Yosemite National Park
Backpack the High Country
At over 8,600 feet in elevation, Tuolumne Meadows offers a break from the heat and crowds of the more popular areas of the park. We guarantee that anyone who walked every mile of Tuolumne trail would simply start over again given the chance, but assuming you're not able to make this a full-time job you'll want to hit a few highlights. One doozy is the 14-mile path to Cloud's Rest — this is undoubtedly among the most beautiful hikes in the world. The trail starts at Tenaya Lake and ends at the tip-top of a granite precipice, surrounded on three sides by wind and nothingness. The valley is seemingly miles below, and you'll feel as though you could reach out and touch Yosemite's most famous rocks, Half-Dome and El Capitan. Others to try: trips to Soda Springs, Parsons Lodge, or Elizabeth Lake are shorter and less strenuous; Dog Lake and Lembert Dome are short on mileage but long on effort.

In 1851, a battalion of Indian fighters wandered into Yosemite Valley and were stopped in their tracks, dumbstruck, by the view. They were the first nonnatives to see this landscape, but their descriptions of it ensured they would not be the last. One man later wrote, "None but those who have visited this most wonderful valley can even imagine . . . the awe with which I beheld it. . . . As I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion."
Yosemite Valley is today the centerpiece of California's Yosemite National Park. Sprayed by thousand-foot waterfalls and framed by monumental granite spires — including Half Dome, which is to the High Sierra what the swoosh is to Nike — it is the most famous glacially carved landscape in the world. And perhaps the most famously overrun as well; stories are legion of peak-season traffic jams bad enough to provoke road rage and campgrounds so rife with noise, litter, and teeming masses of humans as to seem more like Times Square than the Great Outdoors.

Where is Lovers Leap?: Lovers Leap is a fine granite formation smack dab in the middle of California. Located on highway 50, just outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin, Lovers Leap is only an hour and a half from Sacramento and twenty minutes from South Lake Tahoe.
The Type of Climbing: Lovers Leap is mostly a traditional climbing area. Though full of stellar vertical crack systems, the area is great for beginners due to the horizontal dikes that run sideways across the walls. This creates jug sized hand holds located in the middle of many of the difficult crack climbing sequences. The climbing is comprised mostly of multi-pitch climbs of moderate length, usually between 3-5 pitches.
When To Go: The best season for Lovers Leap is during the Spring and the Fall. The middle of summer can be quite hot, though usually it is climbable in the shade.
Where to Stay: The best feature of Lovers Leap is the camping. Years ago, the Access Fund in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, built a free walk-in campground at the base of the formation. Please respect the posted rules of the campground for the Forest Service would love to make the site a fee access site. The Strawberry Lodge is also a great option for staying in a warm bed within walking distance to the crag.

The Incredible Hulk is one of the best alpine rock climbing formations. I have ever climbed on. The rock is comprised of clean compact granite that rivals many of the routes found in Yosemite Valley. The Hulk host many challenging routes for the advanced rock climber, including the Red Dihedral and Positive Vibrations which are the two moderate lines on the main face. The Hulk is located in the Sawtooth Range of the Sierra Nevada mountains which is located just outside of the town of Bridgeport, CA. The approach is moderate compared to many backcountry formations in the Sierras taking only about three and a half hours. The formation itself is over 1000 feet in height and offers between 8-12 pitches of climbing. Standing at the base of positive vibrations, I believed the climb would be done in no time.

Rock Climb the Diamond
Some climbers claim that the 900-foot Diamond cliff is the best alpine wall in the United States. The diamond-shape granite wall sits atop the east face of Longs Peak — every inch of the sheer face is above 13,000 feet. With more than 35 climbing routes, the left side of the wall lures free climbers that scale Ariana D7 and Yellow Wall . The nailing routes of the overhanging right side include Diamond Star Halo , Steep Is Flat , and the Dunn-Westbay .

Drive along the Highest Highway in the World
Trail Ridge Road snakes its way through alpine tundra for 50 miles between glacier-sculpted peaks. It crosses the park from east to west and then drops into the Kawuneeche Valley, where the north fork of the Colorado River flows. The road travels for 11 miles above 11,000 feet and for 4 miles above 12,000 feet. The road's highest point — 12,183 feet above sea level — occurs between Lava Cliffs and Gore Range. As you drive through the heavens, you absolutely must stop at Rainbow Curve, Many Parks Curve, and at Forest Canyon Overlook.

Rocky Mountain National Park
Ever noticed that most hikes start with a brutal uphill slog? Here's one that turns the tables. The Old Ute Trail begins at an elevation of 11,250 feet and descends to 8,250 feet. You'll find the trailhead just off Trail Ridge Road below the Forest Canyon Overlook. The trail served as a highway for Ute Indians who traveled from village to village along the Continental Divide. As you walk across the barren windswept slope of Tombstone Ridge, you will have a view of Longs Peak towering above the tundra to the south. And keep in mind, every effortless step you take down will be an arduous step back up — unless you plan on hiking the six miles down to Upper Beaver Meadows.

Rocky Mountain National Park is a national icon — its rugged mountains carve out a skyline that captures the American imagination and serves as both protector and passageway to the west. One-third of the park is above timberline, the 14,255-foot flat-topped summit of Longs Peak included; there are 71 peaks here that top out above 12,000 feet. All in all, enough snowcapped rock, wind-whipped tundra, and thin air to make a marmot giddy.
Problem is, the siren song of all this alpine scenery is so strong that at times the park can seem overrun by pilgrims. Trail Ridge Road, in particular, is one of the few spots in the world where you can sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Three million people visit Rocky Mountain National Park each year; old-timers among the surging population along Colorado's Front Range tend to opt for the much less visited national forests around RMNP when they're looking for solitude.