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If you like mountains and lakes, and don't mind or enjoy hiking, it would be a shame to miss out on the eastern Sierra Nevada. You could drive up 395 from LA all the way up to Tahoe, then cross over to the west and back track down south on 101 -> highway 1 to see Big Sur before continuing on North. You could also go up 395 to Tahoe, then head back south a bit to cross over on 120 through Yosemite, go down to SEKI from there, then drive to like ~San Luis Obispo or thereabouts and go up highway 1 from there. I guess one problem here is that it snowed like a motherfucker this year and a lot of the high sierra will be completely covered in snow until mid July, probably. Anyway there are a shitzillion absolutely gorgeous wilderness areas in the western US, and a lot of the most scenic ones are not necessarily in national parks (though some are). I think the main limiting factors will be the months you are traveling (mountains are easiest logistically July-September generally), how much time you have, whether or not you are interested in heading into the backcountry for a long day hike or overnight+ trips, and what kind of experience you have, and most important whether you want to hike or not. I would recommend maybe just checking out all the designated wilderness areas in addition to national parks in the states you are crossing through and then see what piques your interest and go from there. For example some extremely beautiful places in CA that are outside national parks include: Ansel Adams Wilderness (part of Inyo national forest) Large parts of Inyo National Forest east of Bishop -> Mammoth Lakes Hoover Wilderness (north of Yosemite) Desolation Wilderness (near Tahoe) Trinity Alps Wilderness (north/central california, not far from Lassen Volcanic NP) Marble Mountain Wilderness (north/west Cali, not far from the big redwood parks) All of the big redwood parks up north, which are mostly in state owned land and not any national park Highway 1 from at least ~San Simeon to Monterey through Big Sur is mandatory imo, and can be easily done in 1 day The situation is similar in other states. For example the only national park in Oregon is Crater Lake NP, but areas like Eagle Cap Wilderness, and Three Sisters Wilderness (and others) have some of the most beautiful scenery you can find. In Washington, while the NPs are stunning (and Mt. Rainier NP is mandatory), there are places no less beautiful (and arguably more beautiful) in e.g. Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Glacier Peak Wilderness, and others. There are also national parks, like Kings Canyon NP in CA and North Cascades NP in WA, where most of the sights are in the backcountry so you won't get so much by just driving to/through them. The problem with a lot of these places is they (by law) have no roads through them; however there are roads *to* them and in many cases there are trailheads that you can start a really nice day hike from, within a 1 hour drive from a major highway. If you want to primarily drive through nice places and stop for just quick photo/rest breaks or short walks, it can be better overall to stick to national parks or scenic highways. But if longish day hikes or overnight tips are OK and you can spend a full day in more or less the same area, some (or most) of the nicest places in the country are in designated wilderness areas. There are LOTS of these, and average locals & tourists don't necessarily know about them (though everyone knows about the national parks), so even the "busy" places have post-nuclear-apocalypse crowd levels compared to Yosemite or Yellowstone in the summer. Like on a "busy" trail in the Ansel Adams Wilderness last summer i saw maybe 20-30 people. Yosemite Valley at the same time had literally thousands.
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Mar 20, 2017 07:36
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 14:10 |
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