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1 Awesome Vistas Postcard Panoramas . 2 Otherworldly Landscapes . 10 Falling Waters . 23 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Humboldt Redwoods State Park. AWESOME VISTAS Postcard Panoramas 1 The Grand Canyon Where the Earth Splits Open All Ages • Arizona, USA Postcards just don’t do justice to this clas- arrangements and simple meals at Phan- sic American panorama—this majestic tom Ranch, the only lodging available 277-mile-long canyon of the Colorado below the rim of the Grand Canyon. These River, a primeval gash in the earth’s crust Phantom Ranch trips fill up as soon as of titanic proportions. Gaze down into its reservations are accepted, 23 months in depth from the rim and you’ll see striated advance (& 888/297-2757). For possible bands of multi-colored rock, a living his- openings the next day, call the Bright tory of geologic periods unfolding at your Angel Transportation Desk at & 928/ feet. Descend into it and you’ll pass 638-2631, ext. 6015. Riders must be at through no less than four distinct climate least 4 feet 7 inches tall; pregnant women zones, as if you began your day in Mexico are not allowed. and ended it in Alaska. A fair number of visitors also buzz over- Grand Canyon attracts a staggering head in sightseeing planes and helicopters. number of tourists every year—4.5 to 5 Grand Canyon Airlines (& 866/235- million visitors—many of whom simply 9422 or 928/638-2359; www.grandcanyon view the panorama from the North or airlines.com) is the granddaddy of scenic South Rim viewpoints and then drive on. air tours out here, having been in business While it’s awesome indeed to gaze around since 1927. Plane tours out of Tusayan are from the rim, something about that monu- also offered by Air Grand Canyon (& 800/ mental chasm makes me long to just dive 247-4726 or 928/638-2686; www.airgrand in. There are any number of hiking trails, canyon.com). Papillon Grand Canyon from 7 to 9 miles long; if taking on the river (& 888/635-7272, 702/736-7243, or 928/ is more your style, check the park website 638-2419; www.papillon.com) operates for a list of approved commercial outfit- planes and helicopters, both from the ters that run 3- to 18-day rafting trips, South Rim and from Las Vegas. The truly which include everything from placid floats heart-stopping moment is when you’re to heart-stopping whitewater thrill rides. looking down at the treetops of the Kaibab Perhaps the most memorable way to National Forest, and then you cross the explore the Grand Canyon is to pick your North Rim of the canyon and—whoosh!— way down the steep, narrow trails on the the ground drops away suddenly beneath back of an ornery mule. The best options you, an effect more spectacular in person for kids depart from the North Rim and are than any IMAX film could ever convey. offered by Canyon Trail Rides (& 928/ 638-9875; www.canyonrides.com). These ⁉ & 928/638-7888; www.nps.gov/grca. rides range from 1-hour scenic rides along the rim to half-day trips (either a longer rim ( Grand Canyon National Park Airport, route or one that heads 2,300 feet down Tusayan, AZ. the North Kaibab Trail), or full-day trips L $$$ El Tovar Hotel, South Rim (either down and up the North Kaibab Trail (& 928/638-2631). $$ Grand Canyon or, from the South Rim, a 12-mile day trip Lodge, North Rim (& 928/638-2611). to Plateau Point). The real classics, though, Reservations for either: & 888/297-2757. are 1- or 2-night packages that go to the WHY THEY’LL THANK YOU: Discovering bottom of the canyon and include sleeping what’s in that hole in the ground. 2 THE REDWOOD FORESTS OF CALIFORNIA 2 Postcard Panoramas The Redwood Forests of California All ages • Crescent City, California, USA It’s hard to explain the feeling you get in League in 1918; and the 950-year-old the old-growth forests of Redwood Immortal Tree. Don’t settle for looking at National and State Parks. Everything all this out your car window—from many seems big, misty, and primeval—flowering parking areas you can ramble on short loop bushes cover the ground, 10-foot-tall ferns trails into awesome redwood groves. line the creeks, and the smells are rich and The other cluster of parks begins musty. It’s so Jurassic Park, you half expect another 100 miles or so farther north, to turn the corner and see a dinosaur. threaded along U.S. Hwy. 101. The most The scientific name for these massive scenic drive parallels 101, along the New- conifers is Sequoia sempervirens, cousins ton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, passing of the giant sequoias (see Sequoia National through redwood groves and meadows Park ). Sheathed in rough reddish bark, where Roosevelt elk graze, and Coastal miraculously fire-resistant, their stout Drive, which has grand views of the straight trunks shoot up 100 feet or more Pacific. But again, the truly spine-tingling before a canopy of branches begins; they experience requires getting out and hiking often reach a total height of more than through these soaring perpendicular 300 feet. Among the planet’s most ancient woods. Pick up a park map to find your 1 individuals—the oldest dated coast red- way to Tall Trees Trail, a 3 /4-mile round- wood is more than 2,200 years old—they trip to a 600-year-old tree often touted as only grow in temperate rainforests, mean- the world’s tallest (get a permit at the Red- ing nowhere but the U.S. Pacific Coast. In wood Information Center in Orick); the 1968, the federal government created self-guided mile-long Lady Bird Johnson Redwood National Park (nowadays com- Grove Loop; the short, very popular Fern bined with three state redwood parks) to Canyon Trail; or, for the littlest hikers, the protect what’s left of this seriously endan- .25-mile-long Big Tree Trail, a paved trail gered species. The relative isolation of this leading to—what else?—a big tree. stretch of coast helped the forests survive intact, but it also makes for a long drive. ⁉ 1111 Second St. (& 707/464-6101; The most spectacular display is along www.nps.gov/redw). the Avenue of the Giants, a 33-mile stretch of U.S. 101 through the Humboldt ( Crescent City. Redwoods State Park (& 707/946-2263; L $ Curly Redwood Lodge, 701 Red- www.humboldtredwoods.org). Environ- wood Hwy. S. (U.S. 101), Crescent City mentalists bemoan the tacky attractions (& 707/464-2137; www.curlyredwood along this route, but youngsters love lodge.com). $$$ Lost Whale Inn, 3452 ’em—from south to north, hollow Chim- Patrick’s Point Dr., Trinidad (& 800/677- ney Tree, where J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit is 7859 or 707/677-3425; www.lostwhaleinn. rumored to live; One-Log House, a small com). dwelling built inside a log; and the Shrine WHY THEY’LL THANK YOU: Seeing the Drive-Thru Tree. More dignified land- redwoods before they’re gone. marks include Founders Grove, honoring those who started the Save the Redwoods 3 AWESOME VISTAS Postcard Panoramas 3 Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks Giant Trees of the Sierras All ages • Visalia & Fresno, California, USA Only 200 miles by road from often-overrun Though they are two separate parks, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia and Sequoia and Kings Canyon are contiguous Kings Canyon national parks still feel like and managed jointly from the park head- untrammeled wilderness. Only one road, quarters at Ash Mountain—you hardly the Generals Highway, loops through the know when you’re leaving one and enter- area, and no road traverses the Sierra here. ing the other. High-altitude hiking and backpacking are Of the 75 or so groves of giant sequoias what these parks are really all about; some in the parks, the two most convenient to 700 miles of trails traverse this terrain of visit are Grant Grove (in Kings Canyon, snowcapped Sierra Nevada peaks (includ- near the Big Stump park entrance), and ing Mount Whitney, which at 14,494 ft. is Giant Forest (in Sequoia, 16 miles from the highest point in the lower 48 states), the Ash Mountain entrance). In Grant high-country lakes, and alpine meadows. Grove, a 100-foot walk through the hollow For families, though, there’s one main trunk of the Fallen Monarch makes a attraction: the largest groves of giant fascinating side trip. The tree has been sequoias in the Sierra Nevada. used for shelter for more than 100 years and is tall enough inside that you can walk through without bending over. In Giant Forest, the awesome General Sherman Tree is considered the largest living thing in the world; single branches of this mon- ster are more than 7 feet thick. Other trees in the grove (each of them saddled with such names as General Lee or Lincoln) are nearly as large, creating an overall effect of massive majesty. Giant Grove has some 40 miles of intersecting footpaths to wan- der; the 6-mile Trail of the Sequoias will take you to the grove’s far eastern end, where you’ll find some of the finest trees. While Sequoia’s raison d’être is those incredible trees, Kings Canyon encom- passes the deepest canyon in the United States: Drive to Road’s End on the Kings Canyon Highway (late May–early Nov) to stand by the banks of the Kings River and stare up at granite walls rising thousands of feet above the river.