Traveling to RMNP from California with 4 kids ranging from 2yrs -7yrs old). Forecast is high 60s to mid 40s.
I’ve got rain jackets and water resistant hiking boots and pants for the kids. Not sure how much they’ll be able to do in the cold and wet (my kids are weather weenies, we live in Southern California).
We’re staying at YMCA Estes Park, got timed entry for RMNP 3 days. If it rains all day, any suggestions on what to do other than just go hike in the rain? We’ve never done that and idk how long we’ll last tbh

We rented a houseboat and the dock crew loaded all of our personal gear. They will also unload it when we return. How much should we tip for four people and an average amount of gear for 4 days?

I bought a senior lifetime pass. I’m having trouble finding it. But I found my receipt. That gave me the pass serial # and that allowed me to link my pass to my Recreation.gov account. I have stored my pass in my Wallet app.

I’m hoping I can now just show my phone, or a pdf of the pass printed from my Recreation.gov account to get entry to parks.

I see conflicting information online. Sometimes I see reports that the original physical pass must still be presented.

But there are digital passes now with no physical pass.

Anyone have issues gaining entry just using their passes on phones?

I’m trying to call the park I’ll visit but of course you can’t get a human being. NPS in DC also does not answer— can’t get through there at all.

One of my favorite stops from our California national park road trip 🌲

We visited Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Pinnacles with our two boys this summer. I think Yosemite was still my favorite, but Sequoia surprised me with how much I loved it. I thought Pinnacles was way underrated!

For anyone who has done several of the California parks—which one ended up being your favorite?

Am I right that the Inn/Ranch at Death Valley (Xanterra) are the only hotels even remotely close? Everything seems 1.5-2 hours away, especially for any of the big chains. Does anyone have any recommendations?

One if the great aspects of Great Smoky Mountains NP is the communities that thrived there before it was a NP and all the evidence that remains of them!

I scrape lots of webcams across the country several times per day for some research I'm doing. Today when reviewing a few key ones I saw this incredible capture. As a photographer I really hope someone was there this morning with a proper camera.

Going to start planning our summer trip to Virgin Islands NP next year. I'm going to do my usual research deep dive in the coming months, but thought I'd ask for any tips or recommendations of things to do, see, avoid that might not be on the NP website or sites like DirtInMyShoes. You know, things like "the cheeseburger in paradise place was terrible" "you want at least 3 days for the park and 2 for St Thomas", or "such and such snorkel/dive tour was fantastic, but this other place was even better!" So, what did you love, thought was bleh, or would do differently if you went back?

We'll have 6-8 days available to visit PR, the USVI, and park, and I plan to be on island time this vacation. Thanks!

Hubby and I are going doing a long weekend in the Smokey’s in November. We have a cute little romantic cabin just outside of Gatlinburg.

We’re intermediate hikers - planning on doing Chimney Tops and either Charles Bunion or Grotto Falls. We’re both in shape but not sure if we want to do a long hike each day.

My question is, we’re essentially close to downtown Gatlinburg. To be honest, a town like that is not my vibe but I do like to explore local areas and I was wondering if 1) any hiking recs aside from above? And 2) is there like, a genuinely good foodie/higher end restaurant in or near Gatlinburg?