Best Hikes of 2016 #3- Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop (Two Bridges)

Everything was stacked against this hike rising this high in the countdown.

We had one full day at Bryce Canyon, which was also the last day on our national park tour. We had gone all out for our trip (which you’ve probably noticed), using every scrap of time to explore as much of the western parks as we could. Even though we still felt excitement for Bryce Canyon, a little fatigue had set in. We were staring at two days of driving back to Texas, a hurried night of packing, and then another two days of driving back to our respective home states.

I also had a knee injury to contend with after I hurt it scrambling down Pinnacles at Big Bend, before the western road trip began in earnest. I had limped around Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Zion, ignoring the pain the best that I could, but I wondered if I could make it through another strenuous hike.

To make matters worse, I had gotten just enough cell reception on the drive from our campground to Bryce Canyon that a text from my mom got through. That’s how I found out that my uncle had died suddenly a day prior. We weren’t close, and while I wasn’t entirely ambivalent about his death, I was mostly concerned for my mom, who had grown quite close with him over the previous few years. It certainly hung over me the rest of the trip.

Oh, and did I mention we couldn’t get easy access to the trailhead we planned to take (the Peekaboo trail), and by the time we found out, we didn’t have time to plan an alternate route to get there? So we settled for this combination trail, which started along the south rim trail, wound down into the amphitheater along the Queen’s Garden trail, and then climbed out on whichever half of the Navajo Loop you preferred (we chose Two Bridges over Wall Street).

This hike should have been clouded by a guilty haze, by a poisonous drop of knowledge that I should be elsewhere. I should have taken one look at the switchbacks on Navajo Loop and flounced away in a huff to ice my knee. I should have been overcome by my devotion for all things family LOL I can’t even finish this one.

And yet, here we are, a billion words into the #3 hike of the year where I haven’t really talked about the actual hike yet. That’s because I don’t have a ton to say. It’s stunning, as you might expect, and getting some face time with hoodoos was worth every twinge of pain. The flat part at the bottom was my favorite (SURPRISE), mostly due to the striking juxtaposition of tall trees and the gorgeous Utah desert. And maybe a little because I’m lazy. The non-nature highlight was easily my friend loudly clearing her throat to attract the attention of a park ranger to some tourists who were cutting switchbacks, who quickly became the audience to a lecture on erosion control.

Bryce Canyon is a special place and an underrated national park (I know how good it is and I still think I have it underrated on my overall list). The Queen’s Garden and Najavo Loop hike had everything going against it and still made the top three. That’s how incredible it is.

But nothing on this list stood a chance against the top two.

Best Hikes of 2016 #4- Nine Mile Pond

What? A canoe trail doesn’t count as a hike? Cry about it. This is my blog and I make the rules here. IF OBAMA WANTS MY BLOG HE CAN COME TAKE IT.

It’s hard–maybe impossible–to truly explore the Everglades if you hang back on solid ground with the rest of the landlubbers. We didn’t have time to take a boat into the heart of the glades, and we lacked time and experience (at least in my case) for one of the many strenuous routes one can find in the Everglades. Luckily for us, Nine Mile Pond offers a fantastic paddling route, one that doesn’t put too much strain on beginners, makes it difficult to get lost in the maze of mangroves and sawgrass, and eliminates the need to transport your own gear.

We had a little bad luck in that the wind was somewhat more challenging than usual, which slowed us down and didn’t allow us to search for wildlife quite as much as we could have otherwise. I was still riding the high from seeing a snail kite at Paurotis Pond that morning, so I wasn’t too bummed out about the relative lack of wildlife, and it was an unexpected treat when we saw an enormous crocodile lounging on the banks of a pond near the end of the route. We watched the crocodile through binoculars from a healthy distance. I was so excited about the crocodile that I almost slapped my paddle on the head of a jealous alligator a few minutes later.

What I remember distinctly is the realization I had as we canoed through the mangroves: that I was in the middle of one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Ducking under mangrove branches and splashing myself with cold water as the wind whipped our little boat around on the open ponds and narrow passages, scanning for alligators and the PVC markers that marked the trail, taking a wrong turn and running aground on some dead vegetation…it was all so surreal. It has inspired me to pick up more water-based activities, hopefully preparing me for a future trip to the Everglades where I can explore another chunk of the miraculous river of grass. I can recommend that anyone reading this explore any of the trails I mention, but if I had to recommend one experience, this may be it.