01Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA
Cuyahoga Valley is free, the Towpath runs 20 miles inside the park, and the railroad's $10 Explorer one-way ride runs May 23 to Labor Day, Wednesday to Sunday.
chill · active
02Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona, USA
Organ Pipe costs $25 per vehicle for 7 days, and Ajo Mountain Drive is a 21-mile graded loop an ordinary car under 25 feet can drive in 1 to 2 hours.
exploration
03North Cascades National Park complex, Washington, USA
North Cascades charges no entrance fee and runs on State Route 20, which usually closes in late November and reopens in April or early May.
active · exploration
04Point Reyes National Seashore, California, USA
Point Reyes charges no entrance fee and its roads open 6 am to midnight, but the lighthouse is 313 steps and closes above 40 mph wind. Give it a full day.
chill · exploration
05Channel Islands National Park, California, USA
Channel Islands has no entrance fee, but the Scorpion crossing takes a little over an hour and boarding closes 45 minutes before the scheduled departure.
exploration
06Cumberland Island, Georgia, USA
Cumberland works when the 9:00 a.m. ferry and the 4:45 p.m. return fit: about seven hours ashore, 45 minutes each way, $15 per person to enter.
exploration