Tell Your FriendsThe Places Nobody Knows
For every Yosemite, there's a Sequoia - a lesser-known park where the scenery shines and surprises.
by David Howard
Everybody loves Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, and with good reason. Those and other mainstays of the National Park System are undeniably spectacular, and to experience their wonders is well worth braving the crowds they inevitably draw. But lest you think the big names are the whole story, consider that the vast park network also boasts plenty of less well-known destinations that are beautiful, historic or culturally significant—or all of the above. Some of these gems are off the beaten track; others are only now rising to prominence; and a few are simply overshadowed by bigger, better-publicized parks. But these national parks, monuments, historic places and recreation areas are overlooked by many, and that’s a mistake you won’t want to make.
Point Reyes National Seashore, California
When visitors say they are moved by Point Reyes, they may be speaking literally. Sure, the jutting peninsula of spectacular cliffs rising above pounding sea is drop-dead gorgeous. But the park, which takes in many miles of northern California coastline, also happens to sit atop the meeting point of two tectonic plates, and geological head-butting causes frequent earthquakes. In fact, from a reconstructed Miwok Indian village near the park’s Bear Valley entrance, you can hike along the San Andreas Fault to a place where the entire peninsula shifted 16 feet north during the 1906 quake. Hikers can also trek to quiet lagoons, pine forests, rolling dunes and salt marshes. Traipse five miles across bluffs dappled with wildflowers to reach Tomales Point and see barking elephant seals on the pocket beaches below. For bird-watchers, there’s Limantour Spit, where long-billed pelicans roam the flats and ride the updrafts. And one of the most popular activities of visitors to the seashore is watching rush hour in the Pacific from the vantage of the 136-year-old Point Reyes Lighthouse: Morning traffic may include breaching gray whales and frolicking porpoises.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Our 26th President did not take losing lightly. Teddy Roosevelt stubbornly ran for a second term even after his party ditched him; following that defeat, he led a harrowing Amazon River expedition. So it says plenty about the ruggedness of the western North Dakota landscape that he tried ranching there—but failed. Teddy’s namesake park draws just half a million visitors annually, a paltry few for a park whose three unconnected areas cover 70,447 acres: expansive north and south units, and the smaller Elkhorn Ranch, the site of Roosevelt’s failed enterprise. The north and south sections, 70 miles apart, are linked by the Little Missouri River, good for a three- or four-day paddling trip (best in spring), and the recently completed 96-mile Maah Daah Hey Trail, one of the country’s top 10 mountain-bike paths. However you travel, expect to see herds of bison, precipitous cliffs and bottomless canyons. The South Unit, with easy interstate access and a paved, 36-mile scenic loop, is the most visited. For wilderness and solitude, head north to the park’s longest footpath, the 16-mile Achenbach Trail, which winds up from river bottom into hills with distant views.
Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, Texas
The Rio Grande traces hundreds of miles of border between the United States and Mexico, but the 1,900-mile-long river’s headwaters are in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, and almost 200 miles of river north of the border, including the entire stretch in Texas’ Big Bend National Park, are designated wild and scenic. The river’s three cathedral-like gorges, Santa Elena, Mariscal and Boquillas, are not accessible by road, but a float trip sends you downstream in spectacular style. Begin at Lajitas and head for the Santa Elena. After miles of open country, limestone walls rise 1,500 feet on either side, and you may hear the piercing calls of peregrine falcons. Farther north, in New Mexico, there’s a wild and scenic stretch you can reach by road: the Rio Grande Gorge. But here, too, the big thrills happen on the water, in the Taos Box and the Racecourse. (They’re rated class IV and class III, respectively, and not for novices without an experienced guide.) The gorge is also a magnet for anglers and hikers. But if it starts feeling crowded, just head to the upper canyon, where challenging treks down to the river tend to thin the packs.
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa
From 600 to 1400 A.D., Eastern Woodland people built thousands of burial mounds in the shapes of bison, birds and bears, as well as turtles and lizards—probably to honor the tribe’s totem animals—along the upper Mississippi River. Roughly 200 mounds remain intact, some with ceremonial fireplaces embedded in the creatures’ heads or hearts, at the 2,526-acre Effigy Mounds National Monument. The largest, Great Bear Mound, is 70 feet across the shoulders and forelegs and 137 feet long. To visit the park’s largest effigy cluster, 10 bears and three birds, follow trails from the confluence of the Mississippi and Yellow rivers over tall-grass prairies to high bluffs. The mounds are still sacred to area tribes, and you may see small leather pouches—offerings from modern Native Americans to their ancestors—hanging from trees. The park’s high points along the Mississippi are ideal for watching raptors migrate, along with eagles, peregrine falcons, red-tailed and broad-winged hawks and ospreys. The monument’s visitor center includes museum exhibits and is a good place to start. Ranger-led walks are offered during summer months.
Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, California
When Eugene O’Neill, newly crowned Nobel laureate in 1936, needed to escape the fishbowl of fame, his wife, Carlotta, led him back to her native Northern California. The couple bought 158 acres in the Las Trampas hills, 30 miles east of San Francisco, and built the Tao House, with a sublime view of Mount Diablo. Isolated beyond a long, gated driveway, the Tao House features a black tile roof, dark-blue ceilings and colored mirrors—blending O’Neill’s interest in Eastern philosophy with his wife’s focus on California style. O’Neill’s study, where he did much of his best work, overlooks a courtyard, a barn and oak-dappled hills. Living in the Tao House from 1937 to 1944, he wrote The Iceman Cometh, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Scheduled for demolition in 1974, the Tao House was saved by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation with the help of actor Jason Robards, who mounted benefit productions of Hughie. The state of California then purchased the property and handed it over to the National Park System in 1980. Tours include the house and orchards; occasionally plays are staged in the barn.
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
It’s no wonder the Carnegies built sprawling mansions on Cumberland, establishing the 17.5-mile-long island as their summer playground. The national seashore’s 20,000 acres are sealed off from most of the world by a 45-minute ferry ride. There are wild horses, forests with bobcats and palmetto, and barefoot-friendly beaches. The Carnegies were the last in a long line of private owners. In 1971 they donated Plum Orchard mansion to the park service, triggering other transactions that led to the creation of the park. Even today, Cumberland is still exclusive, with only 300 people a day allowed on the two daily ferry runs (three in high season). For a splurge, stay at another former Carnegie mansion, the Greyfield Inn. You can camp on the island, but must bring everything you need; most visitors simply settle for a day of wandering the dunes. Recommended walk: Hike north from the Sea Camp Ranger Station through the forest on the Parallel Trail. Once you reach Stafford Beach, drift along the edge of the Atlantic looking for shore birds and sea turtles. No matter what your bank balance says, a day here can make you feel very wealthy.
Pea Ridge National Military Park, Arkansas
Pea Ridge was the site of a seminal Civil War battle, a bloody two-day conflict that kept Missouri in Union hands. Yet, perhaps because of its location in Arkansas’ far northwest corner, it has never drawn the crowds of Gettysburg and Antietam. Or perhaps it’s that, until recently, the battleground lacked the markers and memorials that plug visitors in to the thunder and tumult of the war. Volunteers have reconstructed miles of fencing and trails. All the better to reimagine the events that began the night of March 6, 1862, when Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn tried to outflank the Union position near Pea Ridge. Union troops turned back Van Dorn’s first column, but by the following night Confederates controlled the Elkhorn Tavern area and the important Telegraph Road. Then on March 8th, in another reversal, Confederates accounted for most of the 6,000 casualties, and the Union controlled Missouri. Today, a reconstruction of Elkhorn Tavern features the original fireplaces and foundations, and a trip to the top of Elkhorn Mountain delivers views of the battle’s sprawling terrain. A seven-mile trail follows the path of roads of the 1860s, offering a sense of travel in the era before highways.
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon
This national monument’s existence hinges on events that span over 40 million years. By carefully documenting a remarkably complete collection of fossils preserved in picturesque eastern Oregon, scientists have made great strides toward understanding the Cenozoic Era (the “Age of Mammals and Flowering Plants”). But park officials have also thought about the future. The 14,000 acres, divided among three geographically dispersed units, have recently undergone a series of changes. The first came in 2003 with the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center, a fossil research facility built in the Sheep Rock Unit. With a series of stunning displays, the research center’s fossil museum leads visitors through eight time periods during which climate change and volcanic explosions repeatedly morphed the landscape and changed life forms. The Clarno Unit features a trail leading visitors past cliffs of ancient mudflows laden with plant fossils. The Painted Hills Unit draws photographers with dramatic colors and oddly compelling landscapes. And various ranger programs include treks into Blue Basin, where numerous fossils are visible in volcanic ash, and moonlight hikes.
Devil's Tower National Park
