Just like movie theaters, highways and ice cream parlors in the summer, the lines and crowds at the country's most popular parks threaten to take away from their grandeur and charm. Here are five ways to take in the mega parks without the mega headaches.
What: Cataloochee Valley
Where: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
What does Cades Cove look like without the crowds? Cataloochee. Here you don't have to jockey with crowds to enjoy the views or the historic buildings. When I visited one mid-June day I practically had the place to myself. But like Cades Cove, Cataloochee features preserved 19th-century buildings and rolling orchards alive with wildlife. Along with the historic buildings, the Cataloochee Valley is where park biologists in 2001 began a 5-year experiment to return elk to the Smokies. Visit early in the day or just as evening begins to fall and you might spy some.
What: Kolob Canyons
Where: Zion National Park
Most tourists confine their visit to the highlights of Zion Canyon, but those with a bit more ambition also venture 45 miles to the park's northwest corner to see Kolob Arch, one of the world's longest freestanding arches with a span of 310 feet. You can hike to the arch and back in one long day on the La Verkin Creek Trail, a 14-mile round-trip hike from Lee Pass along the Kolob Canyons Road, although I wouldn't recommend it for inexperienced hikers or families with youngsters. A shorter, but equally worthwhile, hike in this area leads to Double Arch Alcove, an arched alcove topped overhead by an arch in the cliff. You reach the formation on the Taylor Creek Trail, a 5.4-mile round-trip hike that crosses the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek and passes two log cabins before arriving at a viewpoint of the arch. You access the trail head from Kolob Canyons Road.
What: Tuolumne Meadows
Where: Yosemite National Park
I don't have the statistics, but I'd venture that 90% to 95% of the folks who trek to Yosemite go into and out of Yosemite Valley without visiting any other portion of the park. And that's a shame, because places like Tuolumne Meadows are breathtaking and provide a view of the High Sierra that you can't get from the Yosemite Valley. To reach this area you need to drive almost the entire length of the Tioga Road, but if you make the trip you uncover sprawling meadows capped by bulbous mounds of granite that make for great playgrounds for kids who like to scamper on rocks, gorgeous lakes for skipping stones, and great hikes, like the 7-mile round-trip down to Cathedral Lakes.
What: Cape Alava
Where: Olympic National Park
Located along the coast in the northwest corner of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, this is a good place to retreat if you shun crowds and want to view images left behind by an earlier culture. The Cape Alava-Sand Point Loop is a three-legged loop trail that offers ocean views, beach camping, and petroglyphs; it's an easy round-trip back to your car. The hike covers 9.3 miles and takes you to Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the Lower 48. Your trek begins on a 3-mile-long stretch that begins on a cedar-plank boardwalk that winds through a lush, and dense, forest. Once you reach the beach, you swing south and make your way 3 miles along the beach. During this stretch be sure to look for the petroglyphs on the rocks along the shore next to the high-tide mark. The final leg follows the Sand Point Trail for 3 miles back to your starting point.
What: Mineral King
Where: Sequoia National Park
Unfortunately, because it's time-consuming, or fortunately, because not many people do it, you have to temporarily leave Sequoia National Park to reach Mineral King. This primitive area once was eyed by ski resort developers. Today its scenery is dotted not by chairlifts but by lakes and laced by trails heading into the high country. The valley is breathtaking, with thick stands of conifers and outcrops of red and orange shale offset by white marble and black metamorphic shale and granite. Towering over the basin is Sawtooth Peak, which stands 12,343 feet tall and holds snowfields year-round.
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