https://mountainadventures.us/ The adventures include hiking, biking, camping and kayaking with associated stuff like nearby breweries and wineries tossed in. en-us Copyright 2008-2026, Mountain Adventures LLC Outdoors Tue, 21 Jul 2026 13:55:37 -0600 120 https://mountainadventures.us/images/mountain-adventures-title-2.png https://mountainadventures.us/ https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-3 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 21:38:00 -0600 The Twin Canals start by the trailhead and go straight out to another canal. The Twin Canals trail is on higher ground between the two canals. This is the only part of Barataria Preserve that is listed as open during the 2026 repairs from damage caused by Hurricane Ida in 2021. There is also a canoe launch at this trailhead. Check out the first ... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-23-twin-canals-trail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-3 https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-2 Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0600 After stopping at the visitor center I went to a nearby trailhead to hike a set of trails. Several trails and parts of trails were closed due to hurricane damage. First I went out Christmas Road and took a left at the fork onto Ring Levee Trail. The trail has a recently reconstructed boardwalk, but it ends and the trail is closed about .15 km fr... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-11-plantation-trail-underwater-turn-around-point.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-2 https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-1 Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:30:00 -0600 [img_full_block 348] South of New Orleans the Barataria Preserve, part of Jean Lafitte National Historic Park, is a great place to get out of the city and see how the area looks naturally. These photos are from the nature trail by the visitor center. It is a short boardwalk trail that lets you walk through the swamp without getting your feet we... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-05-visitor-center-trail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/jean-lafitte-nhp-barataria-preserve-1 https://mountainadventures.us/post/davis-bayou-gulf-islands-national-seashore Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:30:00 -0600 [img_full_block 343] Davis Bayou is a part of Gulf Islands National Seashore in Mississippi. Gulf Islands National Seashore is also in Florida. Compared to other parts of the seashore, Davis Bayou is small. It's the only part of the park on the mainland in Mississippi. [img_full_block 344] [img_full_block 345] This would be a gr... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/01-davis-bayou-gulf-islands-ns.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/davis-bayou-gulf-islands-national-seashore https://mountainadventures.us/post/highest-point-in-florida Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:30:00 -0600 Florida has the lowest state highest point in the United States. It is the top of 345 ft (105m) Britton Hill in northern Florida not far from Alabama. The drive there from the east had lots of turns and went into Alabama briefly. It is located in Walton County's Lakewood Park. It's surrounded by forests and farms with the closest town being Paxt... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/floridas-highest-point-dec24-54.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/highest-point-in-florida https://mountainadventures.us/post/florida-caverns-state-park-besides-the-cave Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:37:00 -0600 Florida Caverns State Park offers much more than the limestone caves. This park in the Florida Panhandle also has swamps, rivers, campgrounds and trails. Hiking, biking, horseback riding, paddling and swimming are popular activities in the park. The Chipola River is the main river in the park with several creeks flowing into it. When e... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/florida-caverns-sp-dec24-52-swamp.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/florida-caverns-state-park-besides-the-cave https://mountainadventures.us/post/florida-caverns-sp Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:30:00 -0600 Waterfalls, rapids and caves are not something you think about being in Florida, but all three are there. This post is about the cave system in Florida Caverns State Park in northern Florida, near the Alabama border. We will post about the highest waterfall and class 3 rapids in Florida in the future. If you are in the area you should stop and s... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/florida-caverns-sp-dec24-39.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/florida-caverns-sp https://mountainadventures.us/post/dunns-creek-state-park Fri, 15 May 2026 23:30:00 -0600 After leaving Blue Spring State Park and its manatees, I was thinking about riding near De Leon Springs, but I was driving through the heavy part of the storm while passing there, so I kept going. (See the previous post.) After passing through the storm, I saw a sign for Dunns Creek State Parks Blue Pond area, so I decided to stop and see what w... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/dunns-creek-sp-34-blue-pond-area.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/dunns-creek-state-park https://mountainadventures.us/post/manatees-blue-spring-state-park Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0700 Blue Spring State Park near Orange City, Florida is known for manatees coming into Blue Spring Run during the winter due to its warm 72 degree water. The spring run is a slow moving body of water connecting the spring or boil to the St. Johns River. There is a boardwalk that goes up the spring run to the boil, but it was closed for reconstructio... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/blue-spring-sp-17-manatees.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/manatees-blue-spring-state-park https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-pitcher-plants Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that attract bugs onto the rim of the pitcher where they slip inside are trapped. Big Thicket has a few areas with them. These are on the Sundew Trail in the Hickory Creek Unit. [img_full_block 317] They were smaller than I thought and I did not realize that it was them the first time I went by. Onc... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/big-thicket-national-preserve-20-sundew-trail-pitcher-plant.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-pitcher-plants https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-turkey-creek-hike Sat, 14 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Big Thicket National Preserve is north of Beaumont in eastern Texas near Louisiana. It a collection of areas rather than a large contiguous park like most NPS areas. It is mainly around creeks and wetlands. This area is a little east of the main visitor center. This hike was in January, so things are a bit more brown than in most of the ... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/big-thicket-national-preserve-12-turkey-creek-wetlands.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-turkey-creek-hike https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-national-preserve-texas Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:00:00 -0700 This video is from two hikes in Big Thicket National Preserve north of Beaumont Texas. The first is in the Turkey Creek area starting on the Kirby Nature Trail the going north along the creek to the Sandhill Loop. Little changes in elevation made a big difference in vegetation with the lower areas having more cypress trees around creeks and wetl... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/big-thicket-national-preserve-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/big-thicket-national-preserve-texas https://mountainadventures.us/post/blowing-rocks-december-2025 Fri, 30 Jan 2026 10:00:00 -0700 Blowing Rocks is a nature preserve with a unique feature on the Florida east coast which is mostly sand beaches. A short stretch of the beach is rocky and the waves have worn holes and cracks in the rocks. When wave hit them, the water blows through them. There doesn't seem to be as many cracks and holes for water to shoot through as there used ... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/blowing-rocks-december-2024-16.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/blowing-rocks-december-2025 https://mountainadventures.us/post/blowing-rocks-january-2024 Sat, 17 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0700 I've posted a couple times about Bowing Rocks before. This is from a January 2024 trip there. This was close to high tide, but not one of the bigger ones. The best time to go is during a full or new moon at high tide. Check a tide chart to see when the tide will be the highest. Even at the highest tides, the rocks are not underwater. [img... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2026/blowing-rocks-january-2024-24.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/blowing-rocks-january-2024 https://mountainadventures.us/post/lassen-volcanic-np-warner-valley-thermal-features Sun, 16 Nov 2025 16:00:00 -0700 There's three thermal areas in the Warner Valley section of Lassen Volcanic NP. This area of the park is much quieter than the west side of the park with the visitor center and through road. Devil's Kitchen is a mix of fumaroles and hot springs that you can see on a loop trail through the area. Boiling Springs Lake has a collection of ... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/lassen-volcanic-np-warner-valley-thermal-features-video-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/lassen-volcanic-np-warner-valley-thermal-features https://mountainadventures.us/post/thunder-mountain-monument-nevada Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:00:00 -0700 If you are driving on I-80 near Imlay, Nevada (about 130 miles east of Reno) you may see Thunder Mountain Monument along the south side of the highway. It was built by World War II veteran Frank Van Zant, aka Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder. The buildings are made of artifacts and other items found in the nearby desert held together with concret... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/thunder-mountain-monument-07-main-building.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/thunder-mountain-monument-nevada https://mountainadventures.us/post/halpatiokee-mtb-loop-florida Thu, 06 Nov 2025 10:00:00 -0700 The Halpatiokee trail system near the South Fork of the St. Lucie River has a directional set of mountain bike trails that form a loop. There a few spots where some trails can be skipped. It is mostly flat, but there's a few hills and some tight palmetto bush areas that make it interesting. Trail System Links: https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/halpatiokee-highlights-video-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/halpatiokee-mtb-loop-florida https://mountainadventures.us/post/camp-murphy-trails-jonathan-dickinson-florida-sp Tue, 28 Oct 2025 11:00:00 -0600 Camp Murphy is one of the best trail systems in Florida for jumps, drops, berms and other tech. It also has sand pits, palmetto roots and climbs in rock gardens to challenge you. This area is hilly for Florida, so gravity can help you get some speed in a few spots. To hit many of the other jumps you have to pedal hard to get enough speed. ... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/camp-murphy-video-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/camp-murphy-trails-jonathan-dickinson-florida-sp https://mountainadventures.us/post/bunker-hill-trail-camp-murphy Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:30:00 -0600 Bunker Hill is the black diamond trail near the trailhead. It's got rock gardens, drops, jump and other techy spots. The hardest thing on this trail is getting enough speed to hit the features. There isn't much vertical to get speed around here. Trail Links: https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/12-bunker-hill-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/bunker-hill-trail-camp-murphy https://mountainadventures.us/post/hare-trail-camp-murphy Sun, 19 Oct 2025 20:00:00 -0600 Hare Trail is a green trail that takes you back to the trailhead. It goes by Bunker Hill trail which is where this video stops. Trail Links: Trailforks MTB Pr... https://mountainadventures.us/media/2025/11-hare-thumbnail.jpg https://mountainadventures.us/post/hare-trail-camp-murphy