My Retirement Lifestyle

Did you know that if you are 62 or older, you can purchase a Lifetime National Parks Pass for $80, which provides access to all national parks and federal recreation sites? My husband and I have been making great use of our pass. We recently went on a three-week road trip to visit seven national parks.

We first drove to Utah, visiting Arches, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Parks. I must say that these three parks were very different from one another, but all uniquely beautiful.

Arches National Park is so interesting with its more than 2,000 documented arches. My favorite area of the park was the Windows area with its Double Arch viewpoint. We hiked a couple different trails in this area, but the Windows trail wrapped around the backside of the North and South Windows, making for some really great views.

From Arches, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. The views at Bryce Canyon are incredible, as were the hikes. My favorite hike was the Rim trail. It is 5.5 miles one way if you want to hike the entire trail, connecting some of the most beautiful viewpoints in the park, including Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point. I loved every area of Bryce Canyon.

Next, we drove to Zion National Park, which I found to be one of my favorite parks. It is incredibly beautiful in every area of the park, with a plethora of day hike trails to explore. My favorite trail was the Riverside Walk trail, a 2 mile hike that follows the beautiful Virgin River through a narrow canyon. We did this hike fairly early in the morning, and enjoyed stunning views of the sun lighting up sections of the canyon, making them appear to be golden.

We then drove to California, where we visited Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and Redwood National Parks.

First stop in California was Sequoia National Park. We enjoyed several hikes through forests with towering sequoia trees. The Giant Forest Museum was very interesting, especially in explaining the significance of fire to the growth of new trees. Fire clears away competing vegetation, exposes mineral soil, and opens the sequoia’s cones, releasing seeds onto the nutrient-rich soil it created. Simply put, new sequoia trees cannot reproduce and grow without fire.

 Kings Canyon National Park is only a short drive from Sequoia, allowing you to stay in one place while visiting both parks. While we only spent one day in Kings Canyon, I was enamored with its roaring river and waterfalls. Both Grizzly Falls, above, and Roaring River Falls, below, were spectacular.

After three days in Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we headed to Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is an amazing park with a little bit of everything: towering sequoias; dramatic waterfalls; the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains; including gigantic granite monoliths, the most famous of which is El Capitan. a popular rock climbing location.There were several groups climbing El Capitan the day we visited that area of the park, which you could see with binoculars.

I really loved every area of Yosemite, and particularly enjoyed our hike to the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, below.

Our final park visit was to Redwood National Park, along the northern coast of California. My research told me there was a nearby state park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, and its Howland Hill Road drive was not to be missed. That information proved to be correct. The drive along the Howland Hill Road is gorgeous. Although most of the road is unpaved, the drive through the giant redwood forest is well worth it.

We hiked in two areas of the park, but the Grove of Titans trail, above, was my favorite.

Redwood National Park is diverse in its beauty, with its giant redwoods and stunning beaches. We stopped at Crescent Beach Overlook, below, on our way back to our hotel.

On our final day in Redwood, we drove the scenic Coastal Drive Loop, where we stopped at High Bluff Overlook, below.

From there, we drove along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway to Prairie Creek Visitor Center, where we caught the Karl Knapp and Foothill trail loop. It was a lovely hike through sky-high redwoods alongside a bubbling creek.

So that was seven national parks in three weeks. It would be nearly impossible to say one of them was my favorite, as they were all so beautiful, yet so very different. Their differences made them uniquely stunning. We are very fortunate to live in a country that values nature in all its unique diversity, and has protected these national treasures we all love.

I am so thankful for the incredible beauty our national parks have to offer.