Photos: John Fowler / CC BY 2.0 · Daniel Mayer (Mav) / CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fredlyfish4 / CC BY-SA 3.0
A summer list, mostly. Several of the high roads here close for the winter. July and August are the safe bet for driving all of them.
21 places · Rocky Mountains
Must-seeElk bugle through the fall rut, and Moraine Park and Sheep Lakes are where to watch them. Bighorn sheep come down to Sheep Lakes for minerals in the mud. Start from Bear Lake for Dream Lake and Emerald Lake.
Must-seeBook a timed shuttle or parking reservation before anything else; they're required from late spring through fall. The short loop from the lot reaches the reflection in minutes.
Must-seeSunrise belongs to the old barns on Mormon Row. After that, a Snake River float is the slow way to look for moose and elk.
Must-seeThe Grinnell Glacier trail in Many Glacier heads up to one of the park's last, through country shared with grizzlies and mountain goats. From Logan Pass, walk out to Hidden Lake.
Must-seeIn spring and early summer, Medano Creek runs wide at the foot of the dunes, so you can sandboard down and wade right in. The night skies rank among Colorado's darkest, too.
Must-seePaved trails run right up to the red fins, and climbers take the same sandstone straight up. Stop at the Visitor and Nature Center across from the main entrance, then go find Balanced Rock.
Must-seeYou ride a narrow ledge past Bird Woman Falls and the Weeping Wall. On the east side, pull off at Saint Mary Lake for the long view down the valley.
Must-seeThe shuttle across skips the 7.1-mile walk around and lands you at the trail to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. The lots off Teton Park Road fill early, so come at first light, when the peaks are mirrored in the water.
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MountainsOther lists that cover the same ground.
63 placesAll 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.
15 placesWhere to go when you want the Milky Way instead of a glow on the horizon. Time it for a new moon: a full one washes out the sky even at the darkest of these.
26 placesTwenty-six US beaches, five of them in Hawaii, picked mostly for having nothing built behind the sand. Siesta Key, Coronado, Ka'anapali and Cape May are the town beaches we kept anyway.
26 placesPick one end. Nobody drives the Parkway fast, so the Virginia stretch and the North Carolina mountains make two trips.