Dear Bob and Sue: A National Parks Podcast

Jan 16 2025 168 ep. 55 mins 333

Dear Bob and Sue: A National Parks Podcast artwork

In Dear Bob and Sue, authors Matt and Karen Smith share stories of their travels to all of the U.S. National Park as well as other spectacular public lands. From adventures gone awry to memorable moments and Q&As from readers, get to know the couple behind the books and get inspired to go on some adventures of your own.

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#165: Olympic National Park: Top Ten Things to See and Do

Jan 16 2025 67 mins

There’s a reason to visit Olympic National Park any time of year. While summer is best, each season offers visitors a chance to enjoy this incredibly diverse natural resource. Regardless of how often we visit Olympic we always leave wanting to go back as soon as we can find another couple of free days. Olympic National Park might be more popular than most people realize. In 2023,

#164: An Epic Winter National Park Road Trip in the Southwest

Jan 09 2025 45 mins

Are you looking for a break from the cold, gray days of winter? We have a perfect solution: a road trip loop through the American Southwest that will take you to four national parks with some bonus stops along the way. We start and end the road trip at the Las Vegas airport. From there, we drive east to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park before heading south to the red roc

#163: Mailbag: Our Trip to Italy’s Dolomites and More!

Oct 01 2024 50 mins

In our Mailbag! episodes, we answer questions from listeners about the national parks, ranger-led tours, road trips, hiking, camping, backpacking, gear, relationships, and pretty much whatever anyone wants to ask us. In this episode, we cover these topics: · An overview of recent national park news, · A discussion about our trip to Italy and our experience in the beautiful Dolomi

#162: Glacier National Park Planning Guide

Aug 29 2024 54 mins

Glacier National Park is considered the “crown of the continent” because of its pristine beauty, rugged wilderness, and magnificent wildlife. While the park is open all year, summer is the primetime for visitors. However, the window to visit while the park is relatively snow-free and the main roads are open is narrow. With a limited number of days to experience all the park off

#161: Mailbag: Petrified Forest National Park and More!

Jul 22 2024 51 mins

In our Mailbag! episodes, we answer questions from listeners about the national parks, ranger-led tours, road trips, hiking, camping, backpacking, gear, relationships, and pretty much whatever anyone wants to ask us. In this episode, we cover these topics: · Zion National Park is working on a new visitor use management plan, · Issues related to Mount Rainier National Park’s n

#160: Bucket List Adventures in the National Parks

Jun 27 2024 63 mins

What’s on your bucket list? It’s a topic everyone is talking about these days, and we have a few suggestions for anyone who loves our national parks and public lands. Back in the day, our list was simple; visit all the U.S. national parks. But once we checked them all off, we realized our list was longer than when we started. In this episode, we talk about some of the most po

#159: An Epic Colorado National Park Road Trip Loop

Jun 13 2024 56 mins

Join us as we take you on an epic road trip to all four of Colorado’s national parks! These four parks are incredibly diverse, and this trip will have you driving through alpine forests in the Rocky Mountains, hiking up the tallest sand dunes in North America, climbing ladders as you explore cultural treasures, and standing on the rim of a seemingly bottomless dark canyon. We

#158: Three Perfect Days in the Columbia River Gorge

May 02 2024 59 mins

Carved by the once-wild Columbia River, the Columbia River Gorge is a dramatic canyon that snakes through the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest on its way to the Pacific Ocean. It's an area of stunning natural beauty with endless outdoor adventure options. Using the town of Hood River, Oregon, as our home base, we recently visited the gorge in search of waterfalls. (The area

#157: Celebrating National Park Week

Apr 18 2024 58 mins

Each year, the National Park Service celebrates National Park Week in April. And this year, they’ve planned events from April 20th through April 28th. In this episode, we highlight some of the activities that will happen during National Park Week, give a brief history of the creation of the NPS, and interview our special guest, Jacob Wolfley, who recently spent a summer as an i

#156: Mailbag: Visiting Guadalupe Mountains National Park and More!

Apr 04 2024 59 mins

In our Mailbag! episodes, we answer questions from listeners about the national parks, ranger-led tours, road trips, hiking, camping, backpacking, gear, relationships, and pretty much whatever anyone wants to ask us. In this episode, we cover these topics: · An overview of some of the closures within the national parks this year, · Suggestions for hikes in Guadalupe Mountains N