GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS Location Its location, within a day’s drive for tens of millions of Americans, helps make Great Smoky Mountains the most popular national park in the United States. The 800-square-mile international biosphere reserve is split about evenly between Tennessee and North Carolina, and it protects some of the oldest mountains on Earth. More than 1,500 species of flowering plants and 60 species of native mammals, including deer, black bears, and elk, live within these often mist-shrouded mountains. The 384 miles of park roads and more than 800 miles of hiking trails make it easy to stroll along a rushing stream without straying far from your car. Or join a ranger-led program to discover, among other things, a few of the park’s 30 species of salamanders, the world’s most diverse population for an area this size. Local Intelligence Those students and tourists you see throughout the park catching, tagging, and releasing monarch butterflies in a meadow or mapping fungi locations with a handheld GPS likely are “citizen scientists.” With a little advance planning, you can be one, too. Check out the website (gsmit.org) to see if there is a program—like bird-banding or monitoring the streams for salamander populations—that you can participate in during your visit. Data you collect could become part of the All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI), the long-term effort to identify and map all of the park’s 50,000 to 100,000 estimated species. Secret Tip Clingmans Dome Bypass Trail Grab a pair of trekking poles to hike this less traveled trail to the top, suggests Vesna Plakanis, an experienced Smokies guide and tour operator. Reach the bypass by turning left at the Forney Ridge Trail sign (just before the paved path) and then right on the AT. This short, twisting route leads past exposed metamorphosed sandstone rocks more than 570 million years old. “While these rocks were forming, there was almost no multicelled life on Earth, and the rocks are devoid of fossils. You are truly walking across the spine o time,” says Plakanis. THEODORE ROOSEVELT Location Few other national parks besides Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota offer such a combination of epic scenery, wildlife, and history yet remain so secret to the average American. Only some 750,000 people experienced this park in 2018 (in contrast to the more than 11 million who visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park that year), and the numbers would be even lower if it weren’t for the interstate highway running through it. (You can exit I-94 and be at the visitor center in less than five minutes.) An easily accessible scenic drive lets visitors cruise through, stop at a couple of overlooks, and be on their way again. That’s a nice attribute for people in a hurry, but why rush? Take time to see the complete park—and to explore a landscape that inspired the nation’s greatest conservationist president. Local Intelligence Taking a canoe or kayak trip along the Little Missouri River can be a wonderful way to experience Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s scenery and wildlife. May and June are usually the best months for floating, but that can change depending on rainfall. Check at the visitor center for current water level in the river and for other advice on paddling. Many people bring their own boats, but rentals are usually available in Medora. Secret Tip Petrified Forest Loop Trail A significant portion of the park is designated wilderness, and in the South Unit that wilderness contains the third-highest concentration of petrified wood in North America. The reward for leaving the beaten path on this 10-mile hike includes traversing large areas of prairie while also descending dramatically into the petrified forest. Stumps have eroded out of colorful hillsides here, allowing visitors to imagine ancient times when this was a swampy plain where forests of magnolia, sequoia, and bald cypress grew. It’s not necessary to do the entire 10-mile loop to see petrified trees, however. Take the West River Road exit off I-94 and follow dirt roads to the western edge of the park. From here, it’s just a 1.5-mile (3 miles round-trip) hike to some petrified trees. Get a map and directions at the visitor center, pack plenty of water, and check the weather forecast before setting out. Note that a high-clearance vehicle may be needed. ROCKY MOUNTAINS Location The highest elevation national park in the United States, Rocky Mountain protects more than 415 square miles of some of the most spectacular scenery in Colorado. Almost a third of the park lies above the tree line, a harsh alpine environment reaching its summit on 14,259-foot Longs Peak. Rugged mountains dominate vistas from anywhere in the park, which encompasses more than 70 peaks above 12,000 feet in elevation. The lure of the high country is understandably irresistible, and nearly all visitors feel the urge to immerse themselves in the alpine scenery. The park makes it easy to do just that. Famed Trail Ridge Road crosses the park from east to west, climbing up and over the Continental Divide at a maximum elevation of 12,183 feet. Bear Lake Road offers access to many popular destinations, and the mighty Colorado River begins its journey here. Local Intelligence Here and there in Rocky Mountain National Park (at Moraine Park, for example) you’ll notice tall fencing around areas such as willow or aspen groves. These “exclosures” keep elk and moose out of places suffering from overgrazing, allowing natural vegetation to recover. As Michele Simmons, a former Rocky Mountain National Park interpreter, points out, “Many visitors don’t know that they’re allowed to enter these fenced areas, as long as they close gates behind them. They can be excellent places for bird- and butterfly-watchers.” Wildflower enthusiasts and photographers, too, will be pleased to see the substantial difference in flora in habitats where grazing is limited. Secret Tip Once above the tree line on Trail Ridge Road, where severe weather means trees can’t grow, the landscape looks barren at first glance. Yet gorgeous wildflowers, delicate grasses, and colorful lichens abound in summer. An excellent place to enjoy the alpine habitat is the 0.5-mile Tundra Communities Trail at Rock Cut, a parking area west of the Forest Canyon Overlook. SEQUOIA Location “Sequoias,” wrote John Muir, “towering serene through the long centuries, preaching God’s forestry fresh from heaven.” The Scottish-American naturalist was one of the primary forces behind this California park’s creation in 1890. A week after its designation, Congress summarily tripled the preserve’s size. Over the years, Sequoia has expanded into one of the nation’s largest parks, and it lies side by side with Kings Canyon National Park. The Giant Forest area and its leafy legends—such as the General Sherman Tree—get plenty of visitors, especially with recent enhancements to the road network. The rest of Sequoia remains refreshingly devoid of apparent human impact, in particular a vast backcountry that includes Kern Canyon and 14,494-foot Mount Whitney. While it might take a backpack and good pair of hiking boots to explore Sequoia’s secrets, there are plenty of secluded spots near the park’s heart. Local Intelligence At 14,494 feet, Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. The western slope lies inside Sequoia National Park, the eastern slope in Inyo National Forest. Despite its height and intimidating façade, Whitney is comparatively easier to scale than other ultrahigh mountains (but still very difficult). The United States Forest Service offers an excellent online guide to climbing Mount Whitney from the eastern side, including checklists for planning and equipment. See fs.usda.gov for more information. From here, the trail climbs more than 6,000 feet in 11 miles. Secret Tip Trail of the Sequoias The most challenging (and rewarding) secret hike is Trail of the Sequoias, a 5-mile loop that starts beneath the Chief Sequoyah Tree. The path climbs over several ridges and down into secluded Log Meadow, coined for the hollowed-out sequoia cabin built by pioneer rancher Hale Tharp in the 1860s, the oldest European structure in the park. From there, the trail loops around to Crescent and Circle Meadows, with plenty of giants such as Chimney Tree and the Pillars of Hercules along the way. It takes about four hours to complete the circuit back to the General Sherman parking lot. CRATER LAKE Location About 7,700 years ago, a massive eruption—42 times greater than Mount Saint Helens’s belch in 1980—emptied the magma chamber of Mount Mazama in southern Oregon, leaving a huge void. The mountain basically imploded, collapsing in on itself to form a vast cliff-lined basin. Imagine a giant thumb pressing down on the top of a 12,000-foot-high volcano, pushing the cone into itself until the top 5,000 feet are gone, leaving a giant basin inside the rim of the collapsed volcano. That’s essentially what happened here as the force of gravity pushed the mountaintop down into itself. Over the centuries, winter snow averaging 524 inches per year flowed into the caldera, and with no outlet to drain the water, Crater Lake was born. Today, it averages 1,500 feet deep, with a maximum depth of 1,932 feet—the deepest lake in the United States. What lies below is a mystery, but above-ground there are a slew of secrets to be found. Local Intelligence The vast depth of Crater Lake is truly impressive, as is the total lake volume—more than 5 trillion gallons of water. It’s the quality of that water, though, that truly astounds. The inky blue liquid is among the clearest lake water on the planet. The test for water clarity involves lowering a black and white disk into the lake and recording the depth at which the disk is no longer visible from the surface. In Crater Lake, a disk was once submerged more than 143 feet before it was lost from sight, and the average clarity of the lake approaches 115 feet. In comparison, Lake Tahoe—another remarkable deep, pristine lake in North America—boasts a clarity level of just 70 feet on average. Secret Tip The Pinnacles From the southeast portion of Rim Drive, take Pinnacles Road about 6 miles to see the Pinnacles, an unusual grouping of volcanic pumice spires. As the sides of Wheeler Canyon eroded away, these graceful fossil fumaroles emerged, each marking where volcanic gas rose up through hot ash deposits. The trail touches on a pumice-rich lava bed before skirting the flank of Red Cone—a 7,363-foot cinder cone—where the low, scraggy vegetation along the early section of trail turns into lodgepole pine and full forest. “These geologic formations are some of the most interesting and photogenic features in the park,” says park superintendent Craig Ackerman.
✔ Author(s): National Geographic
✔ Title: National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks, 2nd Edition: The Experts' Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail
✔ Rating : 4.8 out of 5 base on (232 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 1426220855
✔ ISBN-13: 9781426220852
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
Readers' opinions about National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks, 2nd Edition by National Geographic
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