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California National Park Trip + More

 Back in 2021 when I was on my first “big” solo adventure to Arizona, I got an idea to go to all of the national parks in California.

Insert rewind music…let me elaborate when I say first “big” solo adventure. Prior to 2021, I had gone on many trips by myself, but most of them I was meeting up with a group or had planned the trip with the help of an organization. Kilimanjaro, and my Argentina exchange was with Rotary and I studied abroad twice in college.

So, Arizona was a true solo adventure. I knew where I was going to stay and things I wanted to do and see, but the rest of the trip was all up to me. Whenever I travel, and even more when I am solo, I have so much time to think and reflect. I do a lot of thinking and reflecting in my day-to-day life, so my vacation brain thinking is next level. I vision what my ideal career is, who I need to re-connect with, creative ideas, trip ideas, how I can be a better person, and the list goes on and on. It is something I look forward to on trips. I enjoy letting my mind wonder and gleaning new ideas to bring back to my normal life.

Going back to my idea of going to all the California national parks. When I got back from my Arizona trip, I knew I had a good idea, so I started looking at blogs and Pinterest ideas of trips other people had taken. After a few weeks of looking at ideas I created an excel file with a calendar of where I planned to be when, potential places to stay, things to do in each park etc.

I worked on the calendar and ideas sporadically for a few months, and once 2022 came around, I could choose the dates. Through my research of the best time to visit the parks and working it around my work schedule, I decided to go May 13-27.

This was my initial itinerary:


Everything went according to plan, except by the end of the trip I was really tired and ended up going home on Friday, May 27. I would have loved to spend 2 extra days in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but I saved a significant amount of money,  and had a few more days of rest before returning to work.

I only live about 8 hours from Yellowstone (depending on where you enter), so I am close enough to make another trip there and to the Grand Tetons. I only saw a few highlights of both parks on the day that I went to both parks.

This trip was fun and exciting for me. I had never been gone on my own for such a long period of time and I wanted to see as much as I could. I know that at most national parks you could spend a week at each one, but I consider this trip a test trip to see which ones I want to go spend more time at. I already shared that I will be going back to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but I will also go back to Yosemite and Crater Lake. They were 2 of my favorite parks. On this trip, I had to skip going to the Channel Islands, so I will be planning a trip there as well.

Overall, I would 10/10 do the trip all over again. A few things I learned were that I need to be better prepared if I am going to camp. Camping near the parks was my original plan, but once I checked the weather at some of the locations and my experience near Joshua Tree not being able to get my tent stakes in the ground because I was camping on gravel, I decided to book hotels for the rest of the trip. While this was an expense I was not expecting, it allowed me to stay closer to the parks, feel safer, have more comfortable sleeping arrangements. The total milage of my trip ended up being 5,768 miles.

If you dream a dream, make it happen! I had the best time exploring, thinking, and meeting new people.

With courage,

Katie

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