200 Best Sights in USA

Off Route 50 as you head from Lihue to the South Shore, Route 520 (Maluhia Road) is known locally as "Tree Tunnel Road," due to the avenue of tall eucalyptus trees lining both sides. A drive here is a lovely introduction to the area. The trees were planted at the turn of the 20th century by Walter Duncan McBryde, a Scotsman who began cattle ranching on Kauai's South Shore. The canopy of trees was ripped to literal shreds twice—in 1982 during Hurricane Iwa, and then again in 1992 during Hurricane Iniki. And, true to Kauai's resilience, both times the trees grew back into an impressive tunnel.

Fantastic-looking formations of calcium carbonate, known as tufa, were formed underwater along fault lines in the bed of what is now Searles Dry Lake. Some of the more than 500 spires stand as tall as 140 feet, creating a landscape so surreal that it doubled for outer-space terrain in the film Star Trek V. The Pinnacles also served as the backdrop in Planet of the Apes, Battlestar Galactica, and music videos by Rihanna and Lady Gaga. An easy-to-walk ½-mile trail allows you to see the tufa up close, but wear sturdy shoes—tufa cuts like coral. It's located 45 minutes east of Ridgecrest, and the best road to the area can be impassable after a rainstorm.

This 275-foot tree fell in 1937, and soon a 17-foot-wide, 8-foot-high hole was cut through it for vehicular passage (not to mention the irresistible photograph) that continues today. Large vehicles take the nearby bypass.

Most of the park's glaciers are found in the Chigmit Mountains. The longest is 19-mile Tuxedni Glacier, which is one of 10 that radiates from the Mt. Iliamna volcano.

Rugged, often windy, and always beautiful, the valley is a remote 9-mile drive from Route 49 and is surrounded by some of the park's most stark, rocky peaks. Near the valley's lake you can rent a canoe, take a narrated boat tour, camp, and hike. Bears frequent the area. The road is closed from late October through late May.

This dramatically sculpted landscape demonstrates the power of volcanic eruptions and their effect on geology, plants and animals. The impact of the Novarupta eruption on the park's ecosystems can be both obvious and subtle, so it's helpful to have a guide. The park concessionaire offers a tour ($110 including lunch, or $96 without) that departs from Brooks Camp on a 46-mile (round-trip) bus ride to the valley, with an optional 3.4-mile hike to the valley floor and back. This is also the bus ($55 each way) to take for multiday backpacking trips up the valley to Mt. Katmai or the foot of Novarupta itself.

The Vedauwoo Recreation Area, in the Medicine Bow–Routt National Forest, is a particularly unusual area and a great place for a picnic. Springing out of high plains and open meadows are glacial remnants in the form of huge granite boulders piled skyward with reckless abandon. These one-of-a-kind rock formations, dreamscapes of gray stone, are great for hiking, climbing, and photography. There's also camping here.

West of the town of Marble Canyon are these spectacular cliffs, more than 3,000 feet high in many places. A four-wheel-drive vehicle is required here, as there are no paved roads and the sand is deep. Keep an eye out for condors; the giant endangered birds were reintroduced into the area in 1996. Reports suggest that the birds, once in captivity, are surviving well in the wilderness.

This viewpoint, at the end of the Warner Point Nature Trail, delivers awesome views of the canyon's deepest point (2,722 feet), plus the nearby San Juan and West Elk mountain ranges.

This giant wrinkle, technically called a monocline, in the earth's crust extends almost 100 miles between Thousand Lake Mountain and Lake Powell. You can glimpse the fold by driving south on Scenic Drive after it branches off Highway 24, past the Fruita Historic District. For a more complete immersion, enter the park via the Burr Trail, heading east from Boulder. Roads through the park's South District are unpaved and sometimes very rough—they can be impassable after rain, so check with the visitor center for current road conditions.

Grab a canoe or kayak, or take a 40-minute guided boat tour at this lakeside park on the Intracoastal Waterway. At more than 1,500 acres, it's one of Florida's largest urban nature facilities. Extensive boardwalks traverse mangrove wetlands that shelter endangered and threatened species. At the Anne Kolb Nature Center, there's a 3,500-gallon aquarium, and a 65-foot observation tower showcases the entire park. The center's exhibit hall also has interactive displays explaining the park's delicate ecosystem.

Here in the most famous whale-watching town in Oregon, this helpful little information center perched on a oceanfront bluff in the heart of town is a valuable resource, whether you're looking for tips on the latest sightings during the peak winter and spring migratory seasons or you simply want to learn about these amazing creatures. The center is staffed with state park naturalists who regularly give talks and can answer your questions, and there's an observation deck that offers fantastic views—you might see some of the roughly 20,000 gray whales that migrate up and down the coast each year, plus humpbacks, orcas, and a wide variety of seabirds and other sea mammals.

If you visit in winter, you can see some of the more than 10,000 sandhill cranes that roost at the Willcox Playa, a 37,000-acre area resembling a dry lake bed 10 miles south of town. They migrate in late fall and head north to nesting sites in February, and bird-watchers migrate to Willcox the third week in January for the annual Wings over Willcox bird-watching event held in their honor.

Window Rock Monument & Navajo Veteran's Memorial Park, at the base of an immense, red-sandstone, natural arch—truly a window onto the Navajo landscape—is a compelling exhibit dedicated to all Navajo war veterans, but in particular to the Code Talkers of World War II. Designed in the shape of a sacred Medicine Wheel, the spiritual aspect of this profound memorial is apparent to all.

At the southern end of the park's scenic drive, this shady, quiet spot looks out onto the stunning vistas from the rim. Arguably the prettiest picnic spot in the park, it has tables and restrooms.

Toward sunset, when this monolith is free of shadow, the red sandstone seems to catch on fire. From the highway, Courthouse Butte sits in back of Bell Rock and can be viewed without any additional hiking or driving.

A mass of ice that caps the Kenai Mountains, the Harding Icefield covers more than 1,100 square miles, and oozes more than 40 glaciers from its edges and down the mountainsides; Exit Glacier is the most accessible part of the ice field. Just outside Seward, if you hike a mile up the paved trail that starts at the parking lot, you'll find yourself at the terminal moraine of Exit Glacier. Look for the marked turnoff at Mile 3.7 as you enter town, or you can take the hourly shuttle from downtown ($15 round-trip). There's a small walk-in campground here, a ranger station, and access to the glacier. The hike to the ice field from the parking lot is a 9-mile round-trip that gains 3,000 feet in elevation, so it's not for the timid or out of shape. But if you're feeling up to the task, the hike and views are breathtaking. Local wildlife includes mountain goats and bears both black and brown, so keep a sharp eye out for them. Due to recent ice fall at the toe of the glacier, the entire toe is currently off-limits.

Forged by an ancient volcanic eruption, the Hot Creek Geologic Site is a landscape of boiling hot springs, fumaroles, and geysers about 10 miles southeast of the town of Mammoth Lakes. You can stroll along boardwalks through the canyon to view the steaming volcanic features. Fly-fishing for trout is popular upstream from the springs.

An outcropping of nature in a sea of North Berkeley homes, this is an unbeatable spot for a sunset picnic. Look for amateur rock climbers, after-work walkers, and cuddling couples, all watching the sun sinking beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Come early to grab a spot.

Kids love this butte that looks uncannily like the famed Peanuts beagle lying atop red rock instead of his doghouse. You can distinguish the formation from several places around town, including the mall in Uptown Sedona, but to get a clear view, venture up Schnebly Hill Road. Park by the trailhead on the left immediately before the paved road deteriorates to dirt. Marg's Draw, one of several trails originating here, is worthwhile, gently meandering 100 feet down-canyon, through the tortured desert flora to Morgan Road. Backtrack to the parking lot for close to a 3-mile hike.