The Many Advantages of Off-Season Park Exploration

I freely admit that I am an unabashed supporter of national and state parks.  I was introduced to state parks as a child when my family went camping and fishing, and to national parks at the age of 13 on a whirlwind, family tour of some of the West’s most famous parks: The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Sequoia, Yellowstone.  I have been hooked ever since, and have been fortunate enough to be able to visit a variety of parks in several seasons, not just peak tourist season.  This has only increased my affection for these parks.

 

For many people, especially families with school-aged children, one of the constraints on travel opportunities is the school calendar.  Summer is a big travel season precisely because the kids are out of school.  The weather is often nicer in the summer, too.  These two factors combine to cram large numbers of visitors to the parks in a relatively short time frame.  But if you have the opportunity to visit our glorious parks in the off-season, I highly recommend it.  Here’s why.

 

First of all, most of the parks will be considerably less crowded during the off-season.  After all, you visit these beautiful oases to enjoy nature and the outdoors, not throngs of other people.  Yellowstone and Yosemite, for example, can become parking lots in the height of summer (and not just because of animal jams); traveling through them can cause more stress than it relieves.  Especially if you are a crowd-averse person, you will enjoy the parks immensely more during the less popular times of year.  Because of the decreased demand, lodging, airfare, and rental cars are generally less expensive during the off-season, sometimes considerably so.  Even shifting your plans by as little as a week can sometimes make a huge difference in the overall cost of your trip.  (My husband and I saved approximately $900 each on plane tickets a few years ago by shifting our departure date by a single day.  That one day took us out of summer season rates and put us into off-season rates.)  And, of course, gasoline is generally at its most expensive during the high-travel season, namely summer.

 

My favorite reason to visit parks in the off-season, however, is that you get to experience the park in ways that most people do not.  There is no question that the red rock formations of southern Utah, for example, are gorgeous – anyone who has seen a photograph of them is bound to be struck by the colors of the rocks.  Seeing those same rocks capped with snow, however, is an entirely different experience altogether.  Watching the bison in Yellowstone graze on the plentiful grasses of summertime can lead a visitor to think these majestic animals have it pretty easy.  When the temperature hovers around zero and you are in near white-out conditions caused by an icy wind whipping across the landscape, however, and you watch these same animals push aside three or four feet of snow with their heads to get to the meager scraps of grass below, you go back to your cozy hotel room amazed that any of them survive the winter at all.  And you are thankful for your warm dinner in a way that you could never be in the summer.

 

Sometimes snow is not the biggest off-season weather change, though; many parts of the country do not get snow on any regular basis.  In these areas, the off-season sometimes means rain.  While rain requires its own preparations, it can be fantastic; rain can completely alter the mood of a landscape.  Waterfalls in the rain are some of my favorite things to photograph, in part because it is something we so rarely see; most waterfall photographs are taken on beautiful, sunny days.  The moodiness of a waterfall in the rain is something few people experience, and it captivates me.

 

The off-season does not automatically mean bad weather, however.  Bright, gorgeous, sunny days happen in winter, too, and they can lend a compelling energy to a park visit.  Crisp, cool days with bright blue skies are at the heart of the concept of the “winter wonderland,” and that concept is not restricted to ski resorts.

 

If you’re not interested in the cold or getting rained or snowed on, however, then the spring and the fall are your seasons.  The landscape comes alive in spring with new plant life, while rivers and lakes are often at their fullest.  If it’s early enough in the season, the bugs have not yet become a problem, while in late fall they are no longer a problem.  Fall ushers back in the cool weather and the brilliant palettes of autumn leaves.  In some parts of the country, both spring and fall bring with them much more comfortable – and safer – temperatures than summer, as well.  The Grand Canyon and similar parks get dangerously hot in the summer, with the mercury soaring well into the 120s or above in some of the canyons.  Hikers frequently underestimate either the heat or its effect on their bodies, routinely getting themselves into trouble.  Heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and even death are not uncommon.  Visiting the Canyon in the spring or fall can greatly reduce the dangers of heat-related illness.  (Be sure to check with the visitor center in any canyon-containing park if you plan to hike, however.  Find out if the park has flash-flood prone areas, and what the weather forecast will be.  Slot canyons are gorgeous and much more fun to hike in cooler weather, but can turn deadly quickly in rainstorms.)

 

If animals are your thing, the off-season offers wonders that you will likely not get during the summer.  Many species give birth during the spring, meaning that your best opportunity to see baby animals at their youngest is during this time.  Be patient and keep a sharp eye; youngsters are often quite well camouflaged.  The fall brings the rutting season for many ungulates, and while you want to give them a wide berth, watching the males vie for mating rights is nothing if not impressive (in a painful, sympathetic-headache inducing way).  And in winter, you may get a glimpse of the real reason moose have such long, spindly legs.  (Hint: it’s not just to make them look funny.)  Add to that the burst of spring flowers, the brilliance of fall foliage, or the surreal blanket of winter’s white, and you will have an experience quite different from, but no less extraordinary than, one in the height of summer.

 

Jodi

City Escapes Nature Photography

 

 

 

Hotel Review: Hilton Houston North

Visited: Feb 2011

1 star

 

This hotel has a wonderful lobby with a huge atrium and decent-sized guest rooms. There are two restaurants and a Starbucks on the main floor, and several good-sized conference rooms are available. So, what’s not to love? Unfortunately, a lot. Pretty much everything about the service was disappointing during my visit. Things started off poorly and did not get much better. The hotel is 15 minutes from the Houston Bush Intercontinental airport, but it took me an hour to get there using the free shuttle bus, “which runs every 30 minutes.” Except that it didn’t, it was late, and then, after boarding, it was full and we had to wait for 15 minutes while the shuttle driver explained to the next group of passengers at the next stop that there were no seats on the shuttle and he couldn’t pick up more people (as opposed to actually dropping us off and returning to pick them up – or using the larger shuttle in the first place). There were 2 people at reception checking in a line of about 15 people, so the wait was longer than it should have been. Fortunately, I was able to get into the restaurant 15 minutes before it closed (at 11:00 pm, along with room service) and order my $12 hamburger, which was ok but not outstanding. My room was a good size; however it was not particularly clean. There was mold on the bathroom floor in the grout lines, where it was obviously not disturbed by the cleaning people. I used a towel to keep it covered (I couldn’t change rooms since the hotel was full). The phone was not programmed properly (the buttons for messages and wake-up calls dialed but never connected), the air conditioning didn’t work well (the thermostat was off by about 10 degrees), and there was no fan in the bathroom (probably a contributing factor to the mold), so the room was a little warmer and more humid than it needed to be – particularly after a shower. The conference room, however, was freezing, so I guess it balanced out. Our meeting of 60 people overwhelmed the wireless connection, so I ended up using an air card connection for most of the meeting. I don’t understand how a hotel can charge so much for wireless and yet have no connectivity.  Overall, the attitude of the staff seemed summed up by a single experience as I was checking out: I was on one side of the elevator with my bags, an open (empty?) can of Monster sitting on the rail on the opposite side. A member of the housekeeping staff got on the elevator next to the can, didn’t acknowledge me, went down 2 floors, and left the can sitting on the railing after she got off. Of course, no-one asked how the stay was when I left, even the 2 managers I passed with my bags – I have noticed only the well trained staff do that, and I usually don’t have problems in hotels with well-trained staff.  One final note, if you are still considering staying at this hotel, be very, very careful at night. The hotel is located in a dangerous part of Houston, and you should never walk outside at night (I was told this by at least 3 people I trust who are familiar with the area, one of whom is a police officer).  For better or worse, there aren’t any restaurants nearby that you would be likely to walk to, so you may have no reason to go outside.  Nonetheless, be warned.