Erik and I recently returned from a desert and Death Valley vacation that included sailing on Lake Mead at sunset, enjoying the sights, sounds and zaniness of Las Vegas, and experiencing the profound quiet, haunting beauty and splendid isolation of Death Valley National Park in California. It really was like visiting two different planets on the same vacation, and […]

This June day, I spent the morning squatting in a clearing just off Upper Terrace Road at Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park, hand-digging Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens). A hermit thrush serenaded me as I worked, its fluting song echoing through the nearby grove of Douglas-fir trees: first a long clear […]

As travelers begin summer pilgrimages to America’s cherished national parks, we at Off the Beaten Path take the opportunity to acknowledge the phenomenal work of our partner, National Parks Conservation Association. NPCA has worked fiercely and tirelessly on behalf of national parklands since 1919. In celebration of their centennial year, the organization posted a collection […]