Summer Sampler : National Parks: The Next Generation? : These 11 pristine places haven’t yet made the public lands honor roll, but they offer stunning scenic drama without the crowds that flock to Yellowstone and Yosemite

In 1872, when Congress set aside Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, it did so with surprisingly little debate. The idea seemed to be simply that such a marvelous place should not be allowed to fall into private hands.

From that meager beginning, the number of national parks has grown to include many of the continent’s special places: Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, Denali (Mt. McKinley)--50 parks in all.

I don’t remember when I visited my first national park. I remember vividly, however, the first time I ventured into the national park backcountry. I was in college, on my last family vacation with my parents. We were in the Tetons in Wyoming, where we had reservations for a float trip on the Snake River. At the last minute I decided not to go, opting instead for a 10-mile round-trip hike to a place with the appealing name of Lake Solitude.

En route, I had what I now think of as a conversion experience. The trail began in deep woods but soon climbed above treeline to a fairyland of rushing water, towering cliffs and midsummer snow. I was awed by the snow, which stretched for miles--dazzlingly white, numbingly cold on my sneaker-clad feet. But most of all I was overwhelmed by the fact that, of the thousands of people who visited the Tetons that day, I was one of only a handful who found Lake Solitude.

In the 17 years since then, I’ve hiked in more than 30 national parks and visited perhaps 200 other state parks and protected areas. I’ve scrambled through canyons that may not see a dozen visitors a year, watched the Northern Lights and the fuzzy streaks of meteors from the flanks of a desert mountain, and backpacked by full moon to the base of snow-clad volcanoes (you don’t need a flashlight).

The problem now, of course, is that there are so many more of us seeking our own national park fairylands.

On a peak summer day in Yosemite, 20,000 visitors flood the park. At Yellowstone in summer, unreserved campgrounds often fill by 10 a.m. In the Grand Canyon, choice backpacking campsites may be booked a year in advance, and in peak season the South Rim has the ambience of a small city.

One way to experience America primeval without ending up in a traffic jam just like the ones back home is to look beyond the big names, to what might someday become an entire new generation of national parks, places with names virtually unknown today: Hells Canyon, Anasazi, Niobrara or Steens Mountain.

Below is a list of 11 candidates for national park status, all of which can be visited today. They aren’t necessarily the most likely public spots to be elevated to national parks, but they are a few of my favorites.

Some have well-developed tourist facilities, others are so remote or primitive that they currently appeal only to the most adventurous. All, however, offer the chance to visit areas that future generations may take as much for granted as Zion or Kings Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains, Sequoia or Redwood.

Hells Canyon, Oregon and Idaho

Hells Canyon is the deepest water-carved gorge in the world. It cleaves the Oregon-Idaho border between Homestead, Ore., and Lewiston, Ida., lying about 90% in Oregon. In scale and splendor it rivals the Grand Canyon, at its deepest plunging more than 8,000 feet in the course of only three miles. Between these elevations is a wonderland of wrinkled hillsides, abundant wildlife and vegetation that varies from cacti to old-growth ponderosa pine seemingly at the turn of a corner.

The area ranges from glacier-sculpted mountains that have been labeled “the Switzerland of America” to barren canyonlands.

This diversity, combined with its immensity (the proposed park would be half the size of Yellowstone, about a million acres), makes it a unique wildlife habitat. There have been several recent grizzly bear sightings, and it is the only place in Oregon to shelter moose. And it was here that Chief Joseph and a band of Nez Perce Indians began a tragic, 1,500-mile flight toward Canada that ended with many of them dead, defeated by the U.S. cavalry only a few miles from the safety of the border.

There’s a wide range of tourist attractions. A 79-mile stretch of the Snake River flows through the canyon, offering river rafters and jet boaters some of the finest white water in North America. In the uplands, elk and deer hunting are popular autumn activities (that would continue under the park proposal). Although the roads to the canyon rim are unpaved gravel, they can be driven in a passenger car, and there are several vantage points from which to view the gorge.

Only two public roads descend all the way into the canyon: one in Oregon, the other in Idaho. The Idaho road is steep but has recently been upgraded for passenger cars and RVs. The Oregon road is best suited for four-wheel-drive vehicles, but provides access to the trail followed by the Nez Perce, five miles of which has been designated a national historic trail.

On the Oregon side, Wallowa Lake State Park, at the base of the 9,800-foot Wallowa Mountains, provides an excellent takeoff point for drives to the canyon rim, backpacking treks or hikes. There are also a variety of primitive U.S. Forest Service campgrounds.

For the non-hiker, a tramway from the state park runs to the summit of a nearby 8,200-foot peak, while other concessioners offer horseback rides into the wilderness.

For information about the uplands on the Oregon side, contact the Wallowa Mountains Visitor Center, Route 1, Box 270A, Enterprise, Ore. 97828, (503) 426-4978.

For river-level information, including a list of jet-boat and rafting concessioners, contact the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, P.O. Box 699, Clarkston, Wash. 99403, (509) 758-1957.

There are a limited number of motels and restaurants in Enterprise and the nearby town of Joseph, Ore., but visitors wishing the facilities of a larger community should try Lewiston, Ida., or La Grande, Ore.

For state park information, contact Wallowa Lake State Park, Route 1, Box 323, Joseph, Ore. 97846, (503) 432-4185. Campground reservations are recommended.

Montezuma Valley, Colorado

When most people think of the ancient Anasazi Indians of the American Southwest, they think first of the people who built the spectacular cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park.

According to archeologists, however, Mesa Verde was little more than a suburb for a larger population center in the nearby Montezuma Valley in the Four Corners region (where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona touch), near Cortez, Colo.

The Anasazis brought their civilization to a spiritual and technological high about 1200 to 1300 AD, when they built remarkable masonry communities against straight-walled cliffs, on mesa tops and the valley floor. They suddenly disappeared--no one yet knows why--and the cliff dwellings and pueblos were abandoned for centuries.

The Montezuma Valley region, which measures about 40 miles long by 20 miles wide, was home to an estimated 30,000 people (dwarfing Mesa Verde’s 4,000 or so cliff-dwellers), and has a dozen or so large pueblo ruins, the biggest of which had 1,800 to 2,000 rooms.

The ruins are not well-developed for self-guided tours, but guided outings are available for a wide range of prices.

Two organizations, The Archaeological Conservancy (415 Orchard Drive, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501, 505-982-3278) and the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (1777 S. Harrison St., Suite P1, Denver, Colo. 80210, 303-759-3303) offer weeklong tours of the Four Corners region, with accommodations in first-class motels. Prices generally range from $1,200-$1,600, and the tours tend to fill well in advance.

For the more budget-minded, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center also offers day trips. These trips combine half-day seminars with field trips to one or two sites (either in the proposed Anasazi park region or nearby) led by professional archeologists.

The fee is $25 (less for children) and includes lunch. Trips are held from the end of May to late September, depending on demand and weather. Reservations must be made at least one day in advance. Contact the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center at its Cortez address at least one day in advance: 23390 County Road K, Cortez, Colo. 81321, (800) 422-8975 or (303) 565-8975.

For free self-guided tours of an area where ruins are currently being excavated, contact either the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center or the Bureau of Land Management, Anasazi Heritage Center, 27501 Highway 184, Dolores, Colo. 81323, (303) 882-4811.

Craters of the Moon, Idaho

About 15,000 years ago, in a remote part of south-central Idaho, the earth’s crust split open in a great rift, like the skin of an overripe fruit.

The result must have been spectacular, as off and on, for several thousand years, red-hot magma spilled forth in a variety of forms, ranging from slow-moving basalt flows to fountains of lava bombs and fiery cinders.

In geologic terms, that’s recent volcanic activity, and some lava flows look so fresh that it’s almost surprising the rock isn’t still warm to the touch.

Interspersed among the lava flows are cinder cones, spatter cones, lava caves and surrealistic blocks of lava, all of which led one early explorer to describe the area as “the strangest 75 square miles on the North American continent.”

Many of the principle features can be seen on a series of short walks from a seven-mile paved loop road. Longer hikes and backpacks are also possible, and the loop road is open for cross-country skiing in the winter, providing an interesting diversion for skiers at nearby Sun Valley downhill resorts.

Craters of the Moon is 18 miles southwest of Arco, Ida., on U.S. 20. The area is currently administered as a national monument, which means that tourist facilities, including a visitor center and a 52-unit campground (open May to October), already exist. The national park proposal would expand the protected area from 53,000 acres to as many as 566,000.

Contact: Craters of the Moon National Monument, P.O. Box 29, Arco, Ida. 83213, (208) 527-3257.

Niobrara River area, Nebraska

People whose only experience with Nebraska is Interstate 80 generally have only two words to describe the state: “boring” and “flat.” Neither is accurate. Except for the I-80 corridor, much of central Nebraska is hilly, consisting of thousands of square miles of grassy sand dunes marching away in endless, lonely waves, while in protected hollows between them lie countless lakes and marshes, home to migratory birds such as pelicans and sandhill cranes. The Niobrara River, a swath of rippling water lined with hardwood trees, cuts through their northern edge.

The sandhills cover an immense area in the west-central portion of the state, but one of the best places from which to visit them is the town of Valentine, on U.S. 20. The park proposal takes in a 35-mile section of the Niobrara east of Valentine. Along the river, as much as 170,000 acres of sandhill terrain would be set aside for the re-introduction of buffalo.

Portions of the area are already protected as the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, which has drive-through buffalo and elk enclosures. Further downstream, The Nature Conservancy owns another large tract that is open to the public. Canoeists can rent canoes for one-day or overnight trips on the Niobrara, or sign up for one-day or overnight guided tours.

Contact the Valentine Visitors Center, Box 201, Valentine, Neb. 69201, (800) 658-4024 or (402) 376-3579).

Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon

In many ways, the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon are the Great Smoky Mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Not only are there visual similarities between the Siskiyous and the Smokies of the East with their long forested ridges stretching away into hazy distances, but they have biological similarities as well. Like the Smokies, the Siskiyous offer a stunning mixture of plants, ranging from towering firs to delicate orchids.

Some parts of the Siskiyous look like California, with dry canyon bottoms of fragrant shrub, where lizards scuttle over rocks when they sense an approaching hiker.

Other areas are lush old-growth forests, with ferns, mosses, azaleas and Douglas firs so large that it might require as many as five straining arm spans--roughly 30 feet--to encircle one.

Elsewhere, the Siskiyous offer mountaintop meadows with views stretching toward the Pacific Ocean, or stunted forests growing in such poor soils that a 10-inch-diameter tree may be more than 200 years old.

The region is internationally famous among plant lovers, not only for its hundreds of species of wildflowers and shrubs--wild iris, dogwood, trillium, red bud, fawn lillies, rhododendron, big leaf maples and yellow marsh marigolds, to name a few--but also for its ancient forests, one of the largest remaining remnants in the Pacific Northwest.

Not only have they to date survived the onslaught of chain saws, but, like the Smokies, are one of the few places in North America where the primeval forest was bypassed by the glaciers of the Ice Age. Thus, as nature writer David Rains Wallace observes, they offer a glimpse into the ancient past of North America, before the glaciers came.

Visitors can tour the area by driving in, and hiking its centerpiece, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. One Siskiyou trail, the Illinois River National Recreation Trail, offers one of the finest old-growth woodland hikes to be found anywhere, running 27 miles one way through woodland forest and ridgetop meadows.

Most of the proposed national park is accessible only by hiking or driving a maze of gravel logging roads. Nearby, however, Oregon Caves National Monument offers a way to sample the area without leaving pavement. It also contains a rare marble cavern, which is open for tours.

In the valley below, the Rogue River offers both jet-boat tours and top-caliber river rafting. The nearby town of Ashland offers attractions that range from an 8-month Shakespeare festival to an opportunity to visit Harry and David’s (the guys who sell those marvelous pears at Christmas) Original Country Store.

The Siskiyous are west of the town of Grants Pass. For general information about the Grants Pass region, contact the Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 970, Grants Pass, Ore. 97526, (800) 547-5927.

For Oregon Caves National Monument, write 19000 Caves Highway, Cave Junction, Ore. 97523, or call (503) 592-2100. For lodging call (503) 592-3400.

To get a map of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, send a $2 check to Siskiyou National Forest, P.O. Box 440, Grants Pass, Ore. 97526.

For general tourist information on Oregon, contact the State of Oregon, Economic Development Department, Tourism Division, 775 Summer St. NE, Salem, Ore. 97310, (800) 547-7842 (outside Oregon) or (800) 543-8838 (inside Oregon).

Escalante Canyons, Utah

The Escalante Canyons are a labyrinth of deep gorges, colorful slickrock and natural bridges in a stunning vision that is almost an archetype of the southern Utah desert. It is also the only unflooded remnant of the vast area that was inundated by Glen Canyon Dam.

The canyons are carved by the Escalante River, which hides so deeply in their maze that the river was unknown to whites until 1869. That makes it the last major river to be discovered in the continental United States.

The river can only be floated at high water by experienced kayakers, but the higher country around the canyon rims is accessible by car and there are several trail heads for day hikes.

The Escalante Canyons region lies on scenic State Route 12 between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef national parks. Trail heads and developed recreation areas offer day hiking, camping, picknicking or backpacking. Four scenic back roads thread the area. One, leading east out of the town of Boulder, has recently been paved. The others are passable with passenger cars during dry weather.

For those with an interest in history, one of these roads leads from Escalante to Hole-in-the-Rock, near the confluence of the Escalante and Colorado rivers. Here, in 1879-1880, a company of 250 Mormons crossed the Colorado en route from Escalante to what is now the village of Bluff in extreme southeastern Utah. The terrain was so rugged that it took them six months to cover a straight-line distance of less than 120 miles. They pre-named Hole-in-the-Rock, when they blasted a notch in the sandstone rimrock in order to build a wagon road to the river.

The town of Escalante, with 800 residents, four motels, restaurants and a general store, serves as a convenient base for exploring the canyons. Most of the area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Escalante Resource Area, P.O. Box 225, Escalante, Utah 84726, (801) 826-4291. A visitor center is under construction.

Steens Mountain, Oregon

Rising to an elevation of 9,700 feet, Steens Mountain--also known as simply the Steens--is so little known that it doesn’t even appear on many maps. But it’s one of Oregon’s highest peaks, and a road goes nearly all the way to its summit.

It’s in the southeastern part of the state, near the tiny town of Frenchglen.

Tourist facilities are limited, but the rugged gravel road (four-wheel-drive recommended) loops 66 miles from the western side of the mountain to the summit (the eastern flank is a jagged, stair-stepped rock face). The high country of the Steens is worth the drive--a refreshing oasis of flower-strewn meadows with abundant springs feeding a network of rushing streams. From there, one can see a set of dramatic gorges carved into the flank of the mountain.

The road is usually closed by snow from mid-November until early July.

Camping is available, and while there are no trails worthy of the term, off-trail hiking and backpacking are easy in many places.

Elk are common in the highlands, and fortunate visitors might spot one of the area’s rare Kiger mustangs, a breed of wild horses whose distinctive zebra-striped legs mark them as throwbacks to the original Spanish mustang.

At the base of the Steens, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge contains a large shallow lake that attracts enormous flocks of birds on their annual migrations, as well as many species which nest there during the summer. Nearby, Diamond Craters Outstanding Natural Area has an assortment of intriguing volcanic features in a small area. The Bureau of Land Management, which administers all of the public lands in the area except for the wildlife refuge, publishes a brochure describing a 40-mile, one-way, self-guided auto tour of the craters.

For general information on the area, contact the Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office, HC74-12533 Highway 20 West, Hines, Ore. 97738, (503) 573-5241. The agency also runs a summer-weekend-only information center in the hamlet of Frenchglen, which also has a gas station (check its hours before relying on it), general store and rustic hotel (usually booked well in advance; phone 503-493-2825). Motels and restaurants can be found 60 miles to the north in Burns.

For the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, contact HC72-Box 245, Princeton, Ore. 97721, (503) 493-2612.

Baxter State Park, Maine

Covering 218,000 acres in central Maine, Baxter State Park is wooded wilderness circled by a 50-mile dirt road. It lies at the northern end of the Appalachian Trail, and one riveting feature is 5,267-foot Mt. Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine.

The national park proposal is still in its infancy, but at its most dramatic it envisions a 2-million-acre northwoods national park with Baxter as its core, giving Maine an attraction to rival the great parks of the West.

At present, the easiest part of the region to visit is the park itself. Including the Appalachian Trail, it has approximately 175 miles of hiking trails, ranging from nature trails to full-day climbs to bald mountaintops that rise 4,000 feet above the surrounding lowlands. Backpacking is also possible.

In the northern part of the park is a pair of lakes large enough for a full-day--or even an overnight--canoe excursion. Canoes are available for $1 per hour or $8 a day; reservations are recommended. Fishing for brook trout is said to be spectacular. One of the park’s other principle attractions is fishing.

The 50-mile loop road is passable by passenger cars, generally even in wet weather, although the surface is rough and the road narrow and winding. It takes a minimum of three hours to drive without stopping. A better approach would be to plan a full day.

Admission to the park is $8 per vehicle (free for Maine residents). Camping fees vary with the campsite, but generally run $8 for the first one to two people and $4 per person after that.

Contact: Baxter State Park, Balsam Drive, Millinocket, Me. 04462, (207) 723-5140.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado

One of the most famous landmarks in southwestern Colorado, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a dramatic, narrow gash of green water and intricately banded cliffs cutting through a high, flat plateau 14 miles northeast of Montrose. It gets its name from the dark color of the ancient rocks--among the oldest on earth--through which it cuts.

The deepest and narrowest portions of the Black Canyon have long been preserved as a national monument. Facilities for travelers, including a visitor center, two campgrounds and a paved, scenic drive, are well-developed.

Because the canyon is so narrow, visitor facilities are on the rim. Hiking to the bottom is possible, but the route down is very steep and visitors are cautioned to talk to a ranger before attempting it.

Downstream from the national monument, the gorge becomes less spectacular but also more accessible. It is renowned for its fishing and is popular with river rafters, even through they must use pack horses to carry their rafts one mile to the water.

Contact: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, 2233 E. Main St., Montrose, Colo. 81401, (303) 249-1915. Admission to the monument is $3 per car. Camping fees are $6 per site. The scenic drive is open year-round (weather permitting) from Montrose to as far as the visitor center. The visitor center is open through Labor Day. Phone for off-season hours.

Non-camping accommodations can be found in Montrose. For visitor information, contact the Montrose Chamber of Commerce, 550 N. Townsend, Montrose, Colo. 81401, (303) 249-5515. For river rafting information, contact Gunnison River Expeditions, P.O. Box 315, Montrose, Colo. 81402, (303) 249-4441.

Colorado National Monument, Colorado

A 23-mile drive winds through Colorado National Monument, passing rugged sandstone amphitheaters, cliffs and side canyons along the edge of a plateau overlooking the Colorado River valley.

The scenic drive--between Fruita and Grand Junction--was once one of the most spectacular segments of the Coors Classic Bicycle Race. Today, the bicycle race bypasses the monument, but recreational cyclists who are willing to tackle the rim road’s 1,000-foot climb are welcome. A visitor center and a campground are situated near the Fruita entrance.

Most visitors simply cruise the drive along the rim, but well-developed trails drop below the rim into a little-visited landscape of wind-and-water-sculpted sandstone, junipers and secluded sites accessible only to backpackers. Water is scarce below the rim, however, and hikers should plan accordingly.

Even above the rim, the monument is seldom crowded and the 80-unit campground rarely fills, except on major holidays.

Contact: Colorado National Monument, Fruita, Colo. 81521, (303) 858-3617. The monument is open year-round. Entrance fee is $3 per vehicle ($1 for bicycles). The visitor center is open all year, with longer hours Memorial Day to Labor Day. Camping is $7.

Motels and restaurants can be found in nearby Grand Junction. Contact the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, 360 Grand Ave., Grand Junction, Colo. 81501, (303) 242-3214.

Joshua Tree, California

Joshua Tree National Monument is more than Joshua trees--the bizarre yucca-like plants named after the prophet Joshua. Sprawling across 550,000 acres of the Mojave Desert, including parts of five mountain ranges, it is a land of sun-bleached mountains, cacti and sweeping panoramas, blisteringly hot in the summer but with winter temperatures that drop low enough for snow to blanket the uplands. Spring wildflower displays can be spectacular.

North of Interstate 10 and a few miles east of Palm Springs, Joshua Tree is predominantly a hiking park, but it is also possible to make an interesting drive-through. There are small visitor centers at the southern entrance and in the town of Yucca Valley, but the main visitor center--open daily, year-round--is in Twentynine Palms.

Day-hiking opportunities abound, with trails ranging from half a mile to eight miles round trip. Points of interest include palm canyons, old mine workings and, of course, a nature trail through the Joshua trees. It is also possible to stroll through natural cactus gardens of cholla and ocotillo.

A paved road runs 34 miles from the Twentynine Palms entrance to the Joshua Tree entrance, with a 12-mile round-trip optional spur running through a fine stand of Joshua trees to a vantage point at Key’s View, 5,185 feet above sea level and more than 3,000 feet above the valley below. Another paved road runs 45 miles from Twentynine Palms to I-10.

Rock climbers--or people who like to watch rock climbers in action--can visit Hidden Valley, which contains a mixture of large boulders and low granite domes that are popular with local climbers.

The monument houses nine campgrounds, all but two of which are so primitive they don’t even have water (none have showers). Backpacking is possible, but there is no water anywhere in the park.

Visitors are advised to bring two gallons of water per person per day, whether they are driving or hiking.

Admission: $5 for a seven-day pass. Camping is free. Contact: Joshua Tree National Monument, 74485 National Monument Drive, Twentynine Palms, Calif. 92277, (619) 367-7511. For motel and restaurant information, contact the Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce, 6136 Adobe Road, Twentynine Palms, Calif. 92277, (619) 367-3445.

National Parks 1. Hells Canyon 2. Montezuma Valley 3. Craters of the Moon 4. Niobara River Area 5. Siskiyou Mountains 6. Escalante Canyons 7. Steens Mountain 8. Baxter State Park 9. Black Canyon of the Gunnison 10. Colorado National Monument 11. Joshua Tree