Biggest Nature Surprise

roadtripper said:

Someone should start a thread that talks about the biggest natural surprises they have ever come across. For me, that would be the incredible arches of Utah. I can't even begin to explain how incredible those things are (to me at least).

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Ok, I will!

Red Rock Canyon in Nevada was amazing. I wasn't expecting much, but I could spend an hour talking about it! And it's literally just outside the city limits of Las Vegas. (Although it looks like it might be surrounded by it soon! )

Sometimes the most amazing site is beheld simply by turning around, especially if you are climbing a slide.

The Northwest Basin of Mt. Katahdin was one of my favorites. We hiked through the basin to get to Chimney Pond from Russell Pond. Great hike.

I can't tell you mine, because they're in the East, and if these places became "discovered" I would have to kill myself ....

Mariposa Giant Sequoia Grove, Yosemite. Those giant trees are as extraordinary as anything I've seen in all my travels throughout the U.S. & Canada.

The Napeequa Valley.

Black Hills ~ South Dakota

When I moved out west I traveled for a little over a month just camping and driving and had no agenda or plans, wherever the winds took me that day. I came upon the Black Hills in South Dakota and was blown away, I had never heard of them and was so surprised to see something so beautiful in a state not exactly known for being beautiful...

Some of my favorite surprises from various road trips across the country over the years:

Canyonlands - Needle District (phenominal backpacking)
Horseshoe Bend - Glen Canyon NRA (one of the top 10 views in the country in my opinion)
Morning Glory Pool - Yellowstone (gorgeous colors in this hot spring)
Latourell Falls - Oregon (spectacular near-roadside waterfall)
Corona Arch - Utah (huge arch near Moab)
Calf Creek Falls - Utah (has a big reputation but it's even more amazing than that)
Tioga Road - Yosemite (10x better than Yosemite Valley)
Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park - Big Sur California (best coastal view on the west coast?)

King Ravine, half way up the headwall, completely alone

One cloudy day a few years ago in January I just wanted to climb something so I hiked up Whiteface and saw this (I was the only one up there that day, at least I did not see anyone else):

Like most of my disappointments due to nature involve bad weather, most of my pleasant surprises involve unexpected good weather or animal sightings.

I will put my only close up bear sighting ever at the top of that list, the bear was foraging near the Hitch up Matildas (Avalanche Lake) on a busy sunny summer Saturday in the high peaks. It was near noon time. I was not expecting that. This was back in the mid 1990's.

I was not expecting to like the desert or the Superstitions as much as I did on a trip to the Phoenix area several yeas ago.

This list goes on and on.

I've loved my travels, especially, I think, the Chilkoot Trail. Or maybe Kilimanjaro. The Tetons come in high on my list, as does Whitney, for being the most technical climb I've ever done (East Face Route). But when it comes down to it, I was most surprised by Monadnock about 18 years ago, before I got back into hiking. We never hiked in southern New Hampshire when I was a kid; that only happened when I had fairly grown kids. Sure there were crowds, but why not? It's an outstanding beauty with a fair amount of history.

Milford Track NZ - Sunderland Falls and the chance to go behind them. They look big from a distance but they get really big when you stand at the base and then walk behind them. 1900 feet high and the only way you get to them is a couple of day hike.

My biggest surprises were where you might not expect nature to pop its head. An example of this is in Winchendon, MA the Millers River flows through the town with empty and operating factories, banks covered with decades of litter. Not a place you would expect to see river otter playing on ice, mink sliding down the banks, muskrat searching for food, and beavers raising there young but they do. Most people drive right by this and are not even aware.

Biggest Nature Surprise?

Sophomore year....Maria Suarez....when I found out they were real.

Billy said:

Biggest Nature Surprise?

Sophomore year....Maria Suarez....when I found out they were real.

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Hey man, that's MY SISTER!!!!!


just kidding.

Anyway, Tom, next time you're out in Vegas, check out Valley Of Fire, about an hour north of the city. Different than Red Rock, much less crowded but just as beautiful. Took me by surprise!

White Tank Mountains, west of Phoenix. I was out there attending a conference and had an afternoon off, so Fran and I headed out to this nearby State? park. We just wanted to get out and stretch our legs before heading to Sonoma and Flagstaff the next day. What a wonderful surprise. Desert mountains, so beautiful in such a different way. We saw a coyote off in the distance early in the hike, and by the time we were returning to the car at dusk, they were singing all around us.

It was the beginning of October about 15 years ago.
I made the decision to go camping and hiking at Acadia NP. I had never traveled in ME except to several beaches. Someone recommended that I should drive "scenic" route 1. It was beyond congested, ugly as sin, but I kept thinking it would get better. I never saw so many Dunkins, McD and it's cousins, gas stations, etc. I finally had to stop and camp but can't remember where. I ended up soaking my big down sleeping bag and spent part of the next day at a laudromat in Wicasett. Yes... it took me two days to drive to Acadia. I was so disgusted when I arrived that I had made the decision to go thru the park quickly, camp one night at Blackwoods, and drive to the Whites.
I went directly to the loop road after setting up my tent and was in absolute awe of everything I saw. I could not get enough of it. It was soooo BEAUTIFUL and I fell in love.
I will never forget that trip as long as I live. I returned to ANP twice a year for many years and I am still in love. I can't wait to bring Molly there this fall. The drive from hell was worth it. I now exit 95 on Rt 3 about halfway and drive to Bar Harbor. It's a break and tolerable. I love getting up close and seeing all the lobster pounds on the side of the road and the visuals just keep getting better the closer up you get.

And I want to give skiing in Vail a most honorable mention. I was not residing on the planet earth for months after returning home. My ROCKY MOUNTAIN high will live deep in my soul forever!

While living in Colorado in the early 90's, a roommate and I became bored and decided to drive to the Grand Canyon in my beat-up 1980 V-Dub Rabbit in the dead of winter. Upon arriving at the gate of the South Rim on a snowy and overcast day, the ranger informed us that the park may close due to an impending snow storm so we rushed into the socked-in park hoping to glimpse the canyon before the heavy snow set in. No sooner than we parked along the side of the road, it began dumping and visiblity was nil. Disappointed from the long drive with no gratrification, we decided to leave the park before we got snowed in and what would you know? The Rabbit refused to start. With no one around and snow accumulating, we felt panicky as we were unprepared. About an hour went by and we saw no one as the snow piled up to about 6''. Suddenly, the snow stopped...and the thick cloud bank lifted revealing poofy white blanket over the most amazing, enormous, colorful and jagged hole in the ground I had ever seen. The sight was surreal and picturesque. Within minutes, the cloud bank sank once again leaving alone on the South Rim. Climbing back into the Rabbit, my roommate turned the key one last time and she fired up...we drove back to Boulder without a single hitch.

I’ve been surprised by so many wonderful backcountry places and have had just as many surprise encounters with wildlife, but one of the most unexpected surprises for me was my first hike ever. It was 1976 and I was with some friends driving around Maine. We stopped on the side of the road at a trail head and decided to hike into the woods on the trail. We hiked in a couple miles until we came to a shelter. It was a strange site to see such a structure in the middle of nowhere. We took a break there and I sat in the shelter and read the shelter register. For the next half hour I read stories of long distance hikers who left messages to one another and wrote stories about their hike. I was blown away at the thought that there was a trail called the Appalachian Trail that stretched 2,180 miles from Georgia to Maine. I was even more surprised to read that there were people actually living on the trail and hiking its entire length. Needless to say, I’ve been hooked on the outdoors ever since.

Blackstone River

Blackstone River in northern Rhode Island. The river is in a densely-populated part of the state. You drive through a pretty depressed urban area to get the put-in site for your canoe/kayak. However, once on the river it is really lovely. Not totally pristine nature; but very nice, with a bit of whitewater, great blue herons, turtles, etc. A bike path follows along the river for part of the way. There is an interesting canal segment to explore.

I was there once with my dad and his lady friend (both elderly). Because of higher-than-expected water levels, we ended up needing to do a longish unplanned portage. A couple of scruffy-looking locals (the kind of guys you might think you needed to steer clear of if walking through a city neighborhood) ended up giving us a hand. So we had a pleasant human nature surprise, too.

Tom Rankin said:

Ok, I will!

Red Rock Canyon in Nevada was amazing. I wasn't expecting much, but I could spend an hour talking about it! And it's literally just outside the city limits of Las Vegas. (Although it looks like it might be surrounded by it soon! )

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I am heading to Las Vegas for a conference this weekend, and I will be hiking Red Rock. I had the same experience when I was in Vegas last year. I drove out to the canyon, unprepared to do any real hiking, and ended up walking into Ice Box Canyon. I looked back, and I could see so many amazing colors that I was stunned. I am excited to be going to Vegas for this conference, but only because I'll be able to hike Red Rock on Sunday and Wednesday. As far as the city goes, blah!

Both Zion National Park and Canyon de Chelly with a fresh dusting of snow were the two most beautiful places I've ever been.

Also, the Grand Canyon: Just did my 4th Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim run on Saturday and never cease to be blown away by the place (South Rim congestion notwithstanding ).