National parks: Great for hiking, biking … and

complete foolishness

October 09, 2009, 10:39 AM by RobinD_travel |

Ken Burns’ new series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” is inspiring couch potatoes nationwide to plan their vacations to Acadia, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and more. If the six-part, 12-hour documentary film has your head swimming with the possibilities, perhaps Bing Travel’s latest photo gallery may help. “The Best National Parks For …” offers a few suggestions to narrow down the choices based on your preferred activities.

Want to enjoy great hiking? Hit the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee. Biking? Try Acadia in Maine. Caving? Visit Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave.

Foolishness and misadventure? Well, you can enjoy that anywhere. Might I recommend Mount Rainier National Park?

Last summer I decided to explore the newly renovated Paradise Inn at Mount Rainier, only two and a half hours from my suburban townhouse. I parked my car at Longmire (elevation 2,700 feet) and jumped on the convenient shuttle bus up to Paradise (elevation 5,400 feet).

After three blissful days of hiking in alpine fields burgeoning with purple lupine and red paintbrush, and catching sight of blacktailed deer, marmots and even a red fox, I prepared to return home. I asked the Paradise Inn desk clerk a simple question. “When can I catch the shuttle back to Longmire?”

“There is no shuttle on Mondays,” was the surprising response.

So I walked. That’s right, I slung my green rucksack over my shoulders and walked 5.8 miles downhill from Paradise to Longmire, an elevation drop of 2,700 feet. The desk clerk told me it would take 2 1/2 hours, but it actually took me four.

But what a sublime four hours. I passed the massive Narada falls and two other smaller waterfalls. During a quiet moment in the forest, a blacktailed doe and her fawn nonchalantly crossed the trail in front of me. As I approached Longmire, I forded the wildly rushing Nisqually River on an impossibly narrow log bridge. It was gorgeous. I lingered. (Thus, the four hours.)

I didn’t know I had it in me to walk from Paradise to Longmire. Now I know it’s a piece of cake. Thank goodness for national parks, and thank goodness for happy accidents.