At this point in the year, you have two options: you can whine about how summer went by too fast, or you can take a look at the calendar and make the most of what鈥檚 left of 2019. The way we see it, there are roughly 32 nonwork days left before we ring in 2020. That鈥檚 plenty of time to hit the open road and cram in some serious adventure before the earth turns one year older. Bonus: summer鈥檚 heat and crowds have dissipated. There鈥檚 even preseason听powder to hunt. Gas up. It鈥檚 time for a road trip.
Best Road Trip for Early-Season Powder
Wolf Creek to Ouray, Colorado; 155 miles
While most ski resorts target Thanksgiving as their opening day, is a bit of an overachiever, often firing up听lifts by Halloween. It听gets more than 400 inches of snow annually and has a reputation for being a magnet for early-season powder. Credit the high elevation (10,400 feet), north-facing terrain, and the fact that storms tend to linger and distribute an unfair amount of snow on the mountain. Last season听the resort opened on October 13, after a week of storms dumped 30 inches. It was听able to run three lifts and open almost 1,000 acres of terrain before the end of the month.
If the powder is deep, nobody will fault you for doing laps at Wolf Creek for multiple days in a row, but keep in mind that the same storms that drop pre-Christmas powder on Wolf Creek also set early-season ice throughout the San Juan Mountains. Head north through San Juan National Forest, where during most years听you can head into the backcountry and find safe ice climbing听in classic destinations like Eureka Canyon, near Silverton, in late November. If you have the energy, schedule a couple of heli drops at , which will run its single lift and helicopter starting on November 24 if all goes well.
Detour: A soak in , near Ouray, is a must.
Best Road Trip to Bag Seasonal Unicorns
Gauley River, West Virginia,听to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina; 280 miles
The 听drops 335 feet over 13 miles in a series of nonstop Class IV鈥揤 rapids. It鈥檚 big water at its finest, and it only runs for about a month every year. Hit one of the recreational releases that are scheduled from September to the middle of October, and you can choose a single-day trip on the Upper Gauley or double down and run the whole river, camping on a sandbar between the upper and more mellow lower sections.
When you dry out, move south to catch the 25th anniversary of , a legendary bouldering competition outside Boone, North Carolina (October 5). This is the only day all year that you鈥檙e allowed to climb the hundreds of granite boulders located on the side of this privately owned mountain.
But don鈥檛 worry if you can鈥檛 time it right for the event, because fall is prime bouldering season in the South, thanks to cooler weather and receding poison ivy, and Boone is a hotbed of problems. Head to 221 Boulders, off the Blue Ridge Parkway, for hundreds of bus-size听rocks scattered across several fields.
Finish the trip by driving farther south to Cataloochee Valley, inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for the , where giant male elk bugle and lock antlers for the attention of their lady friends. The rut typically hits its peak from mid-September to mid-October.
Detour:听On your way south, swing through Asheville, North Carolina,听to pick up the seasonal Cold Mountain, a winter ale released in November from .
Best Road Trip for Foodies
Freedom, Maine, to New Haven, Connecticut; 500 miles
In a perfect world, this culinary adventure will begin with apple-wood-grilled chicken at , a farm-to-table joint set in a restored gristmill next to a waterfall in Freedom. The restaurant is run by three-time James Beard鈥搉ominated chef Erin French, and it鈥檚 arguably the hardest reservation to score in the country. You have to mail French a three-by-five-inch听notecard that includes your contact info on one side听and something creative on the other, like a poem, drawing, or story. They听received 20,000 cards last year for a 40-seat restaurant. Godspeed.
Continue moving south along the coast, stopping in听Wiscasset, Maine, for a lobster roll at Red鈥檚 Eats,听which serves the freshest and sweetest lobster in New England. Grab an IPA at , in Charlton, Massachusetts, an hour north of Boston. If your timing is right, you can have your fill of bivalves at the , in Cape Cod (October 19鈥20).
You鈥檙e hugging the Atlantic听for most of this trip, so you can burn some calories by sea kayaking Acadia National Park, in Bar Harbor, Maine, or surfing Ruggles, the famous Rhode Island break.
The trip finishes with a tomato pie at in New Haven.
Detour: Go ahead and grab another pizza听at , also in New Haven, so you can settle once and for all听which of these two legends has the best one in America.听 听
Best Road Trip to Kiss Daylight Savings Goodbye
Utah鈥檚 Dark Sky Parks; 366 miles
The end of daylight savings听on November 3 is a bummer. But less daylight doesn鈥檛 mean less fun. Make the most of all that extra darkness by knocking out a celestial tour of some of Utah鈥檚 darkest corners. The state has nine International Dark Sky Parks, more than any other state. Start in Moab, where you can take your pick from Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, or , each named听on the International Dark Sky Park list. We say opt for Dead Horse, where the prominent plateau, standing听2,000 feet over the Colorado River, and a lack of mountains surrounding it make for a primo stargazing location. The park rangers often set up telescopes for the public.
Head south to remote , the first designated Dark Sky Park in the world. You could pick a lookout from the nine-mile scenic drive through the park, but you鈥檙e better off peeking at听the starlit sky from the 180-foot-long Owachomo Bridge.
Drive west to , where on clear nights, the Milky Way will form a pale rainbow from one side of the horizon to the next. The park also offers ranger-led astronomy programs 100 times a year.
A couple of dates to keep in mind when you鈥檙e planning this trip: October 22 promises听a massive Orionid听meteor shower between midnight and dawn, with up to 20 meteors an hour during its peak. On December 13 and 14, look up for the Geminid听meteor shower, which should shape up to be one of the best celestial events of the year, with up to 50 bright, white meteors an hour.
Detour: Swing through Park City to pick up听a bottle of 鈥檚 seasonal Midwinter Night鈥檚 Dram.
Best Road Trips for Surfing鈥 in the Midwest
Chicago to Sheboygan, Wisconsin; 148 miles
Minneapolis to Duluth, Minnesota; 150 miles听
You want to get one last quick surf trip in before you wax the skis, but you live in the Midwest. The solution? Stick close to home, and keep an eye on the forecast. Surfing the Great Lakes, a.k.a. the Third Coast,听is hit or miss during the summer, but when the north winds start roaring in the fall, the swells pick up. Duluth has arguably the best surfing in the middle of the country. Locals call it 鈥渢he other North Shore.鈥 Head to Stoney Point, where deep water and an offshore rock reef make for unusually large and consistent听waves. And it鈥檚 only two hours north of Minneapolis.
Sheboygan, on the west coast of Lake Michigan, has five miles of beach with multiple breaks to choose from. It鈥檚 not as consistent as Stoney Point, but waves get big when the wind comes from the northeast. The fact that it鈥檚 only one hour north of Milwaukee听and two hours north of Chicago make it the perfect spot for an impromptu Saturday or Sunday session. Just remember to pack a thick wetsuit and a high-volume surfboard鈥攆resh water is less buoyant than salt water.
Detour: Jump 100 miles north of Sheboygan to Sturgeon Bay for an order of cheese curds straight from the source at .
Best Road Trip to Send It with Your College Buddy
Smith Rock听to Otter Rock, Oregon; 300 miles听
Grab that longtime friend who stuck by you through your Bob Marley and poetry phases,听and get matching air-brushed tank tops, because this is the road trip you always wanted to take in college. Start by rebuilding mutual trust at , which gave birth to sport climbing in the U.S. in the mid-eighties听and has more than 2,000 routes to choose from now, all of which are best sent in the fall when temperatures are cool and skies are clear. The Dihedrals, a collection of steep ar锚tes, spawned the first 5.14 ever climbed in America听(To Bolt or Not to Be), but it also has some easy climbs, down to 5.5. Snag a spot in the walk-in campground, the Bivy, and you鈥檒l have the park鈥檚 best bouldering just outside your tent.
Trade rock for dirt by driving 125 miles north to Hood River, where offers more than 60 miles of cross-country and freeride mountain-bike听trails in a dense system that鈥檚 easy to shuttle and lap. Connect Bad Motor Scooter with Grand Prix for 1.5 miles of flowy jumps and berms that drop almost 800 feet of elevation.
听is a beginner-friendly beach break on Oregon鈥檚 central coast. Not only does the state听get听its best surf in the fall, but it often sees its best weather, with 80-degree Indian-summer听days and typically rain-free skies. Otter Rock doesn鈥檛 have Oregon鈥檚 biggest surf, but it arguably has its most consistent, with a beach break that picks up size on swells from just about every direction. Bring your longboard to make the most of the two-to-four-foot surf.
Detour:听Cut through Portland, hitting Breakside Brewing to load up on its听seasonal IPA on your way to the beach.
Best Road Trip to Escape Winter
Sedona, Arizona, to Mojave National Preserve, California; 380 miles
Dig this: Sedona鈥檚 winter temperatures听typically hover in the high fifties. That鈥檚 perfect mountain-bike weather, particularly when your favorite trails at home are covered in snow. You have more than 125 miles of singletrack to choose from. Skip the vertigo-inducing Hangover Trail, and opt for the more sensible Slim Shady, a 2.5-mile piece of flow that combines Sedona鈥檚 signature rock tread with the desert鈥檚 long-range views. You can easily use Slim Shady as the backbone for an all-day epic that takes in the .
You鈥檒l need to rinse off after all that dirt, so , which runs for 67 miles between Hoover Dam and Davis Dam, is your next stop. Launch your kayak or SUP from Willow Beach Marina (it听has听rentals) and paddle north to explore Black Canyon, a 22-mile-long gorge that hems in the northern section of the lake, squeezing the water to a narrow 300 feet wide at some points.
Keep moving west to the little-known , a massive 1.5-million-acre slice of desert that has the largest Joshua tree forest in the country, lava-tube caves, and the 650-foot-tall Kelso Sand Dunes. Even with all these superlatives, the highlight of the preserve might be the two-mile Rings Loop Trail, where you can climb听up a slot canyon on iron rings.
Detour: Las Vegas puts on a hell of a fireworks show for New Year鈥檚 Eve. Find a spot far from听the Strip, in Red Rocks Canyon, and you can see the pyrotechnics without fighting the crowds.