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Action Guides to Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains and Yosemite National Parks

By Jim Gorman.

Acadia National Park, Maine
Where adventure sports go coastal

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., knew a special place when he saw one. Staggered by the beauty of Mount Desert Island, where his family—as well as the Vanderbilts, Morgans, Carnegies, and Astors—built lavish summer “cottages,” he donated 11,000 acres [4,452 hectares] of land to Acadia.

Today the park is one of the country’s most recreationally diverse retreats: In it, you can scale pink granite cliffs, canoe quiet creeks, hike up bald-topped mountains, or sea kayak among rocky isles. Maybe you can’t own Acadia, Gilded Age style—but at least you can play there.

5 Perfect Days
The Ultimate Itinerary

DAY 1

Drive Park Loop Road early and secure your site at Seawall campground, on Mount Desert’s southern tip. Then hike up Acadia and St. Sauveur Mountains; the views of Somes Sound, the lower 48’s only fjord, are spectacular from both.

DAY 2

Less busy than Cadillac Mountain, Sargent Mountain has equally arresting sunrise views.

After the 2.5-hour hike, rent a mountain bike from the Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop ($17 per day; +1 207 288 3886) and cruise the park’s carriage roads. The Around Mountain and DAY Mountain Loops are two of the best routes. Along the way, stop for a regionally famous pick-me-up: popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

DAY 3

Take the 11-mile [18-kilometer] Seal Cove-to-Clark Cove sea-kayak tour with Maine State Sea Kayak Guide Service (+1 207 244 9500; www.mainestatekayak.com), in Southwest Harbor. The high peaks are always in sight, islands abound, and the rugged granite coast is dotted with coves and harbors.

DAY 4

Experienced rock climbers can tackle crack and corner routes while lobster boats rumble below at Otter Cliff, with 80-foot [24-meter] routes rated 5.4 to 5.12. Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School (888 232 9559, U.S. and Canada only) teaches basic technique to non-climbers here and at nearby crags.

DAY 5

Cross Mount Desert’s eastern half on a 10.5-mile [17-kilometer] hike linking the big, bald peaks from Gorham Mountain in the southeast corner of the island to Norumbega Mountain beside Somes Sound. Ladders and iron rungs will help you ascend the steepest pitches.

Park Information

Permits: None are required for campgrounds (backcountry overnights are not allowed). For certain kayaking routes, you may need a use permit; check with park rangers for details.

Contact: For a trip planner, Contact Acadia National Park (+1 207 288 3338; www.nps.gov/acad).

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee
Rambling from hollow to highland

If life seems richer in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, that’s because there’s simply more of it: 4,000 types of flora (found in five distinct forest zones) and 450 varieties of fauna, including elk, bear, boar, river otters, and hellbenders—salamanders that can grow to the size of a human toddler.

Hikers can see some of this biodiversity on more than 850 miles [1,368 kilometers] of trails—nearly the mileage of Yellowstone, on a quarter of the acreage. It’s no surprise that Great Smoky is America’s most popular national park—and not a bad thing that only 6 percent of the park’s visitors head into the backcountry.

5 Perfect Days
The Ultimate Itinerary

DAY 1

Get a biodiversity breakdown on an all-day, naturalist-led hike with the Smoky Mountain Field School ($45; www.outreach.utk.edu/smoky), then camp at Balsam Mountain, the highest (5,300 feet/1,615 meters) and least crowded of the park’s established campgrounds.

DAY 2

Set out on what guidebook guru Johnny Molloy calls a Grand Botanical Tour: a four-day, 34-mile [55-kilometer] trek beginning at the Lakeshore Trailhead. The hike ultimately gains and loses 4,700 vertical feet [1,433 vertical meters], crossing through all five forest zones.

Tonight’s camp is at Huggins, set in a lush valley beside trout-filled Forney Creek.

DAY 3

Some 3,700 feet [1,128 meters] of climbing will take you to the top of Clingmans Dome, the park’s highest point. You won’t be needing the lookout tower, though; the views before you get there, on the short detour to Andrews Bald, are even better. Tonight, sleep at Silers Bald.

DAY 4

Stroll down the Welch Ridge Trail to 5,190-foot [1,582-meter] High Rocks, where you can see spruce-cloaked ridgelines contrasting with the junglelike lushness of Forney Creek in the valley below. Camp tonight at Poplar Flats and take a dip in clear, cold Bear Creek.

DAY 5

Descend through a thick mantle of rhododendron and hemlock to Forney Creek, then backtrack to your vehicle. You should finish early enough to visit the meadows at the end of Cataloochee Road, where elk were reintroduced in 2001, after a 150-year absence from the park.

Park Information

Permits: Camping is allowed only at designated campgrounds and backcountry sites; permits are available the day of the hike at any ranger station. So-called rationed sites and shelters can be reserved up to 30 days in advance by calling +1 865 436 1231.

Licenses are required for fishing;contact the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (888 814 8972, U.S. and Canada only; https://www.wildlifelicense.com/tn/index.html).

Contact: For a trip planner, contact the park’s backcountry office (+1 865 436 1297).

Yosemite National Park, California
Knocking on heaven’s hidden door


Yosemite embodies the central dilemma of our national parks: Its high peaks and cathedral-like valley are among the world’s finest natural treasures. But those treasures also attract 3.5 million admirers a year—which means the population density in the valley during the peak season can be as high as that of Phoenix.

Climbers and hikers know that the solution to this dilemma is right over everyone’s heads: Just ascend a few pitches up any climbing route—or a few miles on almost any trail—and the bustling scene on the valley floor is soon hidden under the pines.

Surrounded by nothing but luminous, fine-grained granite, you’ll see the same Yosemite that photographer Ansel Adams described as “a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.”

5 Perfect Days
The Ultimate Itinerary

DAY 1

Take the high road into the park—through the east entrance and over 9,945-foot [3,031-meter] Tioga Pass—to form the perfect first impression. “You’re immediately surrounded by granite and meadows,” says Doug Robinson, the storied Yosemite big-wall climber.

Pick up a camping permit at the Wilderness Center in Tuolumne Meadows, then drive to the start of the Snow Creek Trail. Five miles [8 kilometers] of downhill backpacking takes you to the lip of the valley.

From this unconventional northern vantage point, the view of Half Dome’s giant vertical face is nothing less than shocking.

DAY 2

Watch the morning sun light up the cliffs and domes surrounding the valley, then begin the switchback descent. While thousands of cars pour through the valley’s western portal every day, you’ll be one of the handful of hikers who enter, on foot, from the roadless east.

Hop the shuttle bus to legendary Camp 4, near El Capitan, where an international coterie of rock climbers hangs out and stays limber on boulders that dot the campground. If their rock jockery inspires you, the Yosemite Mountaineering School and Guide Service can lead you on routes such as the Grack (rated 5.6), a three-pitch classic.

DAY 3

At Yosemite Lodge, catch the Tioga Road bus back to Tuolumne Meadows, then set out on a three-day, 32-mile [51-kilometer] loop hike into the heart of John Muir’s “range of light.”

The first five miles [eight kilometers] of the trip follow the John Muir Trail through Lyell Canyon before exiting onto the Ireland Creek Trail. Camp for the night by Evelyn Lake, high in the Cathedral Range.

DAY 4

This morning’s stretch of trail, between the Vogelsang and Merced Lake camps, along Fletcher Creek, is likely to be the busiest of the trip—but tonight you’ll camp in solitude.

After a midday dip in one of the granite-lined swimming holes along Lewis Creek, slip off the trail at either Florence Creek or Bernice Lake. Follow streams across granite slabs and through meadows to any one of numerous tarns and small lakes. A campsite in either drainage promises unbeatable alpenglow on the surrounding peaks.

DAY 5

It’s a stiff climb up to Vogelsang Pass, where views of the entire Clark Range and Triple Divide Peak, on the park’s southern boundary, are terrific. (They’re even better from the tops of either Florence or Vogelsang Peaks, which can be climbed safely by experienced scramblers.)

The homestretch, from Tuolumne Pass back to your car, includes more inspiring meadows, creeks, and peaks.

Park Information

Permits: Free wilderness permits are required to camp in the backcountry, and their availability is limited by a quota system. You can reserve one in advance for $5.

Contact: For permits and a trip planner, contact the Wilderness Center (+1 209 372 0740; www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness).

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