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Tag: twin buttes

Plateau of Fire: Yellowstone National Park

Tuesday – Saturday, August 19-23, 2025

Up until about a week ago Diane and I were planning to spend the latter part of this week backpacking in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, however some things came up that prevented us from going on a longer backpacking trip at this time, so we decided to change course and throw together a last minute trip to Yellowstone National Park instead. Neither of us had ever been to Yellowstone before and I’ve certainly always avoided the park because of the massive crowds it attracts, but I guess it was finally time to give the world’s first National Park a shot. So late last week I reserved a site at the Bridge Bay Campground for three nights and then came up with a rough itinerary that focused on visiting some of the areas around the lower Grand Loop Road, entering the park via Cody and the East Entrance and then leaving through the South Entrance into Jackson Hole. I had never even thought about planning a trip to Yellowstone before last week or been this far north in Wyoming before, and I had to consult a lot of maps and guidebooks to help me figure out the layout of the park rather quickly so our itinerary would make some sense.

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Returning to the White Sands of the Tularosa Basin

White Sands National Park: Same White Sand, Different Name
My 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico
Valentines Day | Friday & Saturday, February 14-15, 2020

Three years ago Diane and I had visited White Sands National Monument for the first time while we were traveling through the deserts of the southwest on our Honeymoon Adventure. We really enjoyed our experience camping within the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, so when I started planning my 40th birthday trip I had considered returning for another overnight visit and added it to the possible list of places we could go. While it wasn’t high up on my list at first, as soon as I found out that White Sands National Monument officially became the 62nd designated National Park on December 20, 2019 when the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 was signed into law, I quickly moved it up on the list since I figured it was probably going to start getting even busier in the future now that it’s a full-fledged National Park!

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The Painted Desert: Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Wood, Potsherds & Petroglyphs
My 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico
Friday – Sunday, February 7-9, 2020

This year I turn 40, so I decided to take the week of my birthday off from work so I could spend it hiking and backpacking with Diane in Arizona and New Mexico where it would hopefully be a little warmer and sunnier than it has been in Grand Junction this winter. I have been planning this trip for months and was originally going to start the trip off with a tour of the rock art and ruins in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, but unfortunately those plans fell apart shortly before the trip started, so instead we ended up spending the entire first weekend of the trip exploring Petrified Forest National Park since I knew there would be plenty to do there to keep us busy.

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