Yosemite National Park

For outdoor adventurers who want to chase waterfalls, there are few destinations that deliver like Yosemite National Park.

From sleeping in a tent for the first time and witnessing crashing waterfalls to gazing up at enormous sequoia trees (big enough to walk through) and trying to spot bears in the wild – a visit to Yosemite is one great big adventure for children.

Starting Friday, April 28 at 10 p.m., most of Yosemite National Park will close due to forecasted flooding from snowmelt.

Surrounded by Yosemite’s waterfalls, cliffs and ageless mountains, you truly feel in nature’s thrall. Are the crowds, camping reservations and hiking permit lotteries – all side-effects of the park’s 4 million annual visitors – a headache? Of course. Are Yosemite’s technicolor meadows and vast, abyssal valleys worth it? Ten times over.

The roads around Yosemite National Parkcarve through expansive backcountry, sublime valleys and pretty meadows, for good measure looping by deep gorges dotted with emerald-green forests, shimmering lakes and groves of ancient sequoias.

A dramatic area crammed with goose-bump-inducing vistas, shimmering lakes, towering waterfalls, soaring striped granite boulders and vast emerald-green forests, Yosemite National Park is a beacon for the world’s hiking community.