A Years Worth of National Park Wildlife

In the past year or so of blogging, Josh and I have been fortunate to see a lot of wildlife while visiting National Parks across the country. I thought I would share all of these in one place.

Frog in Death Valley NP

This friendly coyote tried to hitch a ride in Death Valley NP

Deer in Mammoth Cave NP

Turkey running afowl in Mammoth Cave NP

Postcard perfect Elk in Yellowstone NP

The blurry blob to the right of the letter E was an incredibly large porcupine

Bison in Yellowstone NP

This Roosevelt Elk in Olympic NP walked right down the trail towards me

Bighorn Sheep in Badlands NP

Bison in Waterton Lakes NP

This grizzly bear in Waterton Lakes NP was busy munching and never paid any attention to us

Deer in Great Sand Dunes NP

The Ptarmigan’s in Glacier NP were everywhere

This marmot posing in Grand Teton NP was our blog with the highest views all year

Black bear in Great Smoky Mountains NP

The jackrabbits in Joshua Tree NP were huge

This addax in Big Bend NP was making a huge racket

This deer was eating a banana peel by the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon NP

Tropical fish in Dry Tortugas NP

We didn’t get pictures of the moose in Rocky Mountain NP nor did we get a picture of an all too close encounter with a mountain lion in Joshua Tree NP.

rk

Sunday Hikes: Darwin Falls

Darwin Falls was our last hike of the day at Death Valley National Park.   After spending the day enjoying salt flats, sand dunes, and majestic overlooks, we finished our day with this unique hike.   The hiking team was myself, Anya, and Josh.  Darwin Falls in on the far west side of Death Valley NP near Panamint Springs.

To get there, drive west through Panamint Springs and take the first left down a 2.5 mile long bumpy dirt road.    This road gave our rental car a beating before we arrived at the Darwin Falls trailhead.   The trail starts down a wide gravel lined path that soon narrows.   After the first half a mile you start seeing signs of water.   Eventually the trail becomes one with the small stream of water.    After passing some hippies, we climbed over a few rocks and came up to the waterfall and pool.   The water appeared to be about 5 to 6 feet deep and was very cold.  The flow of water was a thin stream that forked before dropping into the pool.

On the way back, we discussed how much cooler this trail was compared to several of the other trails we had done earlier in the day.   We also were able to spot five frogs hanging out together in the water.

At only two miles round trip, the Darwin Falls trail is quick, fun and refreshing.   I recommend it for anyone visiting Death Valley National Park.    rk