Monday, September 5th
Grand Canyon National Park is about 270 miles or a 4-hour drive from Las Vegas.
We woke up early on Monday and headed to the South Rim, the most used entrance of the park and the easiest to get to. An estimated 5 million people visit this park each year and Jeff and I wanted to stay away from all of them! The best way to do that? Hike.
The Itinerary for our trip was planned and even color coded by Jeff. I swear planning is ingrained in his DNA, but I reap the benefits so I certainly cannot complain. I also posted our itinerary here but thought I’d make it easier to find for those of you who aren’t going to dig through every post on the blog. We left Raleigh on August 31st and returned on September 10th. We fit a ton of amazing things into one trip, and now we know which parks we can’t wait to go back to, and which parks we might skip on our next pass. Read our other posts to find out why!
So by now you’ve seen our photos, and hopefully, read some of the stories about our amazing 10 day National Parks trip. You may have even read my post about Jeff’s itinerary and budget goals. THIS post is to show you how much we REALLY spent, and give you an idea of how much saving you’ll need to do to take a similar trip.
Sunday, September 4th
After spending some time at Tenaya Lake in Yosemite, we hopped in the car and headed south to Death Valley National Park, the hottest, dryest and lowest of all 59 parks. At this point, we were 5 days into our trip and we were both pretty exhausted, but since Jeff had gotten us out of Yosemite, it was my turn to drive.
Saturday, September 3rd
We drove 200 miles from Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco to Yosemite National Park. About 1/2 mile from the Highway 120 west entrance we were stuck in traffic. Without knowing how long we’d be waiting, we decided to pull into Rush Creek Lodge and poke around. We used the restroom and then found ourselves in the general store/gift shop where we bought some snacks and of course, local craft beer.
Thursday, September 1st.
After a 3 hour drive from Crater Lake, we arrived at Redwood National Park. This park is over 131,000 acres and includes 3 state parks, so there was no way we could have seen everything in our short time there. Instead, we decided to pick out a few hikes that would allow us to see those giant redwoods in all their glory, and be on our way.
Wednesday, August 31st.
We landed in Portland, Oregon around 1:30 pm. By the time we got our bags, picked up our rental car, and bought groceries at a super sketchy Walmart (I know, I know.. but it was the first thing we saw), it was almost dark. We still had 270 miles to drive before we arrived at Crater Lake National Park, which meant we had to set up camp at a cold, wet and completely dark campground. We love a good adventure story, though, so we thought, “bring it on!”.
If you had asked me two years ago how many times I had been camping, I would have guessed about three. Once in the back yard with my sister, Hannah. A few times in Hannah’s bedroom in a polyester Lion King tent. And finally, a true camping trip, consisting of four days in George, WA at The Gorge, where I met Jeff.
It all started in Nashville, TN about a year and a half ago. Jeff was visiting me for the weekend and I wanted to surprise him. I packed a lunch, found a hike, and told him we’d be spending the day doing something he liked to do. As it turns out, hiking, being outside, and exploring are things I enjoy too!
