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Las Cruces, NM to Bellingham, WA: Part III Great Basin NP, NV and Crater Lake NP revisited with snow

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LC to B: Part III. Great Basin NP & Crater Lake revisited with snow Our next stop on our way from Las Cruces to Bellingham was at Great Basin National Park in Nevada. This was a new park for us and I was excited.  I do love to explore new places.  First, let me say, it is in the middle of nowhere. Baker, the park ‘entry’ town is a fun, quirky little place and I do mean little, the projected population for 2025 is 26 (yep, just 26 with no zeros after the 26) and it's still miles from the majority of the park or really anywhere else for that matter. The Great Basin itself is a massive area, over 200,000 square miles that includes most of Nevada, much of Utah and parts of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Baja California.  It ranges from North America’s lowest point, Badwater Basin in Death Valley NP at -282’ to the highest point in the contiguous US at 14,505’ less than 100 miles away at the summit of Mt. Whitney.  The area's uniqueness derives fro...
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Traveling from Las Cruces, NM to Bellingham, WA: Part I. Petrified Forest NP and the Painted Desert, Arizona

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Las Cruces, NM to Bellingham, WA: Part I. Petrified Forest NP and the Painted Desert, Arizona Our first stop on our journey north seeking cooler temps was the Petrified Forest NP located in the Painted Desert in Arizona.  It wasn't any cooler, but we spent a couple of days exploring the area. The colors and textures we witnessed from afar and close-up, when we hiked down onto the desert floor, were really spectacular which was only topped by seeing some local wildlife (I won't say anything more about that now, you'll just have to wait for the pics ;). The national park didn't offer any camping, but we stayed in a nearby state park, Homolovi. It had partially excavated indigenous ruins that we were able to visit. One thing about a hot desert climate, it's great for preserving artifacts! On to pics: The name of this campground cracked me up. A throwback from the ‘70s. Haha. We stayed here on our way to the Petrified Forest.   full moon at the Cosmic Campground  Petrif...
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