The Times and Travels of Nolan
Documenting trips I've taken and places I've seen.
If I asked 100 people to name a national park in California, I imagine a few responses would dominate. There would be a huge group of “Yosemites”, quite a few people mentioning “Death Valley”, and maybe a smattering of others would mention Sequoia, the Redwoods, or Joshua Tree. I’m pretty confident none of those 100 …
Continue reading “Pinnacles National Park: Flying to the Bay Area”
That is not a typo. International boat tour. I’m not sure how many places in the world let you take a boat tour on a freshwater lake between two different countries (Niagara Falls, I guess?). But the Waterton Shoreline Cruise Company has the unique ability to offer just that. They’re based out of the little …
Continue reading “Waterton Lakes National Park: International Boat Tour”
A cool visitor’s center can really elevate a park visit, especially a short one. I’ve seen some cool visitor’s centers in my day – the Canyon Visitor’s Center in Yellowstone, the Travertine Nature Center in Chickasaw NRA, and the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor’s Center all come to mind – but never before had I ever seen …
Continue reading “Waterton Lakes National Park: The Bear’s Hump”
Another early morning. July 16 at the St. Mary Campground dawned bright and sunny, with a near-full-moon setting back over the Lewis Range to the west. And I awoke in desperate need of more rest than we were allowing ourselves on this trip. Some context, if you’ve forgotten in the near-full-year that I’ve been writing …
Continue reading “Waterton Lakes National Park: Driving to Canada (eh)”
If you ask 100 people in the United States where the Flint Hills are, I’d be shocked if more than a couple of them could point to eastern Kansas. They’re a narrow range of hilly, rolling terrain aligned from north central Oklahoma into northeast Kansas. Due to the rocky nature of the ground, the Flint …
Continue reading “April 19, 2023 Storm Chase Log: Flint Hills Magic”
300 feet. 0.7 miles. Almost a year later, I refuse to believe either of those numbers. According to AllTrails, it’s only 0.7 miles from St. Mary Falls to Virginia Falls by trail. You only have to go up 300 feet to get there. Neither of those felt remotely true. 30000 steps. My Fitbit passed that …
A little rubbery in the knees, but otherwise alright. That was my self-assessment inside the RAV-4 at Siyeh Bend as we sat out the angry spits of rain. It was only early afternoon on July 15, and Elizabeth and I faced the age-old question: what to do now that we’d finished a 9-mile hike several …
Here’s the thing about long weekend trips: they’re actually quite short. This is especially true when you worked until 11:00 on Friday night, and then you flew two time zones away on Saturday morning. All of a sudden, you have a long Saturday afternoon, and then a fun early Sunday, and then you’re out of …
Note: Elizabeth is my fiancee and my hiking companion on the route to Piegan Pass on 15 July 2022 when we saw a grizzly bear just off-trail. Elizabeth has generously written a blog post about her experience. Her account has been lightly edited. I always thought I had a “healthy” fear of bears. Nolan and …
The top of the continent was windy. Yeah, I know that hardly qualifies as a surprise. Piegan Pass sits at 7,600 feet, well above the tempering influence of any trees this close to the international border. That’s part of why the view here was so incredible. The views to the south and east of Piegan …
