Sierra Nevada Mountains

While Lake Tahoe's deep blue waters are the region's biggest draw for summertime visitors, the under-the-radar Fallen Leaf Lake is a jewel in its own right. Fallen Leaf Campground is a great basecamp for exploring both lakes, thanks to its central location about 1/4 mile from the north end of Fallen Leaf Lake and a mile from the south end of Lake Tahoe. ...Read more.

What's better than hiking by a lovely creek - maybe hiking by a lovely lake. You can do both on Moraine Trail, visiting Fallen Leaf Lake and Taylor Creek in the Lake Tahoe Basin National Forest Lands near South Lake Tahoe. This easy and level loop is 1.1 miles long, including a short side trail to Fallen Leaf Lake Dam. The mountain-cradled Fallen Leaf Lake is located just south of Lake Tahoe. ...Read more.

Interpretive trails are usually good places to appreciate the finer features of a forest, but they tend to lack grand vistas. This is not the case with Way of the Mono Trail, which rises to a splendid view over Bass Lake, a beauty in the Sierra Nevada Mountains south of Yosemite National Park. Way of the Mono Trail is a 0.6-mile loop with 140 feet of elevation change. ...Read more.

Before your visit to Lake Tahoe goes up in smoke, take a hike to Chimney Beach - where a standing-on-its-own fireplace and chimney serve as an unsual landmark for a lovely little cove. The brick chimney is all that's left of an old cabin built in the sand between boulder-strewn points on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. If curiosity about the chimney draws you to Chimney Beach, the beautiful lake views and clear turquoise water will be what keeps you hanging around. ...Read more.

Gaze out from Route 50 as it travels along the southeast side of Lake Tahoe and you'll find nice views of the lakeshore and its surrounding mountains. Seven miles up from the state border in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada Route 50 slips through a tunnel in a tall pointed ridge of volcanic rock. The road itself is scenic, but the sight of Cave Rock should have you speculating how superb things must look from the top. ...Read more.

Yosemite Valley looks great from the bottom up, the top down, and even the middle out. For this neither-up-nor-down view over Yosemite Valley, visit Columbia Rock, a viewpoint on Yosemite Falls Trail perched about thousand feet up the north wall of Yosemite Valley. The hike from Camp 4 up to Columbia Rock is 2.2 miles round trip with 985 feet of elevation change. ...Read more.

Glacier Point is probably the most incredibly viewpoint in Yosemite National Park (rivaled closely by Tunnel View), but it isn't the only viewpoint along Glacier Point Road. Washburn Point is located 3/4 of a miles from the end of Glacier Point Road, south of Glacier Point. Its vistas are similar to Glacier Point, and since you have to pass Washburn Point to get out to Glacier Point, it's definitely worth stopping for this added perspective of great Yosemite landscapes. ...Read more.

Is it possible to have a Yosemite National Park waterfall all to yourself? Yes! The odds of waterfall solitude are pretty low when you go to Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Fall, or Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall along the Mist Trail, but unheralded Wildcat Falls is different. Although this multi-tier waterfall is about 650 feet tall, only the bottom 50-foot tall cascade at the base of Wildcat Falls is visible on this hike, wrapped in vegetation that creates a private retreat. ...Read more.

Yosemite Falls is incredibly beautiful and incredibly big. It is the tallest waterfall in North America, the 5th tallest waterfall in the world, and a star along the north wall of Yosemite Valley. Hiking to Yosemite Falls is one of the greatest things visitors can do in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Falls drops a total of 2,425 feet, beginning with the cliff-leaping 1,430-foot Upper Fall. ...Read more.

Yosemite National Park receives four million visitors per year, filling the park's campgrounds and hotels. When all the campsites are reserved and the hotels have no vacancies (or list prices that are uncomfortably high), consider a middle option provided at Housekeeping Camp in the middle of Yosemite Valley. Housekeeping Camp offers 3-walled units with canvas roofs and flaps – imagine something that is not quite a room and not quite a tent. ...Read more.