{"id":448,"date":"2008-03-14T09:50:34","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/gay-travel-in-the-national-parks\/"},"modified":"2016-12-17T21:44:56","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T03:44:56","slug":"gay-travel-in-the-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/gay-travel-in-the-national-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay travel in the national parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Grandcanyon\"<\/a>
\nBy Matthew Link<\/em><\/p>\n

Many U.S. national parks<\/a><\/strong> may lie deep within the conservative confines of red states, but that doesn’t mean they are off-limits for gay travel<\/a><\/strong>. My boyfriend and I used to plan our road trips around visits to national parks — Death Valley<\/a><\/strong> in California, Crater Lake<\/a><\/strong> in Oregon, Yellowstone<\/a> <\/strong> in Wyoming, Zion<\/a><\/strong> in Utah.<\/p>\n

We’d pack up camping supplies, food, maps, hiking gear, and of course our dog, into the back of our four-wheeler and feel connected once again to this incredible country we live in. We never had any issues with the plethora of straight families we’d meet who dominate the parks, and we’d frequently meet other earthy gays trudging through the gorgeous scenery just like us.<\/p>\n

And believe me, there are plenty of national park-loving gays out there. The under-the-radar popularity of gays and national parks was underscored when last year the parks’ main lodging concessionaire started marketing a bunch of vacation packages focused on gay travel<\/a><\/strong> that were successful beyond all expectations.<\/p>\n

What’s more, if you pick the right national park<\/strong><\/a>, you can have a very lavender vacation experience indeed: Joshua Tree<\/a><\/strong> is less than an hour’s drive from over 30 gay and clothing-optional guest houses in Palm Springs<\/a><\/strong>. The Everglades<\/a><\/strong> is less than an hour’s drive from the gay Speedo scene on Miami’s South Beach<\/a><\/strong>. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park<\/a><\/strong> is located on The Big Island<\/a><\/strong>, a place that over a dozen gay and lesbian B&Bs call home, as well as a couple of gay beaches. Zion<\/a><\/strong> has hosted gay mountain biking trips, and the Grand Canyon<\/a><\/strong> even has gay river rafting trips that frequently float through it!<\/p>\n

So just don’t think that your gay vacation<\/a><\/strong> has to take place in a liberal metropolis to the exclusion of Mother Nature. After all, we are everywhere!<\/p>\n

Related Orbitz resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n