Pins matching tag:Outdoors

Watch salmon climb the fish ladder.

Mountain-top meadows and trails with views over the Olympic range in summer, and limited winter snow play when the road opens.

A Poconos mountain resort offering a waterpark and aerial adventure in summer and skiing and snow tubing in winter.

Cooler-months hiking.

A 90-minute vintage-car diesel train ride along the St. Croix bluffs in peak color.

Skate on the sunken plaza beneath the Rockefeller Center tree and golden Prometheus statue. One of Manhattan's best-known cold-weather outings since 1936.

Strenuous desert summit hike, sunrise to sunset.

A trail leads to a travertine waterfall hidden in a river canyon, best in the cooler months.

Walk the washes and badlands of an Ice Age fossil site where mammoth and camel remains were found, free to enter and best in cool weather.

A short river trail leads to a series of cascades ending in a 130-foot waterfall that is strongest after rain.

A steep 1.2-mile climb to a 2,610-foot summit with sweeping Valley views, popular at sunrise in the cooler months.

Drive the Cactus Forest Loop and hike among giant saguaros; the cooler months are the best time to be out in the desert.

Bike or walk the Mission Reach trail linking four 18th-century missions in Texas's only UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Drive or hike the 105-mile ridge road through peak Blue Ridge color, with overlooks and trailheads every few miles.

Hiking, biking and leaf viewing along Rock Creek.

Scramble up a huge pink granite dome for sweeping Hill Country views, with cooler months the best time to hike and a dark-sky setting for stars.

Nevada's oldest state park offers red sandstone formations, petroglyphs and short trails that are comfortable in the cooler half of the year.

Fish the cold Colorado River below Hoover Dam, where rainbow trout are stocked near Willow Beach.

Walk desert trails at the foot of the Superstition Mountains, with wildflower blooms and big sunsets in the cooler months.

Climb to 700-year-old Salado cliff dwellings above Theodore Roosevelt Lake along the Apache Trail region.

Bigtooth maples turn red and orange in the canyons, making this the Hill Country's best-known fall color hike.

One of the country's larger urban parks, with hiking to Cowles Mountain and a lake and visitor center.

Fall plant sale and Halloween bash at the arboretum.

Guided weekend walks through the 20-acre Japanese-inspired garden at peak maple color, in its centennial year.

A winter ice rink beside City Hall with a holiday market and cabin nearby.

A winding ice-skating track through the lakefront park, with timed sessions and reservations required whether you bring skates or rent a pair.

Mostly water park offering snorkeling on living reefs, shipwreck diving, kayaking and trips to Boca Chita Key.

Metro-area ski resort above the St. Croix valley with a tubing park and night skiing.

The low-humidity, lower-mosquito months concentrate wildlife around shrinking pools and bring the fullest ranger program schedule at park entrances.

Cooler months are the practical time for Death Valley's salt flats, dunes and canyons, a long day trip west of the valley.

Family-friendly downhill ski area in the Cannon River valley with night skiing daily from 3 p.m.

Ski and snowboard on the San Francisco Peaks, the closest major downhill resort to Phoenix, and ride the scenic gondola in fall color season.

A waterfront winter village with an ice rink, holiday tree lighting and festive events at Penn's Landing.

The city's public rink on Boston Common offers winter skating in the middle of downtown. The same pond is a spray pool in summer.

Groomed winter singletrack and snowmaking-loop fat bike riding, with Friday-Sunday evening rides when trails are open.

Clifftop overlook where gray whales can be spotted on their migration along the coast, with a small museum on site. Boat cruises also leave from nearby harbors.

The closest big ski hill to Boston, with night skiing, snowboarding and tubing on a mountain that makes its own snow.

Four chairlifts on the San Gabriel Mountains' highest ski area, weather and snow permitting.

St. Croix Valley hill with skiing, snowboarding and evening Starlight snow tubing.

Walk to see thousands of northern elephant seals breeding and pupping on the beach; winter access is usually by guided walk.

A waterfront ice rink beside The Anthem.

Winter snow sports near Las Vegas.

Point Loma overlook for spotting migrating gray whales offshore.

Walk the canyon trails when the waterfalls freeze into ice curtains and bald eagles gather along the Illinois River.

Naturalist-led tram rides loop through the sawgrass prairie to a 45-foot observation tower, with alligators and wading birds easy to spot in the dry season.

Narrated harbor-departure cruises watching migrating gray whales off the coast.

The closest major ski and snowboard area to the capital, with tubing and lessons on weekends.

Hundreds of thousands of tulips and other spring bulbs bloom across the gardens.