The San Francisco Bay Area in northern California is a fantastic launching point for redwood hunters, with accessible groves of these mesmerizing trees within an hour and a half both north and south of the Golden Gate. While the largest groves lie further north, the Santa Cruz Mountains between the Bay Area and Santa Cruz …
Continue reading Purisima Creek Redwoods Loop (Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, CA)
Unless you are a resident of Elko, Nevada—the nearest major town—chances are that you have not heard of the Ruby Mountains. Yet, at times, this spectacular range in northeast Nevada rivals the mountain scenery of the better-known Sierra Nevada or Colorado Rockies. From the jumping-off point at Lamoille Canyon, hiking trails take off in several …
Continue reading Ruby Crest Trail to Lamoille Lake (Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, NV)
When approaching one of the many canyons of southwest Idaho, it is easy to have doubts: can such a feature even be possible amid all these flat plains? The crop fields of the Snake River Basin could pass, after all, for the vast lowlands of Kansas or Nebraska. Yet suddenly there it is: heading south …
Continue reading Box Canyon Springs (Thousand Springs State Park, ID)
Following a volcanic eruption, underground lava tubes serve as thoroughfares for draining molten lava. When the lava cools and remaining flows drain out of the tubes, the subterranean passageways remain, leaving behind caves to explore. There are several spots in the United States to see lava tubes, including Lava Beds National Monument in northern California, …
Continue reading Caves Trail (Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID)
“A weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself” is how President Calvin Coolidge described the volcanic, lunar-like landscape in south-central Idaho when he created Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. In the years before the designation, hearty explorers and geologists had crisscrossed and documented the unique volcanic features of the area, discovering a …
Continue reading Inferno Cone (Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID)
As glaciers carved the various canyons of Grand Teton National Park, they pushed enormous heaps of rocky debris down to the base of the sharp peaks, forming what geologists and climatologists today call moraines. In the centuries—millennia—that passed, the retreating glaciers left behind still, blue lakes, and vibrant evergreen forests and meadows blanketed the moraines, …
Conventional wisdom suggests that slot canyons—narrow, slithering cuts in the sandstone—are relatively confined to the American West: Arizona, California, and Utah. Yet this is not precisely true. While different in character from its western counterparts, The Channels—also known as “The Great Channels”—in southwest Virginia meet the same usual definition of a slot: a sluice in …
Continue reading The Channels via Brumley Mountain Trail (Jefferson National Forest, VA)
Of the many hikes in the Peaks of Otter Recreation Area—part of Jefferson National Forest in central Virginia—the most popular is the Sharp Top Trail for its stunning views of the area. A second walk to consider, however, is the nearby Fallingwater Cascades Trail, which explores a shaded stream valley just off the northbound Blue …
Continue reading Fallingwater Cascades Trail (Jefferson National Forest, VA)
The Youghiogheny River Gorge in southwest Pennsylvania’s Ohiopyle State Park has many echoes of other, arguably grander canyons in the area, such as New River Gorge in southern West Virginia and Cheat River Gorge at Coopers Rock State Forest near Morgantown: sweeping vistas and lush side canyons, flush with rhododendrons and picturesque waterfalls. While most …
Continue reading Jonathan Run Trail and Sugar Run Falls (Ohiopyle State Park, PA)
At Coopers Rock State Forest in northern West Virginia, the Cheat River carves a deep, sandstone canyon through thick forest, making the area one of the most popular outdoors destinations in the Morgantown area. While most flock to the overlook near the main parking area at Coopers Rock, the nearby Raven Rock Trail offers an …
Continue reading Raven Rock Trail (Coopers Rock State Forest, WV)
Live and Let Hike 