Joe WhitsonExplorer

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 ...

Imagine you have been driving for hours through North Dakota. The landscape is uncompromisingly flat and there isn't so much as a tree to obscure the horizon in any direction. Then, with no warning, the topography transforms. The prairie around you crumbles, dropping down into a series of immense ravines, gullies, and hills. What was endless monochromatic grassland becomes a multihued dreamscap...

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 ...

The Lookout Point Loop actually combines parts of three trails to bring you through some of Wind Cave's best prairieland. Begin at the trailhead for Centennial and Lookout Point off of Hwy 87 and take Lookout Point trail east to Beaver Creek. At Beaver Creek, you'll catch the Highland Creek Trail and follow that until you hit Centennial Trail. You'll loop back through Reaves Gulch and Curley Ca...

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...

Begin at Meyer's Beach in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Cornucopia, WI. There is a parking lot, but get there early in the day to get a spot and make sure to use the bathroom before heading out. There is no opportunity on the ice.Head out onto the frozen lake and follow the shoreline east about a half a mile to the first caves. The caves, arches, and ice formations extend a mile a...

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...

Glacial Lakes State Park is located on the easternmost border of the once immense prairie that covered much of the Great Plains. This prairie oasis gives visitors a taste of what traveling across the that treeless wilderness would have been like for American Indians and pioneers two hundred years ago.Although the park offers drive-in campsites, the best way to see the park is to hike the three ...

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...

Sugarloaf Mountain is one of the most popular hikes in the Marquette area. The easy hike quickly takes you up to clear views of Lake Superior and is perfect for a winter afternoon. Begin your hike at the trailhead off of Big Bay Road north of Marquette. There are two routes to the top - labeled easy and difficult. Both are easy, the difference is whether you prefer trails or stairs. The easy ro...

Great River Bluffs State Park follows a series of impressive bluffs along the Mississippi River just south of Winona. For those of you who think Minnesota is as flat as a pancake (and I'm not saying there aren't places in the state that are), Great River Bluffs will be a surprise. King's and Queen's Bluff are half hills, gradually rising from the valley only to end in a 500 ft cliff along the r...

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...

Every Autumn, Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota designates some of it's best roads as official Fall Color Routes. These roads go deep into the forest, far from towns and cell phone reception to show off the best Minnesota has to offer. Peak season is short, only a week or two sometime between mid-September and mid-October, so plan ahead and don't miss your opportunity.Driving all t...

This easily accessible loop takes you on a moderate walk around Lake Harriet, a popular recreational site for cyclers, walkers, runners, and families. You can cycle this trail in the clockwise direction, or opt to walk. Be sure to explore the surrounding park and gardens, afterwards!

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...

This beautiful, green hike takes you along Beaver Creek, as it winds through a lush gorge within the bluffs. Park at the entrance to Beaver Creek Valley State Park, where the park ranger can direct you to the trailhead. Here is a helpful map of the park.

Pattison State Park is a Northwoods paradise. Home to Big and Little Manitou Falls, water is a main attraction here. Big Manitou Falls is across the highway from the main park (accessible by a tunnel) and is the fourth tallest waterfall east of the rocky mountains. This is a great place to start your day - a quick walk and big return on your investment. The 165 ft drop flows into a foggy canyon...

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...

Big Bog, an uninspired name for the 500 sq. mile bog in north central Minnesota (the largest in the continental United States), is sometimes called Minnesota's last true wilderness. The Boundary Water Wilderness is so remote, unvisited, and uninhabitable that all attempts at settlement failed - the bog wouldn't drain, the land couldn't be farmed, and mosquitos drove people mad. Wildlife has tro...

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...