Wildlife

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

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The Pacific Crest Trail strolls by Hyatt Lake above, not far from Ashland Oregon, where Northern Californians come up to watch Shakespeare. Honestly the drive up overlooking a deep beautiful valley was far more striking than the pretty lake, but I couldn’t get a decent photograph. The Cascade, Klamath & Siskiyou mountain ranges meet here, and the meadow in the valley is known as Hyatt Prairie. Besides larger animals, the area is well known for bird and butterfly watching, with hundreds of species.

I finally understand the naming conventions of the mountains up here. The Pacific Coast Mountain System includes all the coastal mountains from California up into Alaska. Within that, the Cascades are the young volcanic mountains that run through northern California up to Canada, including Mt Lassen, Mt Shasta, Crater Lake, Mt Rainier, and other stratovolcanoes up to the North Cascades. Within that, the Klamath Mountains are an older range formed by tectonic uplift in northern California and southern Oregon that includes the important Rogue, Smith, Klamath, and Trinity River watersheds, plus the headwaters of the Sacramento River around Shasta Lake. Within that, the Siskiyou Mountains are the stretch that connects the coastal mountains of northern California and Oregon between the Klamath and Rogue Rivers.

This mountainous Bureau of Land Management national monument has fascinating geology, great rivers, and diverse wildlife. The weird mix of soils from ancient seabeds to volcanic debris presents challenges to the plants that have adapted here. Two examples are the cobra lily, a cowled pitcher plant, and the serpentine jewelflower which takes on a purplish tinge here. I recommend reading some of the free Cascade-Siskiyou guides on animals, butterflies, geology and plants before going hiking.

There’s something magical about the smell of the forests up here in Oregon, with the occasional colorful butterfly scooting past, and folks taking their kids fishing while camping by the lake. In town, I tried morel mushrooms and a chocolate porter at the Caldera Brewery, and it was the best meal I’ve had since leaving San Francisco. Folks up here seem to understand the good life.

National Parks to Visit in September

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September is an ideal month for many parks, but I recommend visiting these five in particular: Carlsbad Caverns, Crater Lake, Grand Teton, Redwood and Sequoia.

Besides the magnificent cave, the top experience at Carlsbad Caverns is watching the bats in the evening, and September is best for that. Arrive at least 30 minutes before sunset to get a good seat and listen to the ranger talk.

Crater Lake is surprisingly tricky to visit. The rim road is frequently closed in sections, and the park gets crowded and can be too hot in summer. September is by far the best option, as snow starts falling in October and the road is closed until the end of June.

Grand Teton is simply beautiful in September, with aspen foliage, elk rutting, fat bears, pronghorn, and less crowded scenic drives. Water levels can be low, especially later in the month, so if you want to raft or kayak make a reservation for early September. Plan ahead as the area has gotten extremely pricey.

Redwood has a long season along the temperate California coast, but I like September best. The hiking is easier because it’s dry, the elk are easy to spot, and there are hikes that go through lush green areas like Trillium Falls to give you a sense of flowing water. And after hiking a bit, I had the trees to myself.

Sequoia is another California park where you want to wait until the crowds of summer have passed. It will still be busy, but the weather is still nice and a bit better than October.

Timing is very important for having the best park visit, and these particular parks pay off best in September.

Sand to Snow National Monument

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As the name suggests, this California preserve includes diverse ecosystems from the Colorado and Mojave Deserts to San Gorgonio Mountain. The passes have long been used by Native Americans, and the monument sits just north of the Morongo Reservation. So the area protects both diverse species and cultural heritage.

Jointly managed by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, this land connects Joshua Tree with the San Bernardino National Forest and helps close the gap with the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto National Monument. While I-10 cuts between the two monuments, it’s not difficult to imagine a wildlife corridor being built over or under I-10 here someday, similar to the new 101 wildlife crossing near Santa Monica. There are existing I-10 underpasses in Arizona and New Mexico with plans for more.

I was curious about the nearby town on I-10 called Whitewater. Turns out the Whitewater River runs through the monument and picks up white silt in the sandy canyon. So, there’s no whitewater rafting on the river, although recent flash flooding closed a couple trails. The headwaters and upper reach is designated a wild & scenic river, then it turns into a recreational river in the wilderness, then flows through the monument and ends up in the Salton Sea.

While the national monument is fairly new, much of the land has been protected by environmental groups who negotiated donations to protect the area forever. The cabin above is a ranger station in a pretty campground in the canyon. It’s nice to know that there are such lovely places just off the interstate.

What is a national park unit?

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National parks in the national park system

These are our 63 well-known National Parks, including Yellowstone and Yosemite.

National park units in the national park system

While the 63 parks above are the most famous park units in the system, the other 370 national park units are less well known and are less clearly defined.

  • 25 Battlefields & Military Parks
  • 76 specific Historic Sites, including some battlefields and many military forts
  • 64 general Historical Parks, including some more battlefields
  • 31 Memorials for people, places and both positive & tragic events
  • 11 Gardens and undesignated areas, including some more memorials
  • 87 Monuments, including natural areas, some more battlefields and more military forts
  • 76 Preserves, Recreation Areas, Rivers, Shores and Trails, both protecting wildlife and supporting fishing & hunting

President Lincoln first protected Yosemite Valley. Then Grant created the first national park, Yellowstone. Then Teddy Roosevelt created five more, plus various bird reserves, national forests, and monuments, and he signed the Antiquities Act into law. Then Wilson signed the Organic Act which created the National Park Service. Stephen Mather was instrumental in making the parks into what we see today. And since then, there has been a wide variety of additional legislation, creating, ending, renaming, and reorganizing various types of parks for different purposes, including historic sites, rivers, trails and wilderness.

Turns out, a national park unit is quite arbitrary. Either the President or Congress can authorize a national park unit under different legislation, and they can and do change their status too. Leaders regularly reinvent what a park unit is, what it’s for and why it’s important (or not). Presidents on average increase the total by a couple units per year. But it varies; last week the President shrank two national monuments in Utah. All of which makes my trip planning a moving target.

Officially, there are now 433 national park units of the National Park Service (NPS) managed under rules standardized in 1970. I’ve been to 400.

Extra sites not considered park units that are within the national park system

I joined the non-profit National Park Travelers Club (NPTC) to track my visits on their parkstamps.org checklists, and their like-minded community of travelers has been wonderfully helpful. The NPTC got me interested in NPS-related affiliate sites, heritage areas and trails too, and I’ve been to over 100 of these.

  • 32 Affiliates including yet more battlefields, historic sites and memorials
  • 62 Heritage Areas covering broad areas
  • 27 Trails in addition to 6 Scenic Trails that are park units above
  • 50 Wild & Scenic Rivers are also part of the park system
  • 3 Commemorative sites
  • 5 Authorized sites not yet open (typically waiting on private land transfers)
  • 1 co-managed area next to the Grand Canyon

Same type of national park units outside the national park system

Confusingly, there are 1/2 a dozen other federal agencies that also manage exactly the same types of national park units as the NPS, sometimes jointly and sometimes on their own, often under different or even conflicting rules. This leads to confusion on many websites as to exactly how many national monuments and other types of park units there are in the US. And I have to decide whether to include these units or not.

When I began my quest to see our parks, I assumed that NPS management must mean that the site is worth visiting, but one of the first NPS sites I tried to visit is permanently closed to the public with nothing to see or do. Meanwhile, there are non-NPS national monuments over 1 million acres, extraordinarily beautiful, unique in the world, and as important as they are unforgettable.

If a national historic site, monument or recreation area is important enough to be so designated by the President and/or Congress, then it belongs on my EV road trip itinerary, regardless of which government agency manages it. If a President designates a new national monument in the middle of a large national forest, management likely goes to the US Forest Service (USFS), even though it’s not any less important than other national monuments.

So, don’t be surprised to read about a USFS national recreation area or a national monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management. I’ve already posted about several, and I plan to visit more of the following units outside the NPS.

  • 1 Historic Site
  • 51 Monuments
  • 23 Recreation Areas

Where to draw the line on what to see

But I’ve also decided I can’t visit everywhere I’d like to go.

The NPS manages 50 wild & scenic rivers, mostly in or near other NPS units, and I plan to visit the remaining ones. But other agencies manage more than 175 other wild & scenic rivers, which are equally verdant. That’s too many for me, and some are in roadless wildernesses. So my compromise goal is to visit most of our national recreational, scenic and wild river systems that are over 100 miles long. I’ve already seen our shortest wild & scenic river.

There are over 1250 national recreational trails managed by other agencies. While I’ve hiked many, I’m going to stick to the 33 NPS related trails, but feel free to hike the rest.

There are also over 800 national wilderness areas in the US, plus over 500 national wildlife refuges. Many wildlife refuges do not have any roads, since they’re set aside for forests, wetlands and wildlife, not for people. And that is a problem for my electric car and for me.

Our country is full of so many fascinating travel destinations, that there’s simply not enough time to see them all. I’m an old man, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life futilely checking off 2,600+ landmarks, 700+ lighthouses, and ~10,000 state parks. No, I need to draw the line for my own sanity.

I happily drive through national forests and cross scenic rivers every trip, but I usually do so without mention. I’m leaving wilderness areas and wildlife refuges to the plants and animals. I wish I could visit every forest, hike every trail, paddle every wild river, and explore every wilderness and wildlife refuge in the country, because they’re critically important for saving species, especially as so many lands are being damaged irreversibly by the climate crisis. But I can’t, so I will only mention a few of them occasionally in passing. However, these are our public lands, and I hope you care about and help protect them too. Thanks.

National Parks to Visit in July

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To avoid heat, July is all about high latitude and altitude, and I recommend visiting these northern mountain parks: Glacier, Lassen Volcanic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Rocky Mountain . While many other parks are hot and crowded, these are at their peak with plenty of space to explore.

The key to visiting Glacier is to understand that there is only one road through the park, and it doesn’t open until late June. The park is full of activities by June, but the accumulated snow takes a long time to melt at Logan Pass. And it’s a long way around. So if you want to see the sights and do the activities on both sides of the park, then you need to wait until July. August is even busier. The high mountain waterfalls are glorious along the Going to the Sun Road in July.

Lassen Volcanic similarly has its main road blocked late by snow, but by July almost everything is open including some wildflowers. For Bumpass Hell, the full trail usually opens later in July, but there are boiling mud pits and other fascinating volcanic features around the park. Fire damaged parts of the park have mostly reopened this year.

Mount Rainier too is better if you wait until July, when leftover snow recedes to open up roads and trails. I hiked the Paradise Trails in mid July and only crossed one patch of snow. Wildflowers were out, temps were pleasant and the mountain is big enough to handle many happy hikers. Plan your arrival, as the parking lots fill up.

North Cascades is also glorious in July, with wildflowers and waterfalls. Depending on where you want to hike, you may need to go later in the month for all roads to be fully open. But there are many great hiking options all month.

Rocky is another high elevation park, and July is a good time to see wildlife up there. I realize it’s crowded, but if you reserve campgrounds in advance you can reach the best areas early. Visiting in July means that you can move around early, like the elk, and it’s a good time to find bighorn sheep or pikas. I’ve visited in September and felt limited by wind and storms.

San Gabriel Mountains National Monument

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Yep, that’s a bobcat hiding amongst the rocks. I saw him on the Switzer Falls Trail off the Angeles Crest Highway, which I recommend as a moderately challenging hike with several stream crossings. Presidents Obama and Biden protected these mountains just north of Los Angeles, and they’re managed by the US Forest Service within the broader Angeles National Forest. Hiking up here is a great way to get out of LA for the day.

I’m finally caught up on my trips to Canada! Altogether I’ve visited all 16 world heritage sites in over half of Canadian provinces, so I can check off my first goal of the year.

Next week I’ll explain why I stopped in Los Angeles. Here are my visits to all NPS units in California.

All UN Sites in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

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These two Prairie Provinces have a world heritage site, a tentative WHS, and two biospheres (plus the Int’l Peace Garden). Far from featureless, the boreal forest, First Nations cuisine, huge flocks of birds, polar bears, and even the sight of giant combines harvesting at sunset, indelibly mark my memory. While the transcontinental highway is comfortable, I pushed my electric vehicle to its limit, driving hundreds of miles to remote locations even on unpaved roads, digging out of snow and charging at places few EVs ever use. But it’s worth it.

World Heritage Sites

Pimachiowin Aki WHS is a First Nation area east of Lake Winnipeg encompassing forests, rivers and lakes with exceptional wildlife.

Wanuskewin tentative WHS is a First Nation cultural interpretive center and preserve near Saskatoon.

Biospheres

Redberry Lake is an important migratory bird sanctuary for whooping cranes and many other birds.

Riding Mountain is a wildlife management and environmental cooperation zone centered on the eponymous national park.

Bonus: Churchill is the best place to see wild polar bears.

Polar Bears

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[Quick note: beginning next week, Thursday and Saturday posts are both moving to Friday].

Polar bears are among the most charismatic species to be threatened by the climate crisis, which sadly is driving high-carbon tourism to see them before they become too few or far away. When the ice melts, the polar bears can’t reach their primary prey, seals. The effects of carbon pollution are currently warming the arctic quickly, and many bears are starving while they wait for the ice to return. One of the most popular spots to see wild polar bears is in Churchill Manitoba in Canada, and most visitors arrive by plane, usually taking at least two flights to get there. Once here, they take large tundra buggies or even helicopters out to see the bears gathering on the shore of Hudson Bay.

Bear viewing peak season is short, between the first snow fall in October and when the ice is thick enough for hunting. Come too early, you won’t see the bears; come too late, and they’re all out to sea. Still, you might see beluga whales or the northern lights. Besides tourism, there’s a lot of scientific research conducted up here, describing in detail how our rapidly changing climate is disrupting the lives of various species, especially the polar bears at the top of a fragile food chain. The scientists obviously understand the implications, and they offer virtual tours and are working on electric tundra buggies to try to limit the carbon pollution of tourism.

Even though this is not a world heritage site—and I’m not a carbon jet-setter—seeing polar bears in their natural environment is irresistible to me. Concerned about contributing to the carbon pollution that threatens polar bears with extinction, I decided to drive my EV up to northern Manitoba and take the train to see them, instead of flying. The town of Churchill on Hudson Bay has no road, so I drove to the regional center of Thompson to catch a 16 hour train ride to Churchill. Even Thompson is challenging for an EV, as it is 239 miles from the next closest charger.

Churchill—named for an illustrious ancestor of the UK’s wartime Prime Minister—has a Hudson Bay Company fort, a shipwreck, a small museum of the people who have lived here for ~3,000 years, and a brief-stay polar bear jail—for bears that won’t keep out of the town. While it took me longer—and cost far less than a package tour—, I made it to Churchill, taking a guided van tour into Wapusk national park, and I saw them, real polar bears living in the wild—a dream come true.

Above is a young male polar bear we observed chilling on the rocks and later walking to the water. I also saw a couple of arctic hares and dozens of Ptarmigan, an arctic or alpine bird with feathered feet. Below are a mother and cub who were resting in the sun, occasionally looking up curiously. I hope people make an effort to reduce their carbon pollution, so that these magnificent animals aren’t wiped out forever by our thoughtlessness.

Here are my visits to all UN sites in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve

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Georgian Bay is almost as big as Lake Ontario, but it’s still just considered a bay of Lake Huron. The Niagara Escarpment separates the bay in the form of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. Above are the Recollet Falls on the French River at the north end of the biosphere. Most of the famous explorers of Canada passed this way: Brûlé who lived with the Huron as a teen around 1610, Champlain and Mackenzie, among others. Radisson and his brother-in-law may have been the most consequential, as they realized the economic potential of Ojibwa fur trading canoe routes. Unlike the licensed voyageurs, the pair were outlaw traders, known as coureur des bois, ‘runners of the woods’. When the French declined to support their venture, they turned to the English and formed the Hudson Bay Company.

The south end of the biosphere is at the Severn River, where there’s an impressive canal/ boat-railway system for transiting small craft between Lakes Huron and Ontario. Much of the biosphere belongs to the Anishinaabek people, who call it the Mnidoo-gamii, the ‘spirit of the lake’. The lakeshore is well protected, remote and home to a great many species. As ages ago, boat is still the best way to explore this ‘30,000 islands’ area. Still, I managed to spot two black bears just outside the park where I hiked to the falls above. Fortunately I didn’t see any of their rare local rattlesnakes. Northwest of Georgian Bay, on Manitoulin Island, I saw a bald eagle, six sand hill cranes, and a variety of smaller birds. Georgian Bay is a lovely area, and I’m glad it’s protected.

Here are my visits to all UN sites in Ontario.

Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve

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Between Algonquin Park in Canada and the Adirondack Mountains in New York, there’s a rocky high ground that sets the level of Lake Ontario. The St Lawrence River and glacier melt long ago scrubbed a path through the 1,000 Islands, but the Frontenac Arch is the connecting rock. Above at Halsteads Bay, near Gananoque Ontario, is a bit of the arch that’s above water, looking upstream before the seaway narrows. Several of the busiest international bridges cross these scenic islands, and there are boat trips from both sides to gawk at the views and fancy private island residences.

The Biosphere is a much larger area that extends northwest from the arch itself. The Rideau Canal and its charming villages are included, as are many parks with lakes, forests and rocky hills for recreation. Driving through and stopping frequently, I saw an otter, heron, many geese and other wildlife.

The name Frontenac is used widely, from the hotel in Québec to a provincial park lake in the Biosphere. Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau, was Governor General of New France in the late 17th century, and he fought with the Iroquois and built various forts. The natives hunted and traded along the arch for 20,000 years or so, and there are still native lands along the border and on some of the 1,000 islands.

Here are my visits to all UN sites in Ontario.