My Top 10 Areas To Visit

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#01 Wind River Range, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming

The Wind River Range is in the Bridger Wilderness Area in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming. Primary access is at Pinedale, 100 miles north of Rock Springs on US 191 and 100 miles east of Jackson. A good hiking guide is Hiking Wyoming's Wind River Range by Rod Adkison and published by A Falcon Guide.

Unless you want lots of snow and bring your snowshoes, don't bother until mid-June/early-July. Then the trails will probably be muddy and the bugs will be out. I had done several day hikes in years past and each time I thought 'I gotta get into the backcountry'. Green River Lakes, Elkhart Park and Big Sandy all had such great views for a day trip, the back country must have been awesome... and it was!! I'm not a backpacker but I got my gear together and started out at the Green River Lakes Trailhead. The snow was gone, the trails were pretty dry, the bugs were out in force but not the flowers. Temperatures were up and my very first packback trip lasted a week. You have Square Top Mountain reflecting in the Lower and Upper Green River Lakes for several miles. Then you pass by it and several peaks. Next come monstrous granite walls and finally a large valley as the trail climbs upwards to Summit Lakes. I camped there a couple of days and day tripped from there.

A week at Green River Lakes and a week back in civilization and I was ready for the Elkhart Park Trailhead. Here a 500 foot climb in 3 miles brings you to Photographers Point. Granite walls slope down 2000 feet to what looks like a tiny little lake way at the bottom. Then its down into and up out of a number of granite and tree covered valleys. Several lakes reflecting mountain peaks in their still waters are seen along the way. Island Lake is a very pretty lake towards the end of the main trail. In fact, when I got back to the trailhead after a week, I met a wedding party packing in to the lake for the ceremony. And then there's Titcomb Basin, one of my top 5 locations in the country. Mosquitos were still out in force but so were the flowers providing a wonderful foreground for tarns, lakes and finally the glaciated peaks of the basin. Many people were packing in for the fishing in the lakes. Those packing in a couple of days just for the fishing are pretty serious about that past time.

Another week in civilization and back in country for another week at the Big Sandy Trailhead. This time I branched off onto the Fremont Trail. Previous (long) day trips had taken me up to Clear Lake and Deep Lake above Big Sandy Lake off the Big Sandy Trailhead. Deep Lake would be an awesome campsite with huge cliffs rising up on three sides of that small lake. I packed in past Dad's Lake and several other lakes. I was aiming at a lake a couple of days out but became bored and backtracked to the Shadow Lake Trail. What a beautiful lake with the cliffs and slopes rising up from it. Hiked up to Pyramid Lake with a couple I met. Another pretty lake. They wanted to go 1/2 mile past the lake and I tagged along. Huge peaks rising up from a long, narrow lake at the bottom of the slope on which we were standing. If you're willing to climb a pass there appears to be much more stuff on the other side of the divide. People I talked to said there was still a lot of snow on the far side so watch out. Most people attack the most popular spot in the Wind River Range from Big Sandy Lake. I think it's only a few miles to Cirque of the Towers but takes six or more hours round trip. That sounded more than I wanted to do. If there is any more of a spectacular backing packing area than the Wind River Range it must really be something.

#02 Mount Baker National Recreation Area, Mount Baker National Forest, Washington

Mount Baker National Recreation Area is located in the extreme northwest portion of Washington state. Find Bellingham and then follow WA542 eastward 60 miles or so to its end and you'll be at Artists Point, right between Mount Baker and Mount Shuksen.

Mount Shuksan glacier reflected in Lake Ann.

Skyline Divide view.

#03 Glacier Peaks, Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington

The whole area north and east of Mount Ranier is a wonderful area to explore. Just head east or west on any lateral highway and then head north to the next one and head west or east. Repeat this until you hit Canada.

Silver Lake.

Mountain peaks, ridges and ranges continue one after another into the distance on the Green Mountain Trail.

Mount Pilchuck provided another range of views no matter in which direction you looked.

#04 Pacific Coast Highway, California, Oregon & Washington

The Pacific Coast Hightway winds up along the Pacific Coast (duh!) through California, Oregon and Washington.

Sea arches can be found in some areas too.

A whole bunch of starfish jammed into a corner waiting patiently for the tide to come back in so they can do whatever it is starfish do.

#05 Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park is in the middle of nowhere, somwewhere north and east of Zion National Park and St. George, Utah and a few miles northwest of Tropic. Rubys Inn is the nearest post office, right out side the park. Tropic

Rim Trail.

Fairyland

No guarantees.

#06 Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The Grand Teton National Park is 12 miles north of Jackson & Jackson Hole off US 189.

Grand Teton Range from the Signal Mountain campground on a stormy day.

Lots of wildlife too.

Grand Teton Range sunset from the Signal Mountain campground. I took this picture thinking it wouldn't turn out at all. It was the only one I kept on that evening.

#07 Glen Canton National Recreation Area (Lake Powell), Utah

The southern part of the Glen Canton National Recreation Area (Lake Powell) and the dam is just west of Price, Arizona but is mostly in Utah.

The northern part of the Glen Canton National Recreation Area (Lake Powell) is east of Utah.

Lone Rock Area.

Red sandstone formations along the Colorado River near Page, AZ. This is typical of Lake Powell and the Colorado River in this area.

Unfortunately many years of drought have all but eliminated the northern part of Lake Powell and the Hite Marina area.

#08 White Mountains National Forest, North Conway, New Hampshire

The White Mountains National Forest is in north/central New Hampshire and surround North Conway, Gorham and other small towns.

Silver Cascades.

Gorham Church.

Kancamagus Highway.

#09 Moab Area, Moab, Utah

>Moab is 30 miles south of I 70 and 50 miles west of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Fisher Towers.

Hurrah Pass.

Shafer Trail.

#10 Canyonlands National Park (The Needles), Monticello, Utah

The entrance to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park is about 30 miles north of Monticello and 60 miles south of Moab. Then it's another 30 miles or so to the park boundries.

The road leading to Canyonlands National Park is 35 miles long. The last 20 miles presents scenery mmuch like this.

Elephant Canyon leading to Druid Arch.

Druid Arch.

Honoralble Mentions

#11 Maine Coast

View from the Loop Road. All those little white dots on the water are lobster pot buoys.

Jonesport is a small, picturesque village supported almost exclusively by lobstering.

Schoodic Point is totally exposed to the Atlantic, which is constantly crashing and pounding on the rocks. They claim geysers of spray shoot 40 feet into the air during big storms. This is the first time I've been here but I had heard about it several years ago along with warnings about how dangerous it can be.