PACIFICCalifornia, Hike a Petroglyph Canyon
One of North America's most astounding and concentrated galleries of stone art—6,000 images strong—is also one of the best protected, thanks to its fortuitous location in the Upper Mojave Desert backcountry of the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. The Coso petroglyphs, 1,000 to 3,000 years old, line 10-to-40-foot (3-to-12-meter) walls for 1.2 miles (2 kilometers). The Navy flyboys are happy to share with visitors, though you can't just walk in and start ogling: You have to be a U.S. citizen and make advance reservations through the
Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest for a full-day guided hike ($35;
www.maturango.org) or call the base for
a private tour (+1 760 939 1683).
Washington, Make a Rainbow ConnectionIn March, while the coast clouds up, the sunny side of the Cascades turns to fly-fishing. The blue-ribbon Yakima River has the best action, particularly between the basalt walls of Yakima River Canyon. Guides from
Red's Flyshop, a riverside institution 13 miles (21 kilometers) south of Ellensburg, float drift boats in search of 20-inchers (51 centimeters) ($395 a day;
www.redsflyshop.com). Gaze up from the trout to spot mule deer or bighorn sheep in the sage hills. Red's even has platformed wall tents ($55) with wood-burning stoves: a fisherman's home away from home.
Oregon, Ski Alpine Acres
On a backcountry ski tour of Broken Top in the Three Sisters Wilderness, you are the chairlift. "We'll climb up and ski a thousand feet of vertical, then go again for another 700 feet (305 meters), then another," says Steve Baldwin, co-owner of
Timberline Mountain Guides. TMG's staff sets up camp at a site below the summit, reached after a three-hour hike from the parking lot at Mount Bachelor ($450 for two days;
www.timberlinemtguides.com). As Baldwin puts it, "Everybody else is going one way. We go the other."
MOUNTAINWyoming, Get a Lift to the BackcountryAn open-gate policy at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort lets skiers access the off-piste Tetons by way of the lodge's lifts. Late February through March is the ideal time: Temps are getting warmer (43 degrees [6 degrees Celsius] is the daytime average), and the snow conditions are still superb. Go with a
Jackson Hole backcountry guide and you get to cut lift lines ($560 a day for groups of three or fewer;
www.jacksonhole.com/info/ski.school.guides.asp). Otherwise it's $77 for a lift ticket. Then you're flying down 4,139 feet (1,262 meters) of vertical in Bridger-Teton National Forest, with perfect powder and out-of-bounds bowls for seasoned skiers. Just below the resort you can tuck yourself into the brand-new, ultragreen
Hotel Terra ($300;
www.hotelterrajacksonhole.com)—everything's assiduously organic, even the beds and the AC (the state-of-the-art ventilation system pumps in the mountain air while retaining the heat of the interior O2).
Utah, Roam a Salt Lake IslandIf you've never been out to Great Salt Lake's Antelope Island, "you're like 99 percent of the people who live along the Wasatch front," says Scott Baxter, owner of
Great Salt Lake Adventures, which guides kayak trips on the 28,022-acre (11,340-hectare) island's briny shoreline (
www.greatsaltlakekayak.com). "But for a select few, it's almost a religious thing." The devout venerate the alien topography (scruffy hills covered in cheatgrass), the near lifelessness of the lake, and the island's sheer serenity. Antelope Island is a state park with (dry) camping and an amazing abundance of wildlife. On a steep, 6.5-mile (10-kilometer) round-trip hike up to its high point, 6,396-foot (1,950-meter) Frary Peak, you're likely to see bison, pronghorn, mule deer, and bighorn sheep. And, adds Baxter, "about as much solitude as you can imagine."
Colorado, Ski 'Tude FreeSunlight Mountain Resort is no Aspen—and that's precisely the point. Thirty minutes from Aspen's glitz (and its $87 lift ticket), you can hang out in the small town of Glenwood Springs and ski the same snow in the same Rocky Mountains without the OK! hubbub ($48 for a lift ticket). Sunlight isn't exactly an anthill, with 67 trails covering 470 skiable acres and a vertical drop
of 2,000 feet (610 meter). Much of it is family-friendly—one bunny run winds 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from summit to base. But that shouldn't put off gonzos, who have notorious Heathen, a 52 percent grade that's one of Colorado's most extreme steeps. Glenwood Springs is not without its own brand of panache: The resort has the world's largest mineral hot springs pool, a 104-degree (40-degree Celsius) therapy pool, and a
Ski Swim Stay package in March ($85 per person;
www.skiswimstay.com).
Perfect Timing: American Mountaineering Museum
Golden, CO's newly opened museum of American alpinism is long overdue.
www.bwamm.org CENTRALTexas, Cowboy Up in Hill CountryIn the north Texas hill country, "cowboy" is a verb and "cow" is a longhorn (as in 94 inches [239 centimeters] tip to tip)—and there's no better place to go cowboyin' than at
Wildcatter Ranch, about 90 minutes northwest of Fort Worth ($329;
www.wildcatterranch.com). Wildcatter is a 1,500-acre (607-hectare) working spread where you can ride, rope, and pen cattle with real cowpokes. Its hills in March are turning green and speckled with wildflowers; its chuck wagon, er, restaurant is a steak house where the chef hand-cuts his own fillets and chops; and its bunkhouse is a Western-chic lodge where rooms come with huge rock fireplaces. Greenhorns can mountain bike or hike the ranch's ten-mile network of trails or paddle a canoe down Connor Creek, a tributary of the Brazos River. After you've explored the hills and stabled your mount—be it two-wheeled or four-hooved—commit cowboy heresy at the ranch's new spa, where the saddle-sore can get a sports massage ($80) and, dare we say it, a sage facial ($115).
Missouri, Shut Yourself InIn a state known for crystal-clear streams that amble along at six-pack pace, the Upper St. Francis is a wild, whitewater exception. As the river flows off
the Ozark Plateau, it constricts into miniature gorges known as shut-ins. A classic example: the Tiemann Shut-ins, a narrow, granite-framed gorge where the St. Francis tumbles at 60 feet (18 meters) a mile (two kilometers) in a series of Class III drops. Access to the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) stretch between Tiemann and Silver Mine Dam is from State Route 72 west of Fredericktown, about a hundred miles (161 kilometers) south of St. Louis. Paddling is perfect in March; the Missouri Whitewater Association runs its annual championships here on the 15th (spectators welcome). Set up base camp at the primitive sites in the
Silver Mines Recreation Area ($10;
www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/marktwain/recreation/sites/silver_mines).
Nebraska, Witness the Crane MigrationYour odds of seeing thousands of magnificent sandhill cranes this month along the Platte River are better than average. The birds, after all, have been flocking here every March for the past nine million years. Five hundred thousand (about 80 percent of the world's population) of the latter-day pterodactyls (wingspan up to seven feet [2 meters]) will swoop down to the Platte to polish off the leftover corn harvest before resuming their flight to points north. Figure on spotting as many as 12,000 of them along a given half-mile (less than a kilometer) section of river at dawn and dusk, when they transition from river roosting to field feasting or vice versa. Nest in Kearney and watch the birds from a blind with a guide at
Rowe Sanctuary ($20, departs each day at dawn and dusk;
www.rowesanctuary.org).
Perfect Timing: South by Southwest March 7-16The only thing better than SXSW's music lineup? Austin's underground scene.
www.unknowncity.com EAST
Alabama, Paddle Secret Whitewater
When it comes to whitewater paddling in the Southeast, you can play bumper boats with the throngs at the
North Alabama Whitewater Festival (March 7-9;
www.nawfest.net) or go it alone in
Little River Canyon National Preserve (
nps.gov/liri). The Little River—contrary to what its name implies—flows swift and high in late winter and early spring through a leafy gorge that slices the spine of Lookout Mountain. Experts will find six miles (ten kilometers) of solid Class III and IV froth and a VI in the Suicide section, which includes a 45-foot (14-meter) waterfall. Those without playboating experience should cruise a lower six-mile stretch known as the Chairlift, mostly Class II and III, with a portageable IV tossed in for good measure. Pitch a tent at the primitive sites along the river north of the gorge proper, or opt for an old Civilian Conservation Corps cabin in nearby
DeSoto State Park Lodge ($80;
www.desotostatepark.com).
Perfect Timing: Burton US Open March 17-23See Shaun White fly in Vermont, then drop into the pipe yourself.
www.opensnowboarding.com New Hampshire, Vote for DixvilleOnce the politicians leave Dixville Notch—the tiny town that gathers at midnight to cast the first presidential primary votes—New Englanders turn their attention to the most reliable snow in the Northeast, right outside the
Balsams Grand Resort Hotel ($179, including meals, lift ticket, and Nordic trail access;
www.thebalsams.com). The Balsams—which by December 2007 was enjoying its best snow season in five years—is one of those traditional multi-gabled New England resorts full of quaint frills, but it's the terrain that thrills: soaring granite cliffs and slopes with 16 runs and a thousand-foot vertical drop, plus a Nordic zone with 53 miles (85 kilometers) of impeccably groomed XC trails on 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) of mountain landscape.
North Carolina, Find the Wet StuffYou can't stop the rain in the southern Smokies of western North Carolina, which soak up about 90 inches (229 centimeters) a year, but you can savor the runoff. This is waterfall country, and bagging falls is a time-honored local tradition. The
Old Edwards Inn & Spa's Hiking and Waterfall package includes two nights' lodging, a map to trails and falls, a gourmet picnic lunch, and two 50-minute foot massages ($969 per couple;
www.oldedwardsinn.com). As for the falls? The Glen Falls trail alone reaches three cascades within 1.4 miles (2 kilometers), all tucked into damp forests of mountain laurels and maples. It also connects with the Chinquapin Mountain trail, which ascends to 4,160 feet (1,268 meters) for a top-down view of the Smokies. Tired and sweaty, you return to the elegant Blue Ridge hideout, your plush bathrobe, and, you guessed it, a rainfall shower.
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