John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway shares 82 miles of two-lane road that is U.S. Routes 89, 191, and 287 from Grand Teton National Park National Park north to West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Its name honors the conservationist and philanthropist who contributed to the creation of Acadia, Grand Teton, Great Smoky Mountains, and Virgin Islands National Parks. Originally part of Teton National Forest, this land includes the Flagg Ranch concession, which had its lodge, restaurant, gas station, and campground moved from along the Snake River to a point less visible from the road in 2002.
Highlights
Flagg Ranch, Huckleberry Hot Springs, Polecat Hot Springs
Must-Do Activity
Huckleberry and Polecat Hot Springs are easily accessed by walking less than a mile down a closed dirt road not far from historic Flagg Ranch. Polecat Creek Loop Trail can be completed as a 2.5-mile loop that is narrow and overgrown by vegetation in places. Be on the lookout for grizzly bears, black bears, elk, and moose. Trout fishing in the Snake River is also a popular activity in John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. The parkway is plowed to Flagg Ranch in the winter, making it a shared trailhead for snowmobilers, snowshoers, and cross-country skiers.
Best Trail
Flagg Canyon Trail is a five-mile out-and-back hike along the Snake River with 340 feet of cumulative elevation gain after it crosses the busy parkway east of Flagg Ranch.
Photographic Opportunity
Driving unpaved and potholed Grassy Lake Road provides views to the south of the Teton Range.
The parkway is paved and closes for the winter at Flagg Ranch when the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park shuts down. Closed annually for grizzly bear migration until June 1, Grassy Lake Road heads 49 miles west to Ashton, Idaho (the easternmost 36 miles are a potholed dirt track for high-clearance vehicles that enters Targhee National Forest, which is popular for dispersed camping).
Camping
There is a lodge at Flagg Ranch, plus Headwaters Campground takes reservations and offers 34 tent sites, 97 full-hookup RV sites, and 40 Camper Cabins (open June 7 to October 4, 2026). Along rough Grassy Lake Road there are eight free camp areas with 14 first-come, first-served campsites equipped with vault toilets and bear boxes. There are also campgrounds in Teton National Forest and primitive dispersed campsites near Grassy Lake once the road enters Targhee National Forest.
In the northeast corner of California is the largest shield volcano in North America: 7,921-foot Medicine Lake Volcano. Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is spread across Klamath, Shasta, and Modoc National Forests just south of Lava Beds National Monument and features numerous cinder cones and lava fields. Part of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway loops around Medicine Lake, which the Modoc people view as a place of healing. The Pit River Tribe opposed development of geothermal energy sources in this area, spearheading its protection. In the 1960s, NASA astronauts trained at Pumice Crater, four of whom eventually landed on the moon. Sáttítla Highlands National Monument is also important for biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife species like the Cascades frog, long-toed salamander, and gray-headed pika, as well as numerous fungi, the parasitic sugarstick plant, and Pacific fuzzwort (a rare liverwort).
Medicine Lake Recreation Area, Giant Crater lava tube, Glass Mountain, Black Lava Butte, Fourmile Hill Tree Molds Geologic Area
Must-Do Activity
Most of the developed recreation opportunities surround Medicine Lake, which offers boat ramps, trails, and campgrounds. Giant Crater has the longest known lava tube system in the world at 18 miles, although it is partially collapsed. This Geologic Special Interest Area can be accessed two miles off Medicine Lake Road on Forest Road 43N11. Another unpaved road leads up Glass Mountain, which has a crater full of sharp pieces of rhyolite obsidian and glossy dacite. This remote corner of California has some of the darkest skies in the continental U.S., so it is great for stargazing on moonless nights. In the winter, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are popular activities on groomed trails.
Best Trail
There is a 4.4-mile loop around Medicine Lake, as well as the one-mile out-and-back Medicine Lake Glass Flow Trail that gains 68 feet of elevation on the north shore. For a more challenging route, Little Mt. Hoffman Trail gains 666 feet over three miles to the fire lookout, which can be rented overnight. Summitting the actual Mt. Hoffman is over 13 miles roundtrip with a 2,000-foot cumulative climb.
Photographic Opportunity
Sáttítla literally translates as “obsidian place” and the volcanic glass prevalent at Glass Mountain has provided humans sharp blades for at least 5,000 years.
Peak Season
Summer
Fees
$5 per vehicle (or the America the Beautiful Pass) at Medicine Lake
Road Conditions
This area receives abundant winter snowfall, and roads can be blocked by snow into July, which we experienced trying to get to Glass Mountain. The road to Medicine Lake is paved, but almost every other road through the National Monument is unpaved, some requiring a high-clearance vehicle.
Camping
There are multiple Forest Service campgrounds on Medicine Lake, plus two nearby at Blanche Lake and Bullseye Lake. Dirt roads in Modoc, Shasta, and Klamath National Forests have ample dispersed camping opportunities.
Medicine Bow National Forest is spread across three separate units in southern Wyoming and another located to the north between the cities of Laramie and Casper. Within the latter unit is 10,272-foot Laramie Peak, a major landmark along the historic Oregon Trail. Snowy Range Scenic Byway (Highway 130) provides access in the summer to the high-elevation recreational opportunities found in the mountains. In 1995, Medicine Bow National Forest was administratively combined with Routt National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland.
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Highlights
Snowy Range Scenic Byway, Brooklyn Lake Campground, Medicine Bow Peak, Lake Marie, Sierra Madres, Aspen Alley, Hog Park Reservoir, Happy Jack Recreation Area, Vedauwoo, Laramie Peak Trail, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Medicine Bow Peak stands at 12,013 feet within the Snowy Range near the Wyoming-Colorado border and has two steep, rocky trails to its summit which can be combined into a long loop. The 29-mile-long Snowy Range Scenic Byway cuts across this rugged landscape and is a great place for summer camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and backpacking. The road closes in the winter, but is still a destination for snowmobiling, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Medicine Bow gets its name from annual tribal gatherings when ceremonies were held and mountain mahogany was gathered for bow making.
Best Trail
Vedauwoo Recreation Area is visible from Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne, but feels worlds apart. Its maze of boulders is a fun place to visit in the winter or summer (when the campground is open). The 3.2-mile Turtle Rock Trail circles the area, but it is more fun to climb around off trail. Near the end of winter, snow drifts pile six-feet-high next to ground swept bare. In the glens protected by the 200-foot-tall rock outcrops, snowflakes cling to the bare branches of aspen and maple trees, and stick in the needles of junipers, Douglas-firs, and ponderosa pines. Vedauwoo is an Arapaho word meaning “earthborn,” also the name of a nature spirit character in summer theater performances held here in the 1920s by the University of Wyoming. This forest was once depleted for telegraph poles and railroad ties before the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted 280,000 trees in the 1930s. It was used for over 50 years of military target practice, significant because there are unexploded munitions still in the ground. Vedauwoo is located near the Happy Jack Recreation Area, which at 8,640 feet is the highest point along Interstate 80 between San Francisco and New York City. This cross-country road was originally called the Lincoln Highway, hence the giant sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’s head at the nearby rest area.
Watchable Wildlife
After a cold day on the National Forest’s cross-country ski trails at Brush Creek (built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps) or Chimney Park, we always made it a point to stop in Saratoga where hot springs water is piped into the free outdoor Hobo Pool adjacent to the North Platte River. This area is a favored wintering ground for bald and golden eagles, so you may witness a flyover during your soak. Also watch for mule deer in town and a variety of waterfowl along the river. Moose, elk, and pronghorn (at lower elevations) are found in the National Forest. Black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and red foxes reside here, too. Trout fishing in lakes and streams is a major draw to the mountains.
Photographic Opportunity
Lake Marie along the Snowy Range Scenic Byway is one of the most widely used photographs for tourism publications in this corner of Wyoming.
Peak Season
Summer
Fees
Day use fees of $5 per vehicle (or America the Beautiful pass) apply at Vedauwoo, Tie City Trailhead, Happy Jack Trailhead, and the western terminus of Headquarters National Recreation Trail, as well as Sugarloaf and West Lake Marie Trailhead along Snowy Range Scenic Byway.
Road Conditions
The gravel Vedauwoo Road (closed in spring) is good enough for RVs, as are some of the side roads off paved Snowy Range Scenic Byway (closed in winter). Beware the rutted Forest Road 336 near Libby Flats and some other four-wheel-drive-only routes. Several roads become snowmobile routes in the winter, including most of Snowy Range Scenic Byway west of the ski resort.
Camping
In addition to a large designated campground at the Vedauwoo exit off Interstate 80, Vedauwoo Road has designated free campsites marked by a post and offer dispersed camping along other surrounding roads. Brooklyn Lake is one of several designated campgrounds along the Snowy Range Scenic Byway where dispersed campsites are harder to find. Between Casper and Cheyenne, Laramie Peak dominates the prairie landscape and if you hike to its summit you can overlook hundreds of miles of the historic Oregon Trail. Although much of this section of forest has been affected by wildfires, there is still plenty of natural beauty and out of the way places to pitch a tent along its labyrinthine road system.
Wilderness Areas
Encampment River Wilderness
Huston Park Wilderness
Platte River Wilderness (also in Routt National Forest)
VedauwooBull mooseVedauwooCross-country skiing at Chimney ParkBeaver activityMule deerHeadquarters National Recreation TrailTiff on the Rail TrailSnow sledding at Happy Jack Recreation Area
Explore More – Near Vedauwoo, a 60-foot-tall granite pyramid was built in 1882 to honor whom?
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Even though they are on opposite sides of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, Manistee and Huron National Forests have been co-managed since 1945. Only seven years earlier, Manistee National Forest was created from tax-forfeited lands and purchases of logged forests unsuitable for farming, so it is remains a mosaic of private and public lands. Much of this area was replanted by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and many of those trees are now very large. It contains the highest point on Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, 1,706-foot Briar Hill, which has no marked trails to the summit and obstructed views from the top. It is also home to Caberfae Peaks Ski Resort, which receives high accumulations of lake-effect snow and is one of the oldest ski resorts in the U.S. opened in 1938.
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Highlights
Pere Marquette National Scenic River, Nordhouse Dunes, Newaygo Prairies, Caberfae Winter Sports Area, Udell Rollways, Briar Hill, Manistee River Trail, North Country National Scenic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Manistee National Forest is popular for hiking, fishing, camping, boating, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and hunting. The National Forest’s primary visitor attractions are the Nordhouse Dunes along Lake Michigan and Loda Lake National Wildflower Sanctuary, a 1,000-acre area set aside in 1938 to grow native plants. The 6,270-acre sand dunes complex around Big Sable Point on Lake Michigan was formed 3,500 years ago and reaches 140 feet in height above lake level. The southern portion is contained within Ludington State Park and the northern half is managed by the Forest Service.
Best Trail
We accessed the Nordhouse Dunes from the Arrowhead Trailhead (fee), nine miles on paved West Forest Trail Road from Highway 31. We hiked a 2.7-mile loop by connecting the Middle Trail to the Arrowhead/ Nipissing Trail then following the shoreline back. We passed dozens of backpackers camping on the beach, mostly ignoring the requirement to stay 400 feet from Lake Michigan and 100 feet from trails. The North Country National Scenic Trail passes through Manistee National Forest and can be connected with the 11-mile-long Manistee River Trail to make a 23-mile loop.
Watchable Wildlife
The Nordhouse Dunes encompass the largest area of freshwater interdunal ponds in the world, home to the federally endangered pitcher’s thistle. On the Lake Michigan shoreline, the dune grass provides habitat for endangered piping plovers. More common species are white-tailed deer, coyote, red fox, porcupine, and raccoon, and the occasional black bear and bobcat. A variety of gamefish are found in the Manistee River, Lake Michigan, and smaller ponds.
Photographic Opportunity
The rows of trees in the red pine plantations make for some interesting photographic subjects.
Peak Season
Summer
Fees
There is a $5 day use fee (or $15 for a week) to park at trailheads for the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness with automated fee collection station available at Nurnberg Trailhead, or you can hang an America the Beautiful pass in your vehicle.
Road Conditions
The main roads are paved from Highway 31 to access the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness; Nurnberg Trailhead in the southeast corner is open year round and Lake Michigan Recreation Area in the north is gated in the offseason.
Camping
There is a 102-site campground near the trailhead within Lake Michigan Recreation Area, but dispersed car camping is allowed to the east on the sandy side roads off West Forest Trail Road. It seems that backpackers in the Nordhouse Dunes area ignore the requirement to stay 400 feet from the lake and 100 feet from trails.
northern red oak, black oak, white oak, red maple, paper birch, yellow birch, American beech, black cherry, green ash, bigtooth aspen, sassafras, witch hazel
Explore More – How is the Ojibwe word Manistee translated into English?
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Located in western Montana, the elevation of Lolo National Forest ranges from less than 2,400 feet on the Clark Fork River below Thompson Falls to the top of 9,186-foot Scapegoat Mountain. West of Missoula off Interstate 90, the Ninemile Historic Remount Depot preserves a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp and pack stock training facility. Founded in 1907, the Savenac Historic Tree Nursery Area is also well developed for visitors, including an arboretum and cabin rentals in what were formerly the cookhouse and bunkhouse.
Know someone who loves the National Forests? Gift them our travel guidebook Out in the Woods so they can learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests.
Highlights
Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, Lolo Pass Visitor Center, Lolo National Historic Trail, Fort Fizzle, Blue Mountain Recreation Area, Cascade Falls, Savenac Nursery, Petty Creek Bighorn Sheep Viewing Site, Clearwater Canoe Trail, Stark Mountain Vista, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Lolo National Forest surrounds Missoula, where the Aerial Fire Depot and Smokejumper Center offers guided tours and exhibits. Right outside of the city are numerous hiking trails in Blue Mountain Recreation Area and Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, which contains 73 miles of trails (and has its own blog entry on our website). Following a path used by the Corps of Discovery in 1805, the Lolo National Historic Trail shadows Highway 12 west into Idaho (see Clearwater National Forest). Take time to stop at the Lolo Pass Visitor Center managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Best Trail
Morrell Falls National Recreation Trail leads to a 90-foot-tall waterfall on the western slope of the Swan Range. The trail is 5.5 miles out-and-back, mostly flat with some short inclines as it cuts through a burned area now full of beargrass and fireweed. The waterfall cascades down a rocky outcrop and is well lit in the afternoon. The trailhead is located 7.5 miles from Highway 83 on a good gravel road that has well-signed intersections. Also nearby, the Pyramid Pass Trailhead provides access to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in adjacent Flathead National Forest.
Watchable Wildlife
There are 60 species of mammals found in Lolo National Forest, including grizzly/brown bears, black bears, mountain lions, gray wolves, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and mule deer. Among the largest of the more than 300 birds spotted are bald eagles, golden eagles, and trumpeter swans. The five rivers and over 100 lakes are home to 30 varieties of ducks and 20 types of fish.
Photographic Opportunity
Located on the western slope of the Swan Range, 90-foot-tall Morrell Falls is accessed on a 5.5-mile out-and-back hike.
quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, western serviceberry
Explore More – What is the origin of the name Lolo?
Know someone who loves the National Forests? Gift them our travel guidebook Out in the Woods so they can learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests.
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