Deserts, Mountains, and Caves

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The cacti were blooming

Current Location: Mayhill, NM

A traveler! I love this title. A traveler is to be reverenced as such. His profession is the best symbol of our life. Going from ________ to _______; is the history of every one of us.
~ Henry David Thoreau

~~~~~//~~~~~

Wowzers, has it been a full week! Our last email was sent just before losing any kind of signal for a few days as we headed into Big Bend National Park. Though we didn’t get to back-country camp, we lucked into a great spot in the Rio Grande Village Campground – tucked right into the trees on the back of the campground with a beautiful view of Mexico’s Maderas Del Carmen. It was private with plenty of space, and was in the “generator free” zone so nice and quiet! We saw a javelina and a handful of roadrunners in the campground throughout our stay.

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