Cuyahoga Valley

Cuyahoga Valley was nice, but a National Park? I wouldn't have thought so. It's very suburban-- you can't always tell where the park ends and someone's backyard begins. Two interstate highways cut through it, and a high tension power line cuts through from top to bottom and is visible from much of the park. It's probably the only National Park with a Wal-Mart a few blocks away.

Luckily, the weather was perfect-- sunny and in the mid 70s all day! What a contrast to the mid 90s up in Acadia. Had fun hiking, exploring, and finding waterfalls. But check this out:




I took the top pic today in Cuyahoga Valley, at a gorge overlook that was labeled "possibly the most scenic view in the park." The bottom pic I took the other day in Vermont, after being awed while driving over a random bridge and then pulling over to jump out and take a picture. Vermont wins.

Temptation

I am so tempted to go to the Creation "Museum" in Kentucky, though I'm not enamored with the idea of supporting them with my $20. If I go, I'll be wearing my FSM t-shirt.

Herkimer, NY

I managed to set up my tent and uneventfully fall asleep in it last night in a White Mountains National Forest campground. I awoke at the crack of dawn (cursing myself for not taking Dave and Melissa's advice about bringing a pad!), packed up the tent and hit the road for Mt Washington. It IMMEDIATELY started pouring-- the kind of rain that's so hard you can't really go more than 30 mph if you want to see anything. I was psyched to have not been rained on in my tent, but there went my hiking plans. There may be some destinations on my trip that I'd hike in a downpour, but not Mt Washington, where it'll be easy to return to someday on a planned trip. (Paul, thanks for all the tips-- next time you can guide me personally.)

Anyway, when I was in sixth grade, I had a science teacher who would talk of his trips to the Herkimer Diamond Mine, where you can go and hammer rocks all day hoping to find Herkimer Diamonds (which are actually quartz, not diamonds.) Sounded like fun to me at the time, and it still does, so that's where I went today. I didn't get there until 2:45, and they closed at 5:00, but I managed to get some mining in and actually found a few "diamonds" (I'd post pictures but they're pitifully small!)

I'm at the Seneca rest stop on the NY State Thruway right now. Free wi-fi... woot! I expect to get to Cuyahoga Valley National Park tomorrow. It's one of the newest and smallest National Parks, and I'm not really expecting too much, but it's on the way. (Cuyahoga might be more famously known as the river that was so polluted it caught fire in 1969.)

Oh, and feel free to start a pool on how long it took before I hit myself with the hammer while breaking rocks!

Acadia

Well, apparently I picked the two hottest days of the year to visit Maine, as yesterday and today were both in the upper 90s! What the heck? Just a few days ago it was 40 degrees at night in CT.

Climbing down and up Mount Cadillac in the heat was rough. Fortunately, I started early, when it was only in the mid 80s.

I'm on my way to the White Mountains right now. Blogging in the car is kinda lame; I'll try to be more detailed (and add pics) soon. A cheap motel with wi-fi would be nice.

Time To Start

Tomorrow I get in the Yellow Subaru and drive, drive, drive. A few things to mention before the fun starts though:

1. Congratulations to Tom and Jenn! They were married on Saturday, and I can honestly say that for the seven years I've known Tom, I have never seen him look happier than on that day. Tom, I am so happy for you!
2. My friends Dan and Laurel are also traveling soon, and are also blogging their adventure. I am hoping to meet them along the way, as not only are they good friends and great people, they promised to make me quesadillas! Yum!

Nature Calls

The past few weeks have been a mix of relaxing, goofing off, hiking, bike riding, geocaching, and preparing for my cross country excursion. Oh, and a few days of "working" down at the reservation of course. And I've only fielded one work-related question from my former employer! Needless to say, it's been a blast; but now it's time to get going.

The game plan is simple: Head up to Acadia National Park in Maine, spend some time there, and then go west, hitting as many National Parks a possible along the way. Part of the adventure is in how little planning I'm doing, as I want the trip to be as spontaneous as possible.

(The other part of the adventure is that I have almost no idea what I'm doing. I've been living in a cube for the past decade and I haven't been camping since I was 8.)

I think I'm just about ready. I have a sleeping bag, tent, backpack, and various outdoor gear. I'm not exactly roughing it; I also have a laptop, cell phone and GPS. But just in case, I've been reading up on wilderness survival and catching up on Man vs Wild episodes. Yup, definitely ready.