Sep 29 2024
Saguaro National Park offers some of the most distinctive desert hiking in the United States. Trails wind through forests of towering saguaro cacti, cross sandy washes, climb rocky ridges above Tucson, pass historic homesteads and mines, and eventually rise from the Sonoran Desert into surprisingly cool mountain forests. The park is divided into two separate …
Sep 29 2024
Saguaro National Park may be named for its towering cactus forests, but the wildlife living among those saguaros is every bit as fascinating. Javelinas travel through desert washes, coyotes hunt across cactus-covered slopes, bobcats move quietly along rocky canyons, roadrunners race after lizards, Gila woodpeckers excavate homes inside saguaros, and desert tortoises emerge when temperature …
Sep 29 2024
Redwood National Park is famous for containing some of the tallest trees on Earth, but the ancient forests of Northern California protect much more than giant redwoods. Roosevelt elk graze in coastal prairies, black bears wander through forests and river valleys, marbled murrelets fly between the Pacific Ocean and old-growth trees, and banana slugs slowly …
Sep 28 2024
Petrified Forest National Park may be best known for brilliantly colored petrified wood and the striped badlands of the Painted Desert, but the park also protects a surprisingly rich community of living wildlife. Pronghorn move across open grasslands, coyotes hunt along washes, golden eagles soar over the badlands, and colorful collared lizards bask on sun-warmed …
Sep 28 2024
Petrified Forest National Park is one of the most unusual landscapes in the American Southwest. Brilliant pieces of petrified wood lie scattered across rolling grasslands and eroded badlands, while the colorful hills of the Painted Desert stretch toward the horizon in bands of red, orange, purple, blue, gray, and white. Yet petrified logs are only …
Sep 28 2024
Balconies Cave is one of the most unusual hiking destinations in Pinnacles National Park. Instead of entering a conventional limestone cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites, visitors scramble beneath enormous volcanic boulders that tumbled into a narrow canyon and became wedged overhead, creating a twisting network of dark passages below. The result is part cave, …
Sep 28 2024
Deep inside Olympic National Park’s Quinault wilderness lies a broad river valley surrounded by steep forested mountains, seasonal waterfalls, old-growth rainforest, wildlife, and one of the park’s most recognizable backcountry landmarks. Enchanted Valley is the kind of place that feels far removed from the roads and visitor centers of the Olympic Peninsula—and reaching it requires …
Sep 28 2024
Olympic National Park is one of the rare places where a single hiking trip can include glacier-covered mountains, moss-draped temperate rainforest, waterfalls, turquoise lakes, alpine meadows, wild Pacific beaches, and river valleys inhabited by Roosevelt elk and black bears. That diversity also means there is no single “best” Olympic hike. The Hall of Mosses is …
Sep 28 2024
Ruby Beach is one of the most recognizable stretches of coastline in Olympic National Park. Massive sea stacks rise from the Pacific, enormous driftwood logs collect along the upper beach, rocky tidepools appear as the ocean retreats, and dense coastal forest grows almost to the edge of the sea. Unlike many of Olympic’s wilderness beaches, …
Sep 28 2024
Hurricane Ridge is one of the easiest places to experience the high mountains of Olympic National Park without completing a strenuous wilderness hike. A paved road climbs from Port Angeles into subalpine country, where broad meadows open beneath jagged Olympic peaks and hiking trails lead toward panoramic viewpoints, wildflower-covered ridges, and wildlife habitat. On a …
