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national parks, snark & occasional feelings

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U.S. National Parks

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ABOUT ME

Hi, I’m Terra, a 30-something runner, writer and wanderer on a life-long quest to visit all 400+ U.S. National Park sites. Based in Richmond, Virginia, with two fluffy wolves and one cheap cat.

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terragoes

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...In the tent that night, I’d imagined night creatures creeping past my tent, thought I heard the crunch of paws on sand, the breeze of heavy wings passing overhead. And that’s when I stopped being scared, when I realized I was just anther desert creature, just another feral animal trying to make myself at home in a pricker-filled paradise.
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New post at terragoes.com on my love for @mojnnps.
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#nps #nationalpark #parks #mojave #nature #feral #wildwoman #ca #california #exploreca #visitca #wild #mojavenationalpreserve #rocks #woman #hiker #nationalparkgeeks

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Annual feminist book club holiday revelry. Hashtag blessed to be part of this group of incredible & beautiful womenfolk.

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Yesterday I really needed to go outside, I needed to be alone, needed a long drive & a long walk, so I drove two hours to Old Rag, hiked & scrambled my way to the top. Then, because it was a little bit busy up there, I heaved myself up on top of the tallest rock, pulled out a beer, put my headphones on to block the noise of other people and sat for a bit. I didn’t even bring my camera, wasn’t interested in photographing any of it, I took less than 10 photos with my phone the whole day. I just wanted to be, just wanted to get a little bit wild, to let go and get out into and out of my head. I took the scramble back down too, to save myself a few miles. I bashed my elbows, my knees, scraped my hand on the rocks enough times I had blood dripping from my fingers, but this was exactly, perfectly the thing that I needed, to move my body over obstacles, to challenge myself, to be in the forest, to go alone.

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Three years ago today I stood in a cotton field in Loop, Texas, after saying goodbye to my grandmother for the last time. I’d flown around the world to come to her funeral, all the from Kuwait, just to be there, to say goodbye, to pass photos of her back and forth between my family members, to stand in the fields she worked as a girl. Some days it feels like she hasn’t been gone all that long, some days I don’t understand how it’s been so long and every day I miss her, every day I wish I could see her again. #Feels #Grandma #Cotton #Texas

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Today’s the day I murdered a goal. It’s the day I ran my fastest half marathon, the day I set a 1:41:29 PR at the Richmond Half Marathon. Six years ago, at this same race, I broke two hours for the first time. It was a wild & tumultuous time in my life & training for that race helped me survive. I never thought I’d get much faster than that, never thought I’d be capable of running that fast for that long. I used to fail at running, used to hate it. I’ve never been more proud or impressed by what my body is capable of accomplishing.

#runrva #halfmarathon #run #runnergirl #rva #richmond #pr #success #fitspo #training #exercise #fitness #strongissexy #strongisbeautiful

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Cheers and happy Veterans Day to all my fellow veterans out there! What a glorious and sometimes ridiculous adventure this thing is. ||||| 📸 Kosovo, Sept. 2007

#veteransday #veteran #army #military #soldier

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Every time I go on a a big scamper, I come back haunted by some beautiful place. Last year it was Death Valley. This year it’s Capitol Reef. Last night, I looked up at the Richmond city skies and thought about my last night in Utah, the night I spent at Capitol Reef. I miss it, the way bits of the Milky Way just spread out across the sky, the sound of the water, the orchard leaves, the deer, the desert. I don’t know when I’ll get back, but the more I go, the more I know: the desert owns my heart.

#capitolreefnationalpark #capitolreef #nationalpark #nps #nationalparks #utah #explore #fruta #wanderlust #travel #exploreamerica #thegreatoutdoors #rei1440project #nature #brownhair #desert #wildwoman

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Happy birthday to this perfect creature! Thank you for teaching me about lipstick & bringing @areuthe1 to me & @rachaelgking. Thank you for always having the best advice and the best eyelashes, for loving the snacks I make you & for your constant support. You’re the bees knees, an incredible person and friend, and I love you, lady! Happy fucking birthday! ♥️ (THIS 👏 FRIEND 👏 IS 👏 GOOD)

#bff #friends #scamperbuddy #womenwhowander

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(Two weeks ago) long-haired hippy witch encountered the mighty Colorado River in Nevada & a view so lovely she threw her paws in the air in delight and probably, definitely cursed a little too, because fuck, you’re pretty, America.

#nps #nationalparks #seeamerica #nevada #wanderlust #exploreamerica #lakemead #colorado #river #trail #hippy #witch #hiking #hike #womenwhohike #scamper #landscape #pretty #wildwoman

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Happiest of birthdays to this muskrat princess deer friend of mine. I hope you scamper well this year, with and without me; that you get to complete lots of puzzles that don’t make you say too many fuck words; that the dog is good, or at least good adjacent; that you grow and blossom the way you always do; that you throat-punch your goals right into the achieved category and that you keep being a generally delightful deer friend. Love you, boo boo! 🦌♥️🌲 #scamper #humpbackrock #hikeva #virginia #womenwhohike #bff #bestbitch #publiclands

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This wasn’t supposed to be my 100th @nationalparkservice unit, but I’m glad it was. Here, at Golden Spike National Historic Site, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads came together to form our nation’s first transcontinental railroad. It was a wild feat, one that was completed early and that had started in the midst of the American Civil War. I did everything here, watched the movie, wandered the exhibits, completed the Junior Ranger handbook & earned my badge, visited replicas of the trains in their winter home and drove the auto tour that followed the old train tracks. It was the perfect place to end a perfect adventure. —————————————————
#nps #rei1440project #nationalparks #train #unionpacific #centralpacific #railways #transcontinental

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The last big park of my adventure, Capitol Reef National Park, was a delight. It’s far less crowded than Zion or Bryce, absolutely breathtaking and sleeping here was the most peaceful sleep of my entire trip. I went to an evening ranger program, learned about the geologic history of the place & curled up in a blanket at my campsite and stared at the Milky Way. The vibe of this place is one I’ve been chasing, where my cell phone loses signal, where everyone says good morning when you pass on the trail, where the view made me bark in disbelief.

#nps #rei1440project #nationalpark #wanderlust #utah #wanderlust #nationalparkgeek #exploreamerica #travel #roadtrip #capitolreefnationalpark #capitolreef #mountains #desert #canyon #reef

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Long-haired hippy witch takes in the magnificence of Zion Canyon & stops cursing about how pretty it is just as a pack of children joins her at the summit. ——————————————————————— #nps #nationalparks #nationalpark #znp #zionnp #zion #utah #observationpoint #exploreamerica #womenwhohike #usa #hike #scamper #hikinggirl #hikingadventures #usparksandmonuments

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Long-haired hippy witch cackles with wild abandon and delight in the Narrows, even though she doesn’t know how to swim and almost died once in a hot tub. || I turned down four offers for a stranger to take my photo before finally relenting to a dude who then made me cackle while taking approximately 876 pictures of me posing and also walking back toward him to get my phone back. Days before this, a witch in LA told me I’m bad at flirting & so ten minutes after this exchange in the Narrows I was like, oh, maybe that was flirting, but who can say, I don’t know how that shit works, even LA-based witches and the tarot know that. ————————————————————-
#zion #np #znp #utah #nationalparks #rei #nps #wanderlust #narrows #exploreutah #adventure #hike #solotravel #exploreamerica #usparks #nationalpark #virginriver

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Clinging to a cable with this view at your back & 1,000 foot drop-offs on either side of you is an A++ way to wake up in the morning. Sure, coffee is great, but so is adrenaline.
————————————————— #zion #utah #exploreut #nps #nationalpark #america #wild #zionnp #thegreatoutdoors #nationalparkgeek #climb #hike #wanderlust #travel #womenwhohike #usparksandmonuments #nationalparks

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On the way to Zion National Park, I stopped by Lake Mead to hike the Gold Strike Hot Springs Trail. It ends at the Colorado River, after 3 miles of desert hiking, some light bouldering and the navigation of six ropes. I smoked myself here, in the best way and drank my beer along the river while barking at a tour boat. I also wasn’t sure I’d be able to get myself back over the rocks on the way back, but I did, and I didn’t even scratch my manicure, so what I’m saying is, yes, I’m winning.
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#nps #usparks #nevada #muscles #pretty #travel #scenery #river #scenic #nature #thegreatoutdoors #water #wanderlust #solotravel

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There’s something about this place that makes me go immediately feral. The shoes come off, the hair gets wild, I stop wearing a normal amount of clothes and I slip into my wildest self. I never get to spend enough time here, but within a few hours, I met a coyote, a roadrunner, two bunnies and a god damn tarantula who was more scared of me than I was of it. I threw my shoes in the car, inadvertently stuck myself full of desert prickers over and over again and then I thought about fear. I thought about how scary it is to be a woman alone in the wild, about how alarmed people are when I tell them I’m going by myself into the desert, into the woods, into the wild. I stood in front of my fire and spilled my guts to the desert, said all the things I’ve been too afraid to voice and then I put myself to bed and woke in the middle of the night to a moon bath. This place, I thought, as the moon lit up the desert, is magic. —————————————— #mojave #desert #nps #nationalparkgeek #wild #wildwoman #woman #solotravel #scamper #terragoes #parks #exploreca #california

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Happy fucking birthday to this incredible creature who made me love LA, fed me all the things, scampered into the wild with me and who inspires me on a daily basis. Cheers to another great year of adventuring, scampering and leaning into our best selves! ❤️
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#friends #lala #la #california #birthday #bestbitches #girlpack

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