hiking Archives - Page 7 of 7 - crunchy kat explores

day trip to cajas national park

1 Comment

After spending about a month and a half on the beach, I was so ready to head to Ecuador’s mainland and enjoy the mountains. It’s not that I didn’t love the beach, but the sun was starting to drain me and my hair could sure use a break from all the salt.

First stop? Cuenca. A city located in Ecuador’s Andes mountains. The plan was to hang out in Cuena for some time to take Spanish classes, however I was really excited to explore Cajas National Park, located less than an hour from the city. Coming in at over 70,000 acres (wut), over 4,000m/13,000 ft in elevation (wut), and over 700 lakes (wut), this nature lover could not wait to escape the city and explore the mountainous landscape of lakes, unique plants, and wild animals.

Mountains, United States, West Virginia

wild & wonderful: backpacking dollys sods wilderness

No Comments

Grassy meadows, wind carved sand stone, red spruce, bogs. This is what you’ll find at Dolly Sods – one of the most beautifully unique places on the East Coast.

Located in West Virginia, this area was once used the area for artillery and mortar training during World War II. In the 1970’s, with the open land being threatened, The Nature Conservancy, began purchasing the land for preservation and recreational use. Today Dolly Sods Wilderness Area consists of 17,371 acres and almost 50 miles of hiking trails.

If you’re in the Mid-Atlantic (and not afraid to get your feet wet), I highly suggest finding your way to Dolly Sods!

DC, Mountains, United States, Virginia

explore (greater) dc: great falls national park

No Comments

In honor of National Park Service’s 101st birthday (ya don’t look a day over 100 NPS!), I present to you… the NPS park that is in DC’s backyard: Great Falls Park!

In order to celebrate their birthday, all National Parks sites had free entry today. I hope you all were luckier than me and had a chance to #optoutside instead of sitting behind a computer all day (regretting not playing hooky!)

Mountains, United States, Virginia

explore gwnf: three ridges wilderness

No Comments

Three Ridges Wilderness had been on my “to hike” list for a while now. Located in George Washington National Forest near Charlottesville, Virginia, it’s a popular backpacking loop known for the vistas, swimming holes, and insane elevation change. The typical route is a two day/one night, 14.4 mile loop where the loop includes a portion on the Appalachian Trail (AT) and a portion on the Mau-Har Trail.

Just a heads up– this loop is no walk in the park! The constant inclines and declines here are no joke (maybe 5-10% of the trail is actually level?!)! AT Thru-Hikers often include this as one of the toughest parts of the entire Appalachian Trail! Hiking Upward has the elevation gain of 3,960 feet, but I’ve read the actual change in elevation is about 7,000 feet! So I definitely recommend you be in decent shape (and bring lots of water or a water filter to fill up at the creeks!).