The multitaskers: Yellowstone, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho
Why: Not only do you get to roam wilderness across three of the nation’s 50 states (check-check-check), you have a whole host of varied landscapes and biomes (more boxes checked), from stone canyons to lush subalpine forests to extraordinary geothermal geysers, among them Old Faithful, the world’s most famous (extra points for that) and the Beartooth Highway, which puts the majesty in American myth. There are more than 1,000 miles of trails, and backcountry campsites reachable only on foot or horseback.
The fauna: …is exceptional. Yellowstone is regarded as the continental US’s finest megafauna environment; there are 60 mammal species alone—from grizzly bears, cougars and wolves to heroic American bison to tens of thousands of elk—and more than 300 endemic birds.
Perfect for you if…: You’ve got one shot at the whole National Park thing and want to leverage it for everything it’s got, Big Five-style.
What to pack: Your check list, not that you go anywhere without that. And a star chart (the skies here are famous for superlative gazing).
Social-media overachievers: Arches, Utah
Why: The most spectacular, and photogenic, rock formations in North America, in prodigious numbers (around 73,000 of them that qualify as arches, meaning they measure more than three feet across). Among them are Balanced Rock, Landscape Arch—the longest in the park, and the country, it’s incredibly delicate—and the Windows Arches (north and south). There are also the improbable stands of drip castle-like cliff formations in Devil’s Garden, and the sheer carved red cliffs of what’s known as Park Avenue.
The fauna: Mule deer, porcupines, loads of songbirds at dawn and dusk.
Perfect for you if…: you regularly, knowingly put yourself in physical danger in the interest of getting a #FOMO-generating shot for your social media.
What to pack: the latest Lululemon to layer (it’s high desert, so temperatures can vary by 40 degrees in a day); a crash helmet, if you’re really going for the YOLO moment.
