4 Great Hikes in Past Fantastical Trees

Fog provides valuable moisture to redwoods on the Damnation Creek Trail
in Redwood National Park.

General Grant Tree Trail
Kings Canyon National Park
Your family will feel like hobbits walking through scenes from “The Lord of the Rings” movies on the General Grant Tree Trail at Kings Canyon National Park. The 0.5-mile trail heads through the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias. More than 120 sequoias in the grove exceed 10 feet in diameter and most towering several stories over your head.

Big Trees Trail
Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Families can like through the first grove of giant sequoias found by white settlers, on the Big Trees Trail in California’s Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The 1.5-mile loop hits most of the highlights of the park’s north grove. East Coast explorers and pioneers “discovered” the grove during the mid-1800s.

Discovery Trail
Inyo National Forest
Families can day hike through a grove of some of the planet’s oldest trees on the Discovery Trail at Inyo National Forest. Most of the trees along this trail, high up in the White Mountains, are about 4,000 years old. With reddish-brown bark and dark green needles, they stand out well against the white, rocky ground and blue skies.

Damnation Creek Trail
Redwood National Park
Hiking families can enjoy a trip into what feels like the forest primeval on a segment of the Damnation Creek Trail in Redwood National Park. The entire trail runs four miles with an elevation change of 1170 feet, a hearty workout for any fit teen or adult. For those with younger children, a 1.2-mile round trip through just the redwoods section of the trail makes for more than a fantastic walk.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.

5 Great Day Hikes Amid Majestic Trees

Joshua trees on Boy Scout Trail in California.

General Grant Tree Trail
Kings Canyon National Park
Your family will feel like hobbits walking through scenes from “The Lord of the Rings” movies on the General Grant Tree Trail at Kings Canyon National Park. The 0.5-mile trail heads through the General Grant Grove of giant sequoias. More than 120 sequoias in the grove exceed 10 feet in diameter and most towering several stories over your head.

Middle-West Manitou-Misquah-Yellow Birch Loop
George H. Crosby Manitou State Park
Day hikers can enjoy rustic North Shore landscapes on a scenic loop at Minnesota’s George H. Crosby Manitou State Park. The 3.3-mile Middle-West Manitou-Misquah-Yellow Birch Loop combines four trails as it winds through the highlands overlooking Lake Superior. Along the loop, day hikers can experience a river rumbling over ancient rock and an old growth forest boasting centuries-old trees.

Boy Scout Trail
Joshua Tree National Park
Day hikers can enjoy a walk through a large Joshua tree forest in the desert above the Palm Springs area. A segment of the Boy Scout Trail at Joshua Tree National Park runs through a grove for a 2.4-mile round trip.

Cades Cove Nature Trail
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Day hikers can walk through what used to be a grove of majestic chestnut trees. The Cades Cove Nature Trail runs 1.4-miles round trip trail (from the parking lot) and sits in Cades Cove, an isolated mountain valley that is a popular destination thanks to many well-preserved structures from pioneer days.

Damnation Creek Trail
Redwood National Park
Hiking families can enjoy a trip into what feels like the forest primeval on a segment of the Damnation Creek Trail in Redwood National Park. For those with younger children, a 1.2-mile round trip through just the redwoods section of the trail makes for more than a fantastic walk.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.

What colors do various trees’ leaves turn each autumn?

Ever go on a hike during autumn and wonder what kind of tree sported such brilliantly colored leaves?

Depending on the tree and where you live, that might not be a problem. Every kid in Wisconsin and Vermont can identify a maple tree, and just about every child can tell you when you’re looking at an oak. Still, there are plenty of other trees out there that most of us can’t name.

You may want to bring along a tree guidebook the next time you hit the trail during autumn. Part of the fun of a fall hike can be identifying the different colored leaves that wash across the horizon like a watercolor painting.

To help make your identification of the tree easier, here’s a list of what color various common trees turn each fall.

Yellow
Aspen (amber)
Balsam poplar (yellow)
Beech (yellow)
Birch (yellow)
Black cherry (yellowish red)
Black walnut (yellow)
Box elder (yellow)
Cottonwood (gold)
Elm (yellow)
Hackberry (yellow)
Honey locust (yellow)
Ironwood (dull yellow)
Locust (buttery yellow)
Pin cherry (bright yellow)
Poplar (yellow)
Red mulberry (yellow)
Silver maple (pale yellow)

Orange
Black maple (orange, though also can be yellow or red)
Chestnut oak (brownish orange)
Hickory (gold to orange)
Mountain maple (bright orange, though also can be red)
Oak (orange)
Sassafras (reddish-orange)
Sugar maple (brilliant orange)

Red
Black gum (deep crimson)
Dogwood (deep crimson)
Grapevines (bold crimson)
Northern pin oak (bright scarlet)
Northern red oak (bright red)
Red maple (scarlet)
Scarlet oak (fiery red)
Sourwood (deep crimson)
Sumac (deep crimson)
Sweet gum (fiery red)

Purple/Burgundy
Cinquefoil (purple)
Dogwood (purple)
Virginia creeper (deep burgundy)
White ash (deep maroon)
Witch hazel (purple)

Brown
Burr oak (brown, though also can be yellow)
Butternut (brown, though also can be yellow)
Swamp white oak (brown)
White oak (brown, though also can be red)

Green
Basswood (olive)

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.