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10 Best Things to Do at Badlands National Park

August 24, 2021

10 Best Things to Do at Badlands National Park

Is Badlands​ National Park Dog Friendly? (2026 Guide)

November 10, 2020

Is Badlands​ National Park Dog Friendly? (2026 Guide)

Vanessa and her two Siberian Huskies in front of the Badlands National Park rock formations in South Dakota
One Day in Badlands National Park: The Perfect Itinerary

October 26, 2020

One Day in Badlands National Park: The Perfect Itinerary

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I lived less than an hour from Salem for 7 years, I lived less than an hour from Salem for 7 years, and every October I watched the same thing: people driving downtown, circling for parking, and spending the day in the Witch Museum line.

A million visitors. One town of 45,000. Halloween on a Saturday and the 400th anniversary this year. It’s going to be a lot.

So I wrote the version I’d hand a friend or tell them over coffee, because that’s what I do here ☕️ 

Two different guides, actually. 

🎃👻 The Salem in October Cheat Sheet is 6 pages you keep on your phone: the train, the ticket release times, the Halloween-night rules, one perfect weekday hour by hour, and the real Hocus Pocus addresses. 

🍁🎃 The Ultimate Salem Guide is the whole thing the shops, the food and cider, the dog version, where to actually sleep, the 1692 history, and the other eleven months.

Comment Witch and I’ll send you both links!
There’s a national park where wild horses wander d There’s a national park where wild horses wander down the middle of the road at sunset, and somehow, most people still don’t know where it is.

📍 🦬 Theodore Roosevelt National Park, western North Dakota.

Wild horses. Bison standing in the road at dusk. A herd disappearing into the river fog at sunset. The moon coming up over the badlands.

And you can see a ridiculous amount of it in 48 hours.

No reservations. No lines. Just the Loop Road, a whole lot of badlands, and bison who absolutely do not care that you’re in a hurry.

✨ Save this for the I-94 drive you were about to do in one shot ✨
4 million people visit Acadia every year, and the 4 million people visit Acadia every year, and the vast majority never leave Mount Desert Island. The part they all skip is the part I’d send you to if you’re looking for tranquility over crowds. 

Schoodic is the only piece of the park on the mainland, about an hour from Bar Harbor around the top of Frenchman Bay. 

Six-mile one-way loop road, no reservation, no Island Explorer crowds, no timed anything. Schoodic Point is the payoff: pink granite and black basalt dikes taking the full Atlantic, and on a big-swell day it’s the best show in the park. Dogs on leash are fine on the rocks and the trails.

Look back across the bay from the point and you can see Cadillac. That’s where everyone else is. But this spot is fantastic for sunset! 

🌅 Save this. Then don’t tell anyone 😉 

⚠️‼️ Before people come for me in the comments because they inevitably will - The Schoodic Peninsula is a PART of Acadia National Park and the National Park System (not a secret), and therefore it has the resources to sustain visitors. Most people don’t visit this part of the park because they don’t want to drive an hour, while I understand, respectfully you’re missing out! ⚠️‼️

🌲🌱 Remember to leave no trace 💚
🏔️🍁 If you asked me for my favorite fall hike in t 🏔️🍁 If you asked me for my favorite fall hike in the White Mountains, it’s not one of the 48 (4,000 footers) for the peak baggers! 🍁🏔️

Welch-Dickey Loop, Waterville Valley. 4.4 miles, two summits, about 1,750 feet of climbing, and more open granite ledge than most of the peaks twice its height. In October the whole Mad River valley is on fire below you and you’re standing on bare rock looking at it for the last mile. I’ve rated it 10 out of 5 on the blog for years and I’m not revising.

Two things nobody tells you: go counterclockwise. Clockwise puts the steep slabs on the descent and you’ll come down some of them on your backside. And bring more water for the dogs than you think, this is the only trail where I’ve ever run out. My Bama (was 11 at the time and has been gone since 2020) finished it, tired and happy. Skip it with a puppy under a year.

Coffee at Mad River Coffee House in Campton before, pizza and a beer on the dog-friendly patio at The Last Chair in Plymouth after. That’s 

🍁🏔️🍁Save this for your fall trip to New Hampshire 🍁🏔️🍁
Updated blog post coming next week 😁
October in Acadia is Disney World busy. Most peopl October in Acadia is Disney World busy. Most people lose the day to it because they do things in the order the map suggests, not the order the crowds do.

So steal my one fall day in Acadia. This is the one fall day I’d plan for a friend: sunrise from the cliffs instead of the summit, one real hike before 9, east side or quiet side, your pick, out of the park when it peaks, tide pools in the afternoon, and a sunset nobody else is at.

Every date, reservation window, and closing is in the Acadia & Bar Harbor In Fall guide in 16 pages, $27, written after six months on the island.

Comment 🍁 FALL 🍁 and I’ll send you the link! 

Happy Adventuring! 😁
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