I don’t know how Isle Royale National Park came onto my radar, but once it was there I couldn’t get it out of my head. The opportunity to visit presented itself in June of 2019, and I had enough time away from work to build a whole national parks road trip around it!

To quote the legendary Dwight Schrute, “welcome to the no-spin zone.” I’m not here to sugarcoat anything for you, or to try to prove that my trip was cheaper/more lavish than it actually was. Here we have cold, hard numbers with some of my opinions sprinkled in. The honest truth is that a trip to Alaska is expensive. There are ways that I could have saved some money (we’ll get to that), but you have to know when reading this and/or planning your own trip that visiting Alaska national parks is going to cost you significantly more than almost any other national park trip.

I turned in my resignation letter at my job yesterday. As someone who has worked a myriad of odd jobs throughout my life, this is something I have done so many times before...but this time it feels different.

As it turns out, Mammoth Cave was far less terrifying than what I had built it up to be. It’s probably because no actual cave tour is going to be anything near as traumatizing as my amateur cave tour in 2013, which just so happened to be my introduction to caving. In a weird way, it also probably helped that I visited last month, when there was only one single tour being offered due to COVID-19.

The year is 1912--the same year the Titanic sank; 7 years before women gained the right to vote. 40-year old Dora Keen shows up in a small mining town in Alaska and assembles a team of prospectors--not mountaineers--to assist her in an ascent of Mount Blackburn. After a failed attempt in 1911, Keen is back for a second try at this unsummited mountain, the tallest in the Wrangell Mountain Range.

Fun fact: a national parks trip can be incredibly cost effective, but can also be mind blowingly expensive. I’ll always tell you that national parks are one of the cheapest vacations you can take, but….I might be a little bit wrong sometimes. There, I said it. With a little research, a national parks visit can be affordable. There are so many different options for lodging, camping, backpacking, staying in or outside of the park boundaries...you can make a national park whatever price point you want it to be. But we’re here to talk budget-friendly national parks, so let’s be real, just how expensive is a national parks trip?!

Camping at Wonder Lake Campground in Denali National Park was a bucket list item for me (and should be for you, too). It was the #1 thing I wanted to do in Alaska when I visited in 2018, and also the very first reservation I made for the trip. Staying at this campground turned out to be a highlight, and my only regret is that we didn’t stay longer! In last week’s post I talked about the different camping and tour bus options within Denali National Park; today I’m here to share our experience at Wonder Lake!

If Kenai Fjords is the easiest national park to visit in Alaska, then Denali National Park is a close second. And good thing, too--people come from all over the world to witness the glory of the tallest mountain in North America, not to mention Denali’s tundra wilderness that’s teeming with an abundance of wildlife. Denali National Park is full of what makes Alaska, well, Alaska. With bears sauntering down the shores of rivers, wide open spaces for caribou to run, and big, beautiful mountains at every turn, this park has it all.

As it turns out, Alaska national parks are intimidating AF. Or is it just me?? The weather, the scenery, the seasons...these factors loom in the distance like a bear that’s happy eating its berries until he thinks those hikers he sees might pose a threat to his feasting, ready to strike at any moment! The bear is probably scared of humans, you say? Think again! This is Alaska we’re talking about! Wow, that metaphor really got out of hand.

It's weird how time and growth work together. Last year, I was planning a vacation to Glacier National Park... but when my brother took a temporary job in Anchorage, Alaska, Glacier flew right out the window. Looking back, my trip to Alaska unintentionally put me on a path; it taught me how to better research for a bigger trip, pushed me very far out of my comfort zone, and ultimately showed me AGAIN that I'm the thing holding me back. Since Alaska, I have been planning more ambitious trips and hiking farther than I thought I could!

This is a fluid post that I will continually update! Each time I visit a new park I’ll add it here, or update parks that I return to. It’s kind of a fusion highlight reel and future bucket list.

“Which way to the AT?”

He announced himself with a thud as he jumped from the literal mountain of rocks behind me. I was wearing my only pair of floral print leggings that I usually reserve for slumber parties (they were supposed to be my “clean” pants), an old pair of chacos that I rarely wear hiking, and my brand new Osprey daypack, and felt thoroughly out of place by comparison to this rugged, weathered hiker.

We’re going to take a quick break from national park trip reports, since we’ve hit a milestone—Congaree National Park, which I talked in detail about two weeks ago, was my tenth national park! I thought it would be fun to do a quick overview of my first ten national park visits in chronological order all in one place. It’s been an interesting journey thus far, and I’m hoping you lovely readers might enjoy an honest recap.

If you asked me to choose two words that describe my trip to Congaree National Park, I would probably respond with “logistical nightmare.” I tend to be really good at overcomplicating things, and that skill was loud and proud on this weekend trip! Congaree was also my very first attempt at planning a trip that involved paddling, and let me tell ya, I did a bad job of it. Now I’m here for you to either laugh at my incompetency or learn from my mistakes.

For the final chapter of my big Florida adventure, I didn’t have any idea what to expect. Truth be told, I threw myself into researching Everglades and Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Park was heavily pushed to the side.

All the small moments in my life added up to my feet planted in exactly that spot—the grassy rooftop of mighty Fort Jefferson, a 16 million-plus brick fortress situated right in the middle of the bluest waters of the Caribbean. It was one of those “maybe one day I’ll see it” types of places. You know the ones, right? Those places you always say you’ll visit, but somehow seem to be too good to be true? Dry Tortugas was one of those places for me…. except that in that moment, I was standing on it.

Key West is the beach town I never knew I needed in my life. Part of me is actually kind of sad about it, because it’s too far away to visit every weekend! I call it a “beach town,” but I feel like that title actually does it somewhat of a disservice. While the beachy vibes are alive and well, Key West has a quirky culture that extends well beyond its sandy strips.

I rolled over in my warm cocoon. The stars were still bright over the towering canopy of pines, uninhibited by the thriving city lights somewhere north of me. Even though the sky hadn’t yet begun to lighten, it was time to begin my day. With one of America’s largest national parks to explore and only half a day to do it, I packed up my campsite and hit the road.

So, I took my own advice. If you follow me on Instagram, you are well aware by now that I am officially working overnights, and getting used to the new schedule has been nothing short of a struggle. Realizing that I was really craving some sunlight, I planned a semi-last-minute trip to the place known for the one thing I needed: the Sunshine State

Once upon a time, I dreamed of a place in the mountains, where I could frolic to my heart’s content…but then I did the Canyon Climbers challenge and realized that I could waste away believing these things are fairytales, or be an independent human and actually go do them! (More on that here.) Which brings us to my next adventure: Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Someone told me recently that hotdogs are the start of every great story. Now, I’m not sure of the accuracy of that statement, and this one doesn’t really begin with hotdogs…but there’s a hotdog in it. So it qualifies, right? Last week, I expressed my anguish at having missed out on a Seattle dog, so when I visited Chicago, Illinois, a few weeks later, I made sure to not make that detrimental mistake again! Okay, so this wasn’t my first time visiting Chicago, and it definitely wasn’t my first time eating a Chicago dog, but there are some food staples that you can’t miss in each city. Hotdogs just happen to be one of them…again.

So…is cream cheese on a hotdog a real thing? Apparently this is what sets apart the true Seattle-ites from us tourists. If you are looking for true United States food culture, don’t try all the delicious seafood and oysters…it’s the cream cheese hotdog that will truly make you feel like you are in Seattle.

Can you tell that I’m joking?