When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
This was our final day on the Big Island, which was a bittersweet moment. We absolutely loved our time here, and of course, there was so much we didn’t have the opportunity to do. However, we packed up our things and decided to do a few extra excursions before our late afternoon flight to make the most of our remaining hours on the Big Island.
Read MoreOur fourth day began at Waipi’o Valley, or the Valley of the Kings. Aptly named, the valley was the home for Hawaiian alibi (royalty) and the boyhood home of Kamehameha I (one of the central figures in Hawaiian history); in 1780, this valley was where King Kamehameha gained the support of the war god and set out to unite the Hawaiian islands under his rule. The valley was once heavily populated; however, the 1946 tsunami destroyed most of the community. Now, there are still a small number of people living in the valley, and it’s important to remember that you are entering their community when visiting this trail.
Read MoreHawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden is tucked away at the end of a scenic drive outside Hilo. The botanical garden was created somewhat accidentally when a couple vacationing in Hawai’i decided to retire and move to the Big Island. Dan Lutkenhouse Sr. and his wife Pauline purchased 17 acres in the late 70s and fell in love with the natural beauty of Onomea Valley. To preserve this land, they established the garden, carving the trails out of jungle overgrown with invasive species and undergrowth. The Lutkenhouses collected and planted over 2,500 tropical and subtropical plants, both native to Hawai’i and species from around the globe, including some brought back from their own personal trips. The garden is now run by their children, who wish to use the space to create a larger hub for sustainability education and climate change.
Read MoreOn our third day on the Big Island, we decided to do what we do best and visit a national park. Volcanoes National Park includes some of the most unique topography we’ve ever hiked, as well as two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Kilauea had been erupting from December to May of 2021, but there was no active lava flowing in the park when we visited in July.
Read MoreOur first day on the Big Island was dedicated solely to snorkeling (with a dash of cultural history thrown in), and our first stop was Nopo’opo’o Beach Park. This spot is located at the southern end of Kealakekua Bay, where Captain James Cook initiated European contact with the Big Island when he landed here in 1779. Across the bay is the Captain Cook monument, which marks where Cook was killed a month later after he and his crew exploited the Hawaiians’ reverence of the Europeans (possibly even believing that Cook was the Hawaiian god Lono) and eventually murdered over 30 Hawaiians. Still remaining here are the ruins of Hiki'au Heiau (an ancient Hawaiian temple site), a temple dedicated to Lono, the god of agriculture and fertility of the land.
Read MoreIn the winter, RMNP (like other national parks that receive heavy snowfall) closes many of its roads, limiting the access points to trailheads. Additionally, it’s important to check the NPS website daily before your trip because Colorado is prone to wildfires, which can further restrict trail availability. Based on the sections of the park closed due to a wildfire, winter access, and our lack of desire to wake up incredibly early for a 10 mile hike, we settled on Ouzel Falls in the southeast part of the park.
Read MoreSo here you go: the year 2020, the year of the pandemic, of neighborhood walks and outdoor picnics with friends, of Zoom Christmas and birthdays and just about everything else, of working from home and getting all the cat cuddles, of reading books for fun again and rewatching Avatar the Last Airbender three times and creating elaborate escape-room-style scavenger hunts for Ryan, of love and grace and resilience, despite it all being too much.
Read MoreThe park has many trails to hike, from easy half miles down to the falls viewing area (accessible by parking lot), to 10.8 miles through Sheltowee Trace and ending at the Laurel River. Since my brother and I hadn’t been to the park since we were young and wanted good views of the falls, we opted for the Eagle Falls trail, a fairly easy 1.5-mile trail that gives plenty of views of Cumberland Falls, takes you along the river and through lush forest, and ends in Eagle Falls.
Read MoreRyan and I began our second day in the park with a hike up Stony Man. This is the second highest peak in the park, and the most northerly of the Blue Ridge Mountains, at 4,000 feet. This hike was marked by a ton of great vistas along the trail, culminating in a rocky lookout point from which you could get a stunning view of the mountains. The morning mist was clinging to the valleys, but it was clear enough to get a stunning view of the town as well.
Read MoreShenandoah National Park is in Virginia, encompassing some of the iconic Blue Ridge Mountain range, and this was our first time visiting. The park is long and skinny, Skyline Drive skirting the ridges of the mountains as it winds upwards, providing beautiful vistas along the drive. The park’s history is marked by struggle between the government of Virginia and those who had built their lives on this land, with forced evictions devastating families. Once the park was established in 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps not only helped restore the land and build the park’s infrastructure, but they also burned cabins of former residents to prevent their return.
Read MoreI moved to Minnesota the summer after graduating from undergrad and getting engaged, and I never anticipated how beautiful and difficult it would be. I was 21, and the longest I’d spent away from Kentucky was four months while I studied abroad. But here I was, leaving all my friends and family behind to move twelve hours away to some northern state with which my only familiarity came from Marshall Erickson in How I Met Your Mother.
Read MorePoint Lobos State Natural Reserve is called the “crown jewel” of the California state park system. It’s famous for the rocks that create headlands and inlets along its coast, as well as its biodiversity. The Carmel submarine canyon lies just north of the reserve, providing cold, nutrient-rich water to support a variety of marine and land life.
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