Joe WhitsonExplorer

Kootenay National Park is one of the lesser visited parks in a chain of spectacular parks in the Canadian Rockies between Banff and Jasper. Straddling the Trans-Canadian Highway, the park offers hot springs, awesome mountain views, and glaciers. As you enter the park, keep an eye out for the grizzly bears that frequent the road sides.Floe Lake is considered the park's "classic" hike and is a gr...

This moderate hike takes you to the highest point in Minnesota, at all of 2,301 ft in elevation. The first part of the hike, which runs along Whale Lake, is a gentle upwards climb. You gain most of the hike's elevation in the final push to the top, within the last mile of the hike. Enjoy the view, rest up, and head back down the trail.Don't forget to get a day permit at the parking lot.

Situated on top of a series of craggy bluffs, Interstate State Park is a small park that offers amazing views of the St. Croix River gorge. With a pine forest ecosystem usually only found a hundred miles north of the park, the lichen encrusted rocks and spring wildflowers offer the Northwoods experience without the long drive.Suggested Hike A 3 mile trail runs from the main park entrance (the p...

Trail's End Campground is located at the very end of the Gunflint Trail, a remote highway that cuts into the heart of the Minnesota Northwoods. Catch the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais along Highway 61 on the North Shore of Lake Superior. From Grand Marais, you'll wind your way sixty miles along the beautiful wilderness road, a trip that takes about an hour and a half. The campground, which is ...

Mount Revelstoke, located in the Columbian Range on the border of Alberta and British Columbia, is the only summit in the Canadian Rockies you can reach by car. The windy road from the Trans-Canadian highway rises about 4000 ft. offering increasingly expansive views of the valley below. The park is known for its fields of wildflowers, so try to visit during their incredibly short growing season...

If you are into extreme sports, ski jumping is definitely something you should try. Suicide Bowl (don't let the name put you off) outside of Marquette, MI is one of the oldest and most established ski jumping clubs in the country and a perfect place to either get started or hone your skills.  Before you go: Contact the Ishpeming Ski Club to set up a time to go to Suicide Bowl. There isn't open ...

Begin your hike behind the Visitor's Center and follow the path to the left towards the Prairie Loop Trail. The path quickly breaks out of the woods into an open prairie, looping through the tall grasses and burr oaks. The pond with its boardwalk is a great place to see Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, and different ducks - ask at the visitor's center and they may give you seeds to feed the birds. T...

Begin your hike at the Noquemenon South Trailhead and follow the markings for the Morgan Creek Falls loop. You will immediately have to cross Hwy 553 to get to the main trail. From there, you have two options to reach the falls. The first and more scenic is the marked Noquemenon trail (look for blue blazes on the trees). This trail is very circuitous, winding back and forth along the hills and ...

On November 28, 1905, a violent storm hit Split Rock Point on the North Shore of Lake Superior. While large storms aren't unusual at Split Rock, this particular storm resulted in the destruction of twenty-nine ships on the lake in a single day, prompting the construction of Split Rock Lighthouse. Dubbed at one point "the most dangerous piece of water in the world," the waves crashing against th...

While its nickname "The Switzerland of America" may have been invented by some overzealous marketers, Ouray, Colorado and the surrounding San Juan Mountains is a destination you won't want to skip. Expansive green valleys blanketed with wildflowers, distant snowcapped peaks, and hidden lakes will quench any explorer's thirst for beauty while crumbling ghost towns, precarious cliffside roads, an...

Quetico Provincial Park, just north of Minnesota in southern Ontario, is the Canadian portion of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). Truly a wilderness area, the 1.2 million acre park has no roads, few trails, and allows in just a tenth of the visitors that canoe the BWCA to the south. With over 2000 lakes, the best way to explore the park is by water. Motorized boats aren't gene...

The Noquemenon Trail Network (NTN) is an extensive network of non-motorized trails in and around Marquette, MI and has become a popular site for winter fat tire biking. If you haven't fat tire biked before, the benefit of the nearly four inch wide tires is that it gives you incredible traction on ice and loose surfaces like snow or sand, making mountain biking a four season sport.  If you don't...

John A. Latsh State Park is directly off of Hwy. 61 a few miles north of Winona. Begin your hike at the parking lot, following the signs for the Riverview Trail. The hike itself is a short, but steep climb on a series of steps up the side of the Mt. Charity Bluff. Winding through verdant valley forest, thick with ferns and wildflowers, the stairs eventually emerge onto a bluffland prairie scatt...

This diverse, 2,702-acre park has trails for both day hikers and backpackers – some with scenic views of the St. Croix River, others which drop into quiet ravines. For the best views of the valley, explore off-trail, where you may find hidden bluffs with panoramic views.The park also offers horseback riding, mountain biking, swimming, and cross-country skiing, in the winter.A good introductory ...

Begin your trip at the Seagull Lake boat launch at Trail's End Campground. The campground, located in Superior National Forest at the very end of the Gunflint Trail, is an hour and half drive from the nearest town of Grand Marais and is a great place to stay the night before. There are no motors allowed in the BWCA, so you will need a canoe or kayak, which you can rent from the nearby Voyageurs...

Halfway between Schroeder and Grand Marais, Cascade is usually little more than a pit stop on a longer trip. Since the main cascades are just a quarter mile from the highway, there is usually little incentive to further explore the 5300 acre park. However, those who take the time to wander around are rewarded by one of the most beautiful parks on the North Shore, if not the entire state.The par...

Isle Royale National Park consists of Isle Royale, a fifty mile long and nine mile wide island in Lake Superior, and about 45 smaller islands around (and within) it. Remote and undeveloped, the shores can be visited by watercraft, but the only way to see the interior is to walk across it. Because the island has only one large predator population (wolves) and one large prey population (moose), i...

Buck Hill is a popular stop on Theodore Roosevelt National Park's Scenic Loop Road. The official trail is only a half mile round trip, but the landscape is open and it is worth spending more time in the Buck Hill area wandering around the various hills and lookouts, patching together a 360 degree view of the surrounding park. The south hill will reveal the badlands in all their alien glory and ...

Grasslands National Park is Canada's only prairie national park and is the perfect place to dive into a true prairie wilderness. This park is mostly backcountry, but taking the Eco-Tour route through the western section will allow you to sample the park and give you easy access to a number of short, interpretive trails.Begin your drive in the tiny town of Val Marie, SK. Take Hwy 18 west to the ...

A labyrinth of gullies, hoodoos, and ravines, Badlands National Park in western South Dakota is a welcome break from the unrelenting flatness of the surrounding prairie. The remote park is also a paradise for backcountry hikers and campers who really want to escape the crowds and explore wilderness far from trails and roads. With a famously dark night sky perfect for stargazing, easy to see wil...