#21 There is so much to see outside of national parks
The national parks in the US (63 designated national parks, plus a few hundred more federally protected areas) are a thing of beauty, and deservedly get all the attention and footfall. Iconic national parks such as Yosemite, Glacier, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon offer breathtaking views featuring massive mountains, deep canyons, river gorges, pristine glacial lakes, wondrous meadows and stunning landscapes, and are fully deserving of featuring in everyone’s bucket list.
But for this very reason of featuring in so many bucket lists, they tend to get somewhat crowded, which somehow detracts from the magic of the place. Seeing a grand spectacle in solitude is a totally different experience than have milling crowds about - well, at least for us!
The great news is that there are hundreds of other options and for many of these, one does not even have to travel long distances - they may be right in one’s backyard. Within 15 minutes of where we used to live in Pittstown NJ (please note this is the most densely populated state in the country!), there were so many trails, some of which were right alongside clean, flowing waters of a creek or river, some around beautiful lakes, and some going up pretty hillsides, but in each case you would hardly come across another soul, and where you could fully breathe in the beauty. In addition, one could gently paddle down the south branch of the Raritan river for a couple of hours surrounded by nothing but tall trees and an occasional meadow.
Venturing afield, on this road trip, we have been on numerous beautiful trails and walks that would not perhaps feature even in the local county highlights! The Sturgeon beach area in northern Michigan and the near-private and gorgeous O’Neal Lake nearby, the several nature preserves in the area which were beautiful but we hardly saw one other person while we were there, the trails around Winter Park CO, Fraser River Trail also near Winter Park CO, the Raccoon River Bike Trail near Adel IO are some that come immediately to mind.
O’Neal Lake in northern Michigan
A 30-minute hike yielded this near Winter Park CO
This is equally if not even more applicable to Canada, which is suffused with its rugged, pristine beauty while even more sparsely populated than its neighbor!
A view from McCoy Harbor, Lake Superior ON
