On our way from Virginia Beach to Charlotte, we stopped to stretch our legs and take a short hike along the Cole Mill Trail at Eno River State Park in North Carolina. This park offers a wonderful respite for anyone living in the urban areas of Durham and Orange Counties. It was one of our favorite places that we happened upon while in North Carolina. The trails are easy to follow, easy to walk along, and the scenery provides visitors with so much nature to look upon!
We planned our trip through Utah by stopping at all the “little green” areas that we saw on Google maps while we made our way from Canyonlands National Park down to the Grand Canyon. We pulled up to a small state park off of Utah Route 316 looking for a place to camp, not really knowing what was before us. Serendipity brought us to one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen in my life; the mighty San Juan River at Goosenecks State Park.
I’ve been hearing about Letchworth State Park for years now. “It’s the Grand Canyon of the East,” my husband has said to me on numerous occasions. Though I always kept it in mind, my need to visit this state park was cemented in 2015 when it was voted by USA Today readers as THE best state park in the United States. For Labor Day weekend, we traveled to western New York and finally decided to make a day at Letchworth. I must say, it lived up to all the hype!
The Adirondacks are beautiful. They are immense, tall, rugged, and powerful. It had been several years since my last Adirondacks hike, when we decided to hike up to Cascade Mountain, I was thrilled. This provides a short day hike to a summit with a glorious 360 degree view of the Adirondack Mountains.
The journey up to North Point is a beautiful one. We decided to hike to this overlook with our one year old son and had a wonderful time! With multiple views along the way, the trail gently slopes up, giving you a lot of level areas and allowing you to catch your breath as you make your way to the top. This was our first real hike since our son was born, and it was the best way to get ourselves back into hiking shape!
Grafton Lakes State Park is a glorious little destination that is very popular and well-known in its local area for its beach, which is always packed on a hot summer day. However, there is far more to Grafton Park than its beach. We went off the “beaten path” here, onto their small trail that went around Shaver Pond, and had a very private experience.
Two places very near and dear to my heart are Clermont and Olana; two historic homes and estates located in the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York that are now protected State parks. Both places have contributed greatly to local and national history, and in very different ways. We recently visited and hiked around Clermont and I must say that in June, it may be one of my favorite settings in the world.