Outdoor Project

Rae Lakes loop is a scenic Sierra multiday loop and truly a backpacking trip that has it all. Stunning lake basins, rushing waterfalls, and splendidly carved canyons envelop your being for the three to six days necessary to complete the circuit in Kings Canyon National Park. The mountainscapes encountered here will entice you to begin scheduling your John Muir Trail permit and scouring the High Sierra maps for your next multiday excurions.

Along I-90 and the river banks of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River and under the shadows of 4,420-foot Mount Washington and 5,162-foot McClellan Butte lies the 2,500-acre Olallie State Park.

Most visitors to Mesa Verde only visit the Chapin Mesa area, and if your time is short, that is an appropriate plan. Wetherill Mesa is a longer drive, and there are only a few sites to visit there, so it could be skipped if you're schedule is tight. But with a half-day or more to spare, Long House and the other sites on Wetherill Mesa are definitely worth the extra driving (and the drive, like the other main park road, is absolutely spectacular and provides great views).

Cliff Palace is the most extensive and famous of the Mesa Verde ruins. There are over 150 rooms and 21 kivas at the site, and it is situated in a very scenic canyon with great views. The only way to visit Cliff Palace is on ranger-led tours, which are scheduled frequently every day. These tours can include up to 50 people, and there might be two tours on the site simultaneously, so these tours do not offer a solitary experience of Cliff Palace. There are also special tours offered less-frequently and with smaller group sizes that are an option to seriously consider.

Capitol Reef's Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile stretch of cliffs, domes, and other impressive rock features, was practically impenetrable to the Mormon pioneers of the late 1800s. One of the few natural passageways within the Waterpocket Fold was Muley Twist Canyon. It earned its name from its being so narrow and sinuous that it could "twist a mule." Today, hikers can still enjoy an adventurous day hike through the Upper or Lower Muley Twist Canyon without having to consider hauling pack animals and wagons full of supplies.

The Racetrack is a dry lakebed playa that is known for its unique geologic features and "moving rocks" phenomenon. Ten thousand years ago this area was a large lake, but climate changed over time and the water dried up and left the cracked, muddy lakebed.

One of the most accessible Puebloan ruins at Mesa Verde National Park is the Spruce Tree House. This ruin was explored by Gustaf Nordenskiold, who was one of the first archeologists to excavate at Mesa Verde. Nordenskiold named it after the Douglas fir tree he found growing through the roof opening of a kiva at the site, which he mistook for the spruce of his native Sweden. The complex was built between 1211 and 1278 by the ancestral Puebloan people and, with over 130 rooms and eight kivas (generally circular ceremonial chambers), it is the third-largest site at Mesa Verde.

To visit Fort Yamhill State Heritage Area is to acknowledge the troubling past and sobering interactions between early American settlers and Native Americans. In the mid-1840s, settlers began moving into the Willamette Valley in fairly significant numbers, motivated by a search for land. By 1850, Native Americans were moved onto reservations, and all non-reservation "Indian Land" was redistributed to settlers.

The Navajo comprise the largest Native American tribe, and the Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the country. Perhaps more than any other Native American group, the Navajo have adapted to modern American society while retaining much of their traditional way of life. One excellent example of this is embodied in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Monument Valley (Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning "valley of the rocks") is sacred to the Navajo people and has been home to many Navajo families for generations.

There are three ways to make it to the East Fork Carson River Hot Springs, four if you include the occasional buckaroo that passes by on horseback looking for a warm soak. In the spring, rafts can put in at Hangman's Bridge near Markleeville and beach themselves overnight near the hot springs before continuing the next day into Nevada. During the summer and fall months when flow is low, four-wheel drive vehicles with high clearance can access the hot springs by snaking down narrow dirt roads and fording the river. This description focuses on accessing the hot springs by foot.