Getting outside is a great form of exercise and a great way to learn about the natural world. It also just makes you feel good. Luckily, there are beautiful natural areas nearby to explore no matter where you live. North America, for one, is home to so much natural beauty that no one person can see it all, but there are certain places that everybody should try to see before they die. Once you've checked out these treasures within the U.S. National Parks, try these hikes:
The Continental Divide Trail
While many wax poetic about the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail (and for good reason), the lesser known Continental Divide Trail is a real gem, too. Complete all three of the country's longest trails and you will be known as a "triple crowner." It stretches 3,100 miles from Mexico to Canada passing through sun-soaked New Mexico, Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, Yellowstone's backcountry in Wyoming and Montana's open wilderness.
The Kalalau Trail
The Kalalau Trail is an 11-mile trail that leads from Ke’e Beach to Kalalau Beach along the Na Pali Coast on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The trail climbs up to towering sea cliffs, drops down to lush valleys and all the way down to sea level. Hawaii is home to a large number of endemic species, or species that can only be found there, so the flora and fauna are sure to delight.
John Muir Trail
This 210-mile trail winds through the High Sierra wilderness. For 160 of those miles, the trail is part of the Pacific Crest Trail. You will be mostly above 8,000 feet in elevation for the hike, which begins at Yosemite National Park, passes through Inyo National Forest, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and ends at the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S.
Cadillac Mountain Trail
Found in Acadia National Park, the Northeast's only national park, Cadillac Mountain is a must. If you catch the sunrise from the top, you will be the first person to view the sun rising on the East Coast. It's a moderate 4-mile hike to the summit at 1,500 feet. The views from the top, especially at sunrise, are absolutely breathtaking.
Skyline Trail
This trail in Mount Rainier National Park affords you amazing views of the 14,000-foot volcano, which is the tallest in North America. It takes you as close as you can get to the volcano without technical climbing gear. The entire trail is 5.5 miles long with 1,700 feet of elevation gain. Hikers cross through foggy alpine valleys full of wildflowers, take in cascading waterfalls and trek through snowfields. On a clear day, you can even see peaks as far south as Oregon's Mount Hood.
White Oak Canyon
This 4.8-mile hike in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park is a standout because you'll cross wooden footbridges over emerald pools and see six major waterfalls. While Shenandoah's high alpine trails can only be tackled a few months out of the year, this trail is open and accessible all year. Spring brings wildflowers to the open meadows. The trees provide ample shade to avoid the heat of summer. The fall foliage is not to be missed. And there's a certain beautiful serenity to a winter walk.
The Narrows
The Narrows is the narrowest part of the canyon walls in Zion National Park. The Virgin River cuts through the canyon, creating walls up to 1,000 feet tall and sometimes just twenty feet wide. A hike in the narrows involves actually walking in the river. Depending on the river flow, the water reaches from ankle level to waste deep or more. Hikers take in incredible views of the canyon walls as they trek through the river.
The Lost Coast Trail
The Lost Coast is the portion of California's north coast that was spared the development that came with building State Route 1 right along the coast in the southern portion of California. The steepness of the coastal mountains and the density of coastal forests made it difficult to build the highway right on the coast, so this part of California has remained more rugged and remote. As a result, the Lost Coast has maintained more of its natural beauty. The Lost Coast Trail is a 24-mile hike starting at Mattole and ending at Black Sands Beach. You will hike through rocky tidal pools, watch sea lions sunbathing on the beach and explore abandoned lighthouses. The hike, which takes about three days, is impassible at times because of the tides, so don't forget a tide chart.
Mount Mitchell Trail
At nearly 7,000 feet, Mount Mitchell near Asheville, North Carolina is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and it's not to be missed. It's an 11-mile hike with a 3,600-foot elevation gain, making it one of the toughest climbs in the area. The views from the summit are spectacular in any season. The summit is accessible to vehicles, so if you don't want to share your summit views with a bunch of people, pick a bad weather day or a day when the road is closed.
Half Dome
The 14 to 16 mile round trip hike is not for the faint of heart. You will be gaining elevation (4,800 feet in total) for most of your hike. But it's well worth the effort. Along the way, you'll take in views of Vernal and Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap, Half Dome and views of Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra. It takes most hikers 10 to 12 hours to complete, so an early start is a must. The most famous part of the hike is the metal cables, which make the last 400 feet of the ascent possible. Permits are required and are distributed by a lottery.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
10 Spectacular Hikes to Consider for Your Next Outdoor Adventure
6 Tips to Green Your Camping Trip
Though made in large part of plastic, glass, ceramics, gold and copper, they also contain critical resources. The gallium used for LEDs and the camera flash, the tantalum in capacitors and indium that powers the display were all pulled from the ground — at a price for nature and people.
"Mining raw materials is always problematic, both with regard to human rights and ecology," said Melanie Müller, raw materials expert of the German think tank SWP. "Their production process is pretty toxic."
The gallium and indium in many phones comes from China or South Korea, the tantalum from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Rwanda. All in, such materials comprise less than ten grams of a phone's weight. But these grams finance an international mining industry that causes radioactive earth dumps, poisoned groundwater and Indigenous population displacement.
Environmental Damage: 'Nature Has Been Overexploited'
The problem is that modern technologies don't work without what are known as critical raw materials. Collectively, solar panels, drones, 3D printers and smartphone contain as many as 30 of these different elements sourced from around the globe. A prime example is lithium from Chile, which is essential in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles.
"No one, not even within the industry, would deny that mining lithium causes enormous environmental damage," Müller explained, in reference to the artificial lakes companies create when flushing the metal out of underground brine reservoirs. "The process uses vast amounts of water, so you end up with these huge flooded areas where the lithium settles."
This means of extraction results in the destruction and contamination of the natural water system. Unique plants and animals lose access to groundwater and watering holes. There have also been reports of freshwater becoming salinated due to extensive acidic waste water during lithium mining.
But lithium is not the only raw material that causes damage. Securing just one ton of rare earth elements produces 2,000 tons of toxic waste, and has devastated large regions of China, said Günther Hilpert, head of the Asia Research Division of the German think tank SWP.
He says companies there have adopted a process of spraying acid over the mining areas in order to separate the rare earths from other ores, and that mined areas are often abandoned after excavation.
"They are no longer viable for agricultural use," Hilpert said. "Nature has been overexploited."
China is not the only country with low environmental mining standards and poor resource governance. In Madagascar, for example, a thriving illegal gem and metal mining sector has been linked to rainforest depletion and destruction of natural lemur habitats.
States like Madagascar, Rwanda and the DRC score poorly on the Environmental Performance Index that ranks 180 countries for their effort on factors including conservation, air quality, waste management and emissions. Environmentalists are therefore particularly concerned that these countries are mining highly toxic materials like beryllium, tantalum and cobalt.
But it is not only nature that suffers from the extraction of high-demand critical raw materials.
"It is a dirty, toxic, partly radioactive industry," Hilpert said. "China, for example, has never really cared about human rights when it comes to achieving production targets."
Dirty, Toxic, Radioactive: Working in the Mining Sector
One of the most extreme examples is Baotou, a Chinese city in Inner Mongolia, where rare earth mining poisoned surrounding farms and nearby villages, causing thousands of people to leave the area.
In 2012, The Guardian described a toxic lake created in conjunction with rare earth mining as "a murky expanse of water, in which no fish or algae can survive. The shore is coated with a black crust, so thick you can walk on it. Into this huge, 10 sq km tailings pond nearby factories discharge water loaded with chemicals used to process the 17 most sought after minerals in the world."
Local residents reported health issues including aching legs, diabetes, osteoporosis and chest problems, The Guardian wrote.
South Africa has also been held up for turning a blind eye to the health impacts of mining.
"The platinum sector in South Africa has been criticized for performing very poorly on human rights — even within the raw materials sector," Müller said.
In 2012, security forces killed 34 miners who had been protesting poor working conditions and low wages at a mine owned by the British company Lonmin. What became known as the "Marikana massacre" triggered several spontaneous strikes across the country's mining sector.
Müller says miners can still face exposure to acid drainage — a frequent byproduct of platinum mining — that can cause chemical burns and severe lung damage. Though this can be prevented by a careful waste system.
Some progress was made in 2016 when the South African government announced plans to make mining companies pay $800 million (€679 million) for recycling acid mine water. But they didn't all comply. In 2020, activists sued Australian-owned mining company Mintails and the government to cover the cost of environmental cleanup.
Another massive issue around mining is water consumption. Since the extraction of critical raw materials is very water intensive, drought prone countries such as South Africa, have witnessed an increase in conflicts over supply.
For years, industry, government and the South African public debated – without a clear agreement – whether companies should get privileged access to water and how much the population may suffer from shortages.
Mining in Brazil: Replacing Nature, People, Land Rights
Beyond the direct health and environmental impact of mining toxic substances, quarrying critical raw materials destroys livelihoods, as developments in Brazil demonstrate.
"Brazil is the major worldwide niobium producer and reserves in [the state of] Minas Gerais would last more than 200 years [at the current rate of demand]," said Juliana Siqueira-Gay, environmental engineer and Ph.D. student at the University of São Paulo.
While the overall number of niobium mining requests is stagnating, the share of claims for Indigenous land has skyrocketed from 3 to 36 percent within one year. If granted, 23 percent of the Amazon forest and the homeland of 222 Indigenous groups could fall victim to deforestation in the name of mining, a study by Siqueira-Gay finds.
In early 2020, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a bill which would allow corporations to develop areas populated by Indigenous communities in the future. The law has not yet entered into force, but "this policy could have long-lasting negative effects on Brazil's socio-biodiversity," said Siqueira-Gay.
One example are the niobium reserves in Seis Lagos, in Brazil's northeast, which could be quarried to build electrolytic capacitors for smartphones.
"They overlap the Balaio Indigenous land and it would cause major impacts in Indigenous communities by clearing forests responsible for providing food, raw materials and regulating the local climate," Siqueira-Gay explained.
She says scientific good practice guidelines offer a blueprint for sustainable mining that adheres to human rights and protects forests. Quarries in South America — and especially Brazil — funded by multilaterial banks like the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group have to follow these guidelines, Siqueira-Gay said.
They force companies to develop sustainable water supply, minimize acid exposure and re-vegetate mined surfaces. "First, negative impacts must be avoided, then minimized and at last compensated — not the other way around."
Reposted with permission from DW.