Tent Talk

  Check out our “Vlog” video from Jumbo Rocks. Special Thanks to The Perks , a small band out of Southern California, for the soundtrack, as well as Lowepro, who generously sent us their new Rover Pro 45L AW camera bag to use! Jumbo Rocks is aptly named, and is the biggest campground in Joshua Tree National Park . If you’re looking for a campground full of great sites, easy access to trails, and big huge boulders to climb when you step out of your tent, this is the place to be. Spot Jumbo Rocks? It may be a little difficult – Joshua Tree encompasses almost 800,000 acres, or over 1200 square miles. However, navigating the park is relatively easy. Most will enter from the north, at either the town of Joshua Tree or Twentynine Palms. For those traveling from Arizona or other areas of southeastern California, the best entrance is from the south, off I-10 near Chiraco Summit. Arizonians – don’t exit the 10 at Desert Center, unless you’d like a long, boring detour around the park to th...

  Dead Horse State Park sits at the end of Utah 313, occupying a slim peninsula that ends in Dead Horse Point, a spectacular viewpoint of the Colorado RIver as it meanders towards Canyonlands National Park. Here is a great little video interview about the park from the Colorado River Re-Storied team, featuring ranger Megan Blackwelder. Although Dead Horse Point is considered a “Moab-area” park, it is actually a 40 minute (30 mile) drive from Moab to the parks entrance. Taking US 191 north out of Moab will take you to the junction with Utah 313, which then climbs back south onto the plateau. After a few miles, you will approach an intersection, where the 313 makes a left and continues to Dead Horse Point (if you stay straight, the road will take you into Canyonlands National Park). There are a handful of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites along the 313 that you can opt to stay at if Dead Horse Point is full, including Cowboy and Horsethief , as well as the group site Lone Mesa....

Mather Campground is the main campground on the West Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, located right outside Grand Canyon Village. With over 300 sites, Mather is one of the biggest campgrounds we’ve been to, but it’s usually full every single night, and is open year-round. We’ve already been to Mather twice, once in the heart of winter and again in the peak of summer. This review will focus on what the campground is like in the summer, but check out the video below of our winter trip, where we stayed the first night at Mather before backpacking through the canyon. As you can see, the campground is open year round, although there are only a few loops open during the winter months. The campground sits at just a few hundred feet below 7,000ft., so prepare for biting cold and snow in the winter, with more moderate summer temperatures usually around the 70-80’s. The main attraction here is tent camping. RV’s are welcome, but there are no hookups inside the campground, although Trailer Vill...

A Grand Canyon Winter Adventure The Chronicle  Written by: Thomas Berry ---            I left Phoenix around nine in the morning, throwing my pack and boots in the back of my Jeep. Already late, I had a stop at Target and then a good three hours of driving ahead of me to make it up to the park by twelve. At Target I grabbed an insulating layer jacket on sale for thirty-five bucks, then changed into my long johns and snow pants in the parking lot, slipping my wool socks over the thin polyester of the white base layer before pulling my boots tightly over the socks. Fifteen minutes later I was heading north on the I-17, mentally as well as physically unprepared for the four days to come.            The drive to the rim was a long one. Nearly two hours down the I-17 and the scenery had transformed into something only out of winter. Desert became snow. The highway became ice. Even my Jeep had changed ...