Anywhere in the world. Mine is Bryce Canyon in Utah. Better than Grand Canyon which is not far from Bryce.
My apologies, but I feel like I shouldn’t say. I would hate to do anything to increase visitation to my favorite wild place.
I will say that anywhere in Utah is better than almost anywhere else, though.
places that used to be not well known are now more visited due to various websites. Other than Denali most NPs in Alaska are visited very little because you have to fly in a small plane to some of them.
My two favorites are on opposite sides of the country. Acadia in Maine and Torrey Pines in San Diego.
Denali and Katmai in the USA. Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Africa.
In the US
The Wind River Range, Wyoming
Capitol Reef NP, Utah
Outside the US
Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal
The Dolomites, Italy
Glacier Lake. The pictures don’t do it justice.
Bryce Canyon, for me. It’s magical. Zion a close second, but Utah has more stunning scenery per square mile than anyplace I’ve ever been. Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii is amazing. It was erupting when we were there. Torrey Pines is terrific too. And Crater Lake. But that’s right in the neighborhood.
Very interesting question! And one that after thinking for an hour, I don’t have a single answer to give… each of my possibilities is more tied to a memory (or more). But I’ll try to give you a follow-on as to why each spot is the coolest/best.
Clouds Rest, Yosemite - up there on a cloudless day and see not only the valley but also much of the Sierra unfolding from the view
Haleakala, hiking across the caldera - the hints of life fighting for a foothold… and then the rain forest by Hana where life is overflowing!
Phaistos, Crete - people and then nature have overrun this ancient “city” on its hill above the Mediterranean
Ice Line Trail, Yoho NP, BC - most spectacular view seen by my feet
Snow Bird Pass, Mt. Robson Prov. Park, BC - a view over an icefield with caribou prints everywhere
Bighorn Mountains, WY - just a special place that I know inside out and my first true encounter of being alone in the wilderness
Cappadocia NP, Turkey - the rock colors are stunning, but more impressive is how for millenia people have literally carved out an existence
Mara Triangle, Kenya - the abundance of large gorgeous animals is mindblowing and incomparable
In my teens and twenties I vacationed on Assateague Island, both the state park and national seashore. My favorite by default, as I don’t think I’ve been to any others.
As I mentioned you can list any natural area, not just parks. In the US some national forests are great to visit such as Nantahala and Pisgah forests here in NC.
I guess if I had to narrow it down to one, it would be Rocky Mountain NP - even though it’s relatively small amongst western parks I like the easy access to the forests and high canyons and peaks and wildlife. Also, going into North Park from route 14 northwest of the park. Nice and wind-swept and desolate (or at least it was). I went school in Boulder, so I went to RMNP whenever I got the chance.
Runners up:
Southeastern Utah - Arches, the La Sals, Canyonlands, Mexican Hat, driving along route 95, pretty much all of it. I was there mostly in the early 80s so it might be different now.
Grand Canyon - I’ve hiked some of it and rafted through it. Rafting is the way to go. Watch the canyon form around you and there are lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Great beaches too!
Death Valley - the View across Death Valley to the Panamint mountains is sublime. Great place to go in the early spring when the rest of the country is cool and soggy. I could feel my skin and sinuses trying to soak up moisture from just a trickle of water in a ditch.
Mount St. Helens - I was surprised at how awesome this was. A mountain blasted out scouring the landscape for miles. It was still in the beginnings of growing back in 2000 or thereabouts when we visited.
The drive up 191 from Vernal Utah through southern Wyoming and along the Wind Rivers up into Jackson and Yellowstone. Nice. I think I’d like Montana.
Cape Cod in the winter - My parents had a house up there for a few years and I would visit for the holidays. It was like I had the dunes to myself.
Last but not least, the woods where I grew up in NJ.
Yellowstone was my favorite. It has a little of everything. Wildlife, mountains, rivers, canyon, hot springs, fields, forests.
Here in NC Great Smokies is the most visited park in the US (11 million visitors per year) and it’s very nice. But 80% of the visitors never get more than 100 feet from their car, they just drive through, mostly for fall colors. If you are on the trails there are only a few people per day unless you are on the App. Trail which has a few more hikers.
I don’t know I want to pick a favorite out of all the gorgeous places I’ve seen, but the trip we always talk about making again is camping in Chicago Basin. Even the kids (who are now grown) want to come with us again. The climb is pretty strenuous, but so worth it. They put you off the train in the middle of nowhere and you hike until you die, then it’s just a little further. We had some really magical moments out there in the mountains.
I have many, many favorite spots spread across all the parks and natural areas that I’ve visited.
So, I’ll just list my favorite in the Bay Area–Point Reyes National Seashore.
PA state parks; both. Cook Forest and Frances Slocum. I basically saw the second one grow from an idea to a park to emergency housing and back to a park. The first one I do a lot of volunteer stuff with. I really love both more than any of the more famous parks like Yellowstone or ones like that.
Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, in S. Central Missouri.
Elephant Rocks State Park is also pretty cool.
The National Mall in D.C. is a National Park and that’s my choice.
My favorites are based around experiences there.
Linville Gorge Wilderness area, near the Great Smokies, is one of my favorites. I hiked alone and primitive-camped there a few times as a late teenager, and it was pretty freaking mystical to be at the bottom of a gorge by myself with a river running on both sides of me as I cooked on a tiny “peninsula”.
Mt. Rainier is incredible, and one time I sat at the top of a gorge there at sunset, watching a waterfall fill the cooling air with mist that billowed out of the gorge. Another time a huge buck watched me and some friends from the midst of a field bursting with alpine flowers.
I’ve not done much snorkeling, but snorkeling off the coast of St. John’s a few years ago was breathtaking.
And then last December I had the marvelous fortune to spend a week in Antarctica on a National Geographic cruise. Kayaking off Devil Island while penguins porpoised around me or squabbled atop ice bergs? Yeah, that was pretty sweet.