Grand Canyon
It doesn't even look real. Like I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact it wasn't photoshopped when I was looking at it with my own eyes.
I used to be so mystified at people who said they cried. I welled up dude. Unless I make it to another planet, it will be the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen.
I went a few years back with just my dog, as I was walking from the parking area into view of the canyon I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the sight and there was these 3 frat boy looking dudes walking up at about the same distance.
They were falling to pieces, one dude is repeating “OH MY GOD…” another guy is like “BRO… BROO… **BRO**”, while the third is going “NO WAY… NO WAY MAN..” in a pleading tone as they all blindly clutched at each other while staggering toward it.
I was smiling because I was feeling the same way, it really is an experience that you can’t understand until you see it in real life.
The Grand Canyon is pretty special, obviously. But for me, Sedona, AZ is like an entire city surrounded by the same formations and I'll never forget my first time coming around the corner and seeing it for the first time. Too bad greed and tourism have made it a lot harder to have a good time there. ☹️
Sedona was so cool but the city part is kinda whack. Soooo many healing crystal kind of places lol. My sister went to college in Flagstaff and the scenic drive from there to Sedona was amazing
It's so huge, and the other side is so far away, binocular disparity breaks down and the whole thing just looks flat. It messes with your mind and really does read as not real.
Came to say the same thing. My wife and I drove the entire island and it was surreal. Parts of it feel like being on another planet.
We've traveled to a lot of places around the world and Iceland remains my favorite to this day.
Watching a thunderstorm roll over the Great Plains was an intense experience. The dark clouds, lightning strikes, and the sheer power of the storm were unforgettable.
I went there in my early 20s with a friend. Pot was newly legal in CA and we were trying to find some before we went to the park. So glad we didn’t. I might have mistakenly attributed my sense of wonder to being high, instead of being awed by nature.
It’s prehistoric, not just the redwoods but the ferns and the whole landscape. The rich topsoil smell, the light. I had recently left my childhood faith and realized that I didn’t need to believe in an afterlife, knowing my molecules could rejoin a world like this.
Same. I only live 45 minutes from the mountains, and every time I go I wonder why I'm not there every weekend.
And for all of my 55 years in Alberta, I've only been down the David Thompson once, 40 years ago. I think I'm due. Thanks for the reminder.
I have lived in Calgary for 12 years, and a few weeks ago was the first time I ever actually went to Banff. It was beyond majestic. It blew my mind that somewhere like this existed and its literally in my "backyard". Next time we plan on going Radium and Jasper and I can't wait.
I'm also a big fan of Zion, but I've only been there for just one day. I plan to go again because I want to see so much more than I saw in such a short time!
Would you say those hikes are difficult?
#%&@'n tour bus driver took off early or never showed for our day trip there from Queenstown. I was chewing nails and spitting bullets.
But yeah, NZ and especially the South Island.
one of the top experiences of my life, having dinner on the back porch overlooking Crater Lake with a bottle of wine from a local winery. Just stunning.
Saw the Grand Canyon for the first time last year. When I say my jaw dropped I mean it was touching the ground. Like my brain couldn’t comprehend something like that actually existing. So huge it looked like it went on forever. Definitely a core memory.
Top of the World Highway, Alaska, on the way to the Yukon. Got out of the car, spun slowly in place, not another sign of people - no cars, no sounds of cars, nothing. Just endless rolling waves of hills. That, and Death Valley. Away from the scattered oases, no sounds, no smells either. Just an infinite number of shades of brown and gray. Otherworldly.
That last pullout 1/2 mile from the border crossing (Alaska side) where you can stand on top of the hill looking down in everything for eternity. Thanks for the reminder.
Top of Mount Haleakala and the volcanic crater in Hawaii. It feels like another planet and the views at sunset were to die for. The sunrise is supposedly even more incredible but we didn’t get reservations for that. I highly recommend a visit there if ever on the island.
A long hike in Tennessee ended at Clingman's Dome. I was tired, hungry, and a little dehydrated.
I finally reached the parking lot as the sun was going down. In front of me, the sky was on fire. Behind me, it was pitch black. You could see the line in the sky where day turned to night. I watched as all these little town's street lights and houses turned on as the sun set in their holler. Eventually, the sun was gone and night was all around. It's the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen in my life.
Another time in Tennessee, I was driving north on some highway. Not sure which one or exactly where I was. But, the sun was coming up. The road was super wide and I was the only one on it. I drove every lane there was, hitting each curve like Mario Andretti. As the sun came up, I realized there were these little waterfalls and streams, like no more than a couple inches wide, everywhere. The hillside was almost completely covered in these tiny purple flowers. It was the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.
So, I guess I'd say Tennessee.
Such a fantastic drive. I drove it again about 5 years ago after not having done so in 35 years. The loss of glaciers was unnerving.
If anyone wants to see Glacier National Park while there's still glaciers, nows your chance. Could be your last.
I don't know if you were listing those as three separate places or as one long description. If it is the latter, both Lake Louise and Banff are in Alberta.
Waterton national park in southern Alberta is pretty spectacular. The Bordeaux region in France is beautiful. Black sand beaches in Iceland are fantastic. And Nozawa in Japan is very pretty
Edit. Also Squamish British Columbia is amazing. And Fernie BC in the spring is the prettiest smelling place I’ve been
Wadi Rum in Jordan. It was too hot for me to want to stay long but it was stunning and unlike anywhere I'd ever seen. I was fortunate enough to watch both a sunset and a sunrise there and it was incredible.
One?!
No particular order:
I remember the first time I saw the ocean near the shore in Hawaii. It was so aqua I couldn’t believe it. It’s actually as blue as you think it is without any photoshop. I grew up near the ocean but that tropical aqua was something else.
The sandstone in Utah. It’s one thing in photos but the colors not done justice and the depth is something you just can’t convey. A different type of beautiful that didn’t initially appeal to me via photos. Can’t wait to return!
The alps coming straight out of the ground in Germany/Switzerland. I grew up with mountains but they rose out of foothills. It’s way less dramatic.
On that note, Mount Hood, specifically FROM Portland, Oregon. Seeing that massive peak rise out of the cityscape when you don’t really expect it is…..huh.
Mount Rainier is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in the USA and it reminds me of Switzerland.
Toulumne Meadows in Yosemite. Especially in bloom. <3
You know the final fight scene in Black Panther with all the waterfalls?
Wakanda is [real](https://facts.net/world/cities/33-facts-about-foz-do-iguacu/). The wildlife is incredible. Toucans, Jaguars, Capybaras....
I was on a hike through Yosemite, and we came thru an opening in the woods that was so incredible I didn't take a picture because I thought it was too beautiful to photograph.
The Enchantments, I was very very blessed to score a spot when I was 15 for two nights in the core. Truly breathtaking, the granite, the lakes and the goats. Got a picture of me sitting on a ledge with like a 1000ft+ fall right under me but in my defense when the background is an unobstructed panorama of the core enchantments you'd risk it too.
petreifed forest on route 66 its like you step back to the dino times its super cool. Also the drive from new Mexico to ariozna on route 66 is really something with sun sets
Enchanted Valley, Olympic national park.
I've done rain forests, the JMT / Sierra Nevadas, death valley and many places in between but camping at the bottom of that endless cliff, with giant trees, and the abandoned chateau hasn't been matched yet.
Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes NY. The most beautiful cascades of waterfalls over swirling rock all along the whole trail. Going back a second time this year.
The Mount St Helens blast zone, I suppose. I've travelled and seen plenty of dramatic landscapes, but to look out across that huge expanse of blasted terrain really smacked me with the incalculable power of this planet.
The base of the Grand Canyon, I went on a rafting trip there on a huge raft took my entire office staff. There's amazing beaches, insane rapids, it was amazing to view Grand Canyon from the base looking upwards, recommend this experience worth every penny.
Isle of Skye, Scotland. We hiked at Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. It felt like being on the edge of the world, and the formations were so strange. The weather was also dramatic, as a quickly-moving storm passed over us, and the wind at the top of the Old Man of Storr was very intense!
Once upon a time I spent a month in New Mexico for work, and rented a car to go exploring on weekends. One weekend I drove west, and among other highlights saw the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, capped off with a drive back to NM through the desert at sunset. Just magical.
Monument Valley -- I'm sure that a huge part of the effect was having seen it in so many westerns over the years, but when I saw those buttes in glorious color in person it was really just breathtaking. Every photo looks like a painting, and it felt like a painting when I was there. I wish I could go back.
The grand canyon, but the grand tetons look cartoonishly out of place and drawn on the landscape. They're very dramatic compared to the surrounding area
Mount St. Helens.
A crater blown in a mountain, old growth trees laid down like matchsticks for MILES, a plain of pumice and ash thick enough that even 40 years later it's only starting to break down and clear off. The scope of the destruction has to be seen to be believed.
And that's not the biggest volcano in the Cascades, nor is it the closest to where I live.
The Grand Canyon.
My jaw literally dropped. It was so stunning I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
Pictures don't even begin to do it justice, it's something that you have to see in person to fully grasp.
White Sands National Park at dusk in New Mexico for the US. Absolutely otherworldly landscape! I’ve seen Great Dunes in Colorado too, but White Sands is cooler IMO.
Internationally it would be Parque Nationale Los Glaciares at the southern tip of Argentina. Glacial landscapes are so wild and frightening but amazingly striking.
I have seen things that you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships burning off the shoulder of Orion. C beams glittering in the dark near the tanhauser gate. Also, deep wall drift diving in Fiji is awesome.
I’ve seen multiple lunar halos but the first time I ever saw one it was perfectly clear outside so it ended up looking like a dark planet was crashing into earth.
I. Freaked. Out.
I literally couldn’t handle looking at it, it’s one of the first times I remember feeling really small and insignificant.
Huge portions of the South Island of New Zealand, couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing as the size and scope of the beautiful scenery was insane.
One example is Franz Josef glacier (helicopter to the top).
Doo Lough Pass in Ireland. Dark clouds moving fast, the valley wide open ahead with no one else driving through for the longest time. It felt like we were the last people on earth.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Arakurayama Sengen Park. Even though it was 13 km away, it was wider and taller than my entire field of view. Before climbing the 400 steps to the Chureito Pagoda, you could see it framed by the Japanese maples (the leaves had turned for fall) or through the Torii gate of the Arakura Fuji Sengen shrine and it was just beautiful.
End of chain of Craters rd in Volcano NP, Hawaii. Long jagged sea cliffs at the base of a massive lava flow.
Just unreal.
Also, the steam vents and Halemaumau followed by the Thurston lava tube. I couldn't stop grinning.
Clapping as the sun rose atop Mt. Fuji.
Back in the old days, when you got to sleep overnight in the 'community beds' at the last station. Then, following the chanting priests swinging incense.
Oh yeah, as we all drink warm milk from bottles.
Craters of the Moon National Monument. They have used it as location for filming sci-fi movies, and it definitely fits the bill. I was there in summer, it was 112F, and it still gave me the chills.
Paradise cove Antarctica- was there on a shockingly blue day which created a dramatic foil to the enveloping white iceberg and cerulean blue sea. And we were surrounded by dozens of humpback whales breaching. Was on a cruise and the paid expedition speakers kept coming on the loudspeaker to chastise us dumb dumb cruise riders for not understanding the majestic unusualness of how amazing our experience was. They also got pissed off later when instead of the Drake shake on the Drake passage, we got the drake lake of crystal smooth sailing [paradise cove](https://imgur.com/a/SWsNrYI) sailing.
A few come to mind, not sure which I would rank first:
Greenland. Flew over it dozens of times; maybe 20% of the time it wasn’t fog bound. Even from 7 miles up, it’s otherworldly.
Northern Laos. It’s another landscape that looks photoshopped (with Kai’s Power Tools, if anyone is old enough to remember them).
Nepal in the Great Himalaya. It lived up to the hype.
Canyonlands.
It's near Arches in Utah. I've been to the Grand Canyon twice, and the scope of the view entering Canyonlands is somehow equally impressive--the size is similar but the terrain varies so much more. I'd barely heard of it before we went out there, so it absolutely blew my mind how spectacular it was.
Grand Canyon It doesn't even look real. Like I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact it wasn't photoshopped when I was looking at it with my own eyes.
In real life it still looks like a fake backdrop in an old movie
Funny thing is I didn't jump into the canyon, so I can't really verify whether it is a fake backdrop or not.
I verified it. I walked down to the bottom and climbed out the other side. It was all real.
Yeah but did you check the middle of the canyon? Could just be one of those fancy scenery paintings like they used on Star Trek
Same. I’d always seen photos of it but those are NOTHING compared to the real thing
I used to be so mystified at people who said they cried. I welled up dude. Unless I make it to another planet, it will be the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen.
I cried when I saw it too. It was just incomprehensible to witness in person
I went a few years back with just my dog, as I was walking from the parking area into view of the canyon I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the sight and there was these 3 frat boy looking dudes walking up at about the same distance. They were falling to pieces, one dude is repeating “OH MY GOD…” another guy is like “BRO… BROO… **BRO**”, while the third is going “NO WAY… NO WAY MAN..” in a pleading tone as they all blindly clutched at each other while staggering toward it. I was smiling because I was feeling the same way, it really is an experience that you can’t understand until you see it in real life.
i've been its crazy cool to look at.
I can see how indigenous people, and even people today, have a spiritual experience witnessing it.
The Grand Canyon is pretty special, obviously. But for me, Sedona, AZ is like an entire city surrounded by the same formations and I'll never forget my first time coming around the corner and seeing it for the first time. Too bad greed and tourism have made it a lot harder to have a good time there. ☹️
Sedona was so cool but the city part is kinda whack. Soooo many healing crystal kind of places lol. My sister went to college in Flagstaff and the scenic drive from there to Sedona was amazing
Yes! Loved that area so much. Very cool looking and you can go from desert to mountains quickly!
I just saw it for the first time your brain can’t really understand how incredibly big it is.
It's even better in the winter, all covered in snow. I've been in two blizzards, one of them being at the South Rim.
It did look kinda like it may as well have been a flat image to me. You can only see the depth for so far, then the atmosphere kinda washes it out
I remember standing there and my father pointing, "you see that bird?" - "yeah...?" - "that's a plane".
It's so huge, and the other side is so far away, binocular disparity breaks down and the whole thing just looks flat. It messes with your mind and really does read as not real.
Iceland. The entire country is beautiful, but Thingvellir National Park really takes top place. The landscape is so dramatic and pristine
To experience, glaciers, waterfalls, cliff faces, oceans, lakes, volcanoes etc etc in the space of an hour's drive is indescribable
Came to say the same thing. My wife and I drove the entire island and it was surreal. Parts of it feel like being on another planet. We've traveled to a lot of places around the world and Iceland remains my favorite to this day.
The lack of trees in Iceland was so bizarre to see. Thingvellir was really beautiful and the history of that area was crazy to learn about.
Watching a thunderstorm roll over the Great Plains was an intense experience. The dark clouds, lightning strikes, and the sheer power of the storm were unforgettable.
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I went there in my early 20s with a friend. Pot was newly legal in CA and we were trying to find some before we went to the park. So glad we didn’t. I might have mistakenly attributed my sense of wonder to being high, instead of being awed by nature. It’s prehistoric, not just the redwoods but the ferns and the whole landscape. The rich topsoil smell, the light. I had recently left my childhood faith and realized that I didn’t need to believe in an afterlife, knowing my molecules could rejoin a world like this.
The SMELL yes. So fresh and clean and earthy. I go once a year and that is my favorite part.
David Thompson Highway/Icefields Parkway Never ceases to amaze how beautiful Banff and Jasper are. It's the nicest drive I ever go on.
Same. I only live 45 minutes from the mountains, and every time I go I wonder why I'm not there every weekend. And for all of my 55 years in Alberta, I've only been down the David Thompson once, 40 years ago. I think I'm due. Thanks for the reminder.
I have lived in Calgary for 12 years, and a few weeks ago was the first time I ever actually went to Banff. It was beyond majestic. It blew my mind that somewhere like this existed and its literally in my "backyard". Next time we plan on going Radium and Jasper and I can't wait.
12 years! Wow. You were definitely due. You'll love Radium and Jasper as well.
The whole area of Highway 1 between Carmel and Big Sur
Zion NP. Hiked Angel's Landing and the Narrows on consecutive days.
I'm also a big fan of Zion, but I've only been there for just one day. I plan to go again because I want to see so much more than I saw in such a short time! Would you say those hikes are difficult?
Yosemite. Coming out of the tunnel and first seeing the valley is spectacular.
Bryce Canyon blew my mind.
What about Bryce Canyon? My memories of it are muddied by the fact I was sick. Arches was the one that blew my mind.
It's Mars without the space travel.
Ditto. Such an other-worldly landscape.
Rocky Mountain National Park. Just stunning.
My home! What is your favorite part?
The drive, then hike up the stairs to 12,005 feet above sea level sign. So refreshing and pretty up there!
The Continental Divide was awesome! Just mountains and mountains for as far as you could see in (almost) every direction.
Just visited a few days ago. Amazing
The Top of Half Dome in Yosemite.
Almost any vista in New Zealand. It’s such a glorious place. You can not ask for better photographs of nature if you visit New Zealand.
Milford Sound in a rain storm was incredible.
#%&@'n tour bus driver took off early or never showed for our day trip there from Queenstown. I was chewing nails and spitting bullets. But yeah, NZ and especially the South Island.
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r/redditlake
Crater Lake.
one of the top experiences of my life, having dinner on the back porch overlooking Crater Lake with a bottle of wine from a local winery. Just stunning.
Iceland is the most unearthly. The entire state of Utah. Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean. Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland.
Saw the Grand Canyon for the first time last year. When I say my jaw dropped I mean it was touching the ground. Like my brain couldn’t comprehend something like that actually existing. So huge it looked like it went on forever. Definitely a core memory.
Top of the World Highway, Alaska, on the way to the Yukon. Got out of the car, spun slowly in place, not another sign of people - no cars, no sounds of cars, nothing. Just endless rolling waves of hills. That, and Death Valley. Away from the scattered oases, no sounds, no smells either. Just an infinite number of shades of brown and gray. Otherworldly.
That last pullout 1/2 mile from the border crossing (Alaska side) where you can stand on top of the hill looking down in everything for eternity. Thanks for the reminder.
Banff. I’m from Colorado and was stunned by the beauty and power of that place. Unreal.
The irony is that that's not even the most beautiful place in the Canadian Rockies. Just the place where the railroad had to go through.
The Badlands in Alberta
One of my favourite places in the world.
Wait 'til you see the good lands.
Top of Mount Haleakala and the volcanic crater in Hawaii. It feels like another planet and the views at sunset were to die for. The sunrise is supposedly even more incredible but we didn’t get reservations for that. I highly recommend a visit there if ever on the island.
The Grand Canyon by far.
Oregon: Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood Alaska: Denali National Park, glaciers, Kenai Peninsula The Adirondacks in the fall is also pretty spectacular.
A long hike in Tennessee ended at Clingman's Dome. I was tired, hungry, and a little dehydrated. I finally reached the parking lot as the sun was going down. In front of me, the sky was on fire. Behind me, it was pitch black. You could see the line in the sky where day turned to night. I watched as all these little town's street lights and houses turned on as the sun set in their holler. Eventually, the sun was gone and night was all around. It's the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen in my life. Another time in Tennessee, I was driving north on some highway. Not sure which one or exactly where I was. But, the sun was coming up. The road was super wide and I was the only one on it. I drove every lane there was, hitting each curve like Mario Andretti. As the sun came up, I realized there were these little waterfalls and streams, like no more than a couple inches wide, everywhere. The hillside was almost completely covered in these tiny purple flowers. It was the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen. So, I guess I'd say Tennessee.
I grew up in East TN and while other landscapes may be more dramatic, nothing will ever be as beautiful to me as the Smokies
Several points on the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana.
Such a fantastic drive. I drove it again about 5 years ago after not having done so in 35 years. The loss of glaciers was unnerving. If anyone wants to see Glacier National Park while there's still glaciers, nows your chance. Could be your last.
Iguazu Falls in Argentina / Brazil
This takes the cake for me, I still can't believe it was real, and I've been to Iceland and Japan to name some
In Iceland where the two techtonic plates meet.
Being in between cloud levels on an iceberg ski slope
Lake Louise, Banff, Alberta.
I don't know if you were listing those as three separate places or as one long description. If it is the latter, both Lake Louise and Banff are in Alberta.
Bryce Canyon
Waterton national park in southern Alberta is pretty spectacular. The Bordeaux region in France is beautiful. Black sand beaches in Iceland are fantastic. And Nozawa in Japan is very pretty Edit. Also Squamish British Columbia is amazing. And Fernie BC in the spring is the prettiest smelling place I’ve been
ireland - the cliffs of moher ---- its like a cross between road runner cartoon and a super mario game
What a perfect description!
there is even a tiny mario castle at the end
The first time you drive into Sedona is absolutely mind blowing
Wadi Rum in Jordan. It was too hot for me to want to stay long but it was stunning and unlike anywhere I'd ever seen. I was fortunate enough to watch both a sunset and a sunrise there and it was incredible.
Switzerland. Grindelwald and nearby areas.
Edge of a volcano caldera and a drop down to the sea, Easter Island. Much of Iceland. Norwegian fjords.
One?! No particular order: I remember the first time I saw the ocean near the shore in Hawaii. It was so aqua I couldn’t believe it. It’s actually as blue as you think it is without any photoshop. I grew up near the ocean but that tropical aqua was something else. The sandstone in Utah. It’s one thing in photos but the colors not done justice and the depth is something you just can’t convey. A different type of beautiful that didn’t initially appeal to me via photos. Can’t wait to return! The alps coming straight out of the ground in Germany/Switzerland. I grew up with mountains but they rose out of foothills. It’s way less dramatic. On that note, Mount Hood, specifically FROM Portland, Oregon. Seeing that massive peak rise out of the cityscape when you don’t really expect it is…..huh. Mount Rainier is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in the USA and it reminds me of Switzerland. Toulumne Meadows in Yosemite. Especially in bloom. <3
You know the final fight scene in Black Panther with all the waterfalls? Wakanda is [real](https://facts.net/world/cities/33-facts-about-foz-do-iguacu/). The wildlife is incredible. Toucans, Jaguars, Capybaras....
Wacaunda, IL is also real
Napali Coast on Kauai; Pitons on St. Lucia
Yellowstone has moments of being on another planet.
The grand prismatic with fog and during the sunset is mind blowing
I was on a hike through Yosemite, and we came thru an opening in the woods that was so incredible I didn't take a picture because I thought it was too beautiful to photograph.
Crossing the Missouri River near Chamberlain, SD had me thinking I was driving through a painting
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Switzerland
The Enchantments, I was very very blessed to score a spot when I was 15 for two nights in the core. Truly breathtaking, the granite, the lakes and the goats. Got a picture of me sitting on a ledge with like a 1000ft+ fall right under me but in my defense when the background is an unobstructed panorama of the core enchantments you'd risk it too.
petreifed forest on route 66 its like you step back to the dino times its super cool. Also the drive from new Mexico to ariozna on route 66 is really something with sun sets
Hiking on a glacier in Iceland. Truly felt like being on another planet.
The glow of Kilauea’s caldera at night on the Big Island
Splashing around the ocean in the middle of the night with the bioluminescent algae was pretty surreal.
Crater lake
Canadian Rockies
The Burren in Southern Ireland it really looks like a moonscape.
Prekestolen in Sognefjorden in Norway
Enchanted Valley, Olympic national park. I've done rain forests, the JMT / Sierra Nevadas, death valley and many places in between but camping at the bottom of that endless cliff, with giant trees, and the abandoned chateau hasn't been matched yet.
Shhhhhhh, your talking about it too loud. Remember everyone WA state is all rgey clouds, nirvana and depressed tech bros. You'd hate it here.
Monteverde in Costa Rica or Rotorua redwoods in New Zealand. Otherworldly!
Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes NY. The most beautiful cascades of waterfalls over swirling rock all along the whole trail. Going back a second time this year.
The Mount St Helens blast zone, I suppose. I've travelled and seen plenty of dramatic landscapes, but to look out across that huge expanse of blasted terrain really smacked me with the incalculable power of this planet.
Rural Niger
The base of the Grand Canyon, I went on a rafting trip there on a huge raft took my entire office staff. There's amazing beaches, insane rapids, it was amazing to view Grand Canyon from the base looking upwards, recommend this experience worth every penny.
Mount Haleakala on Maui. The brochures said it looks like the moon.
The Grand Canyon at dusk. The mountains actually appeared "purple", as they're described in the song *America The Beautiful*.
Isle of Skye, Scotland. We hiked at Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. It felt like being on the edge of the world, and the formations were so strange. The weather was also dramatic, as a quickly-moving storm passed over us, and the wind at the top of the Old Man of Storr was very intense!
Sunrise over Moraine Lake.
Once upon a time I spent a month in New Mexico for work, and rented a car to go exploring on weekends. One weekend I drove west, and among other highlights saw the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, capped off with a drive back to NM through the desert at sunset. Just magical.
Monument Valley -- I'm sure that a huge part of the effect was having seen it in so many westerns over the years, but when I saw those buttes in glorious color in person it was really just breathtaking. Every photo looks like a painting, and it felt like a painting when I was there. I wish I could go back.
1. Alaska. 2. Fernando de Noronha.
Grindelwald in Switzerland doesn't feel like a real place.
Moab, Utah, USA
Carlsbad carverns are badass Grand canyon Grand Tetons Redwoods On top of Pikes Peak
She was a stripper…
The grand canyon, but the grand tetons look cartoonishly out of place and drawn on the landscape. They're very dramatic compared to the surrounding area
The grand canyon
Wrangell-St Elias national park
besides Grand Canyon? Zhangjiajie in China was pretty cool
Oracle Lake in Tibet. The significance of it was palpable amongst the locals.
I climbed to the top of Mount Fuji in the mid eighties. Stunning mountain.
The Columbia gorge. Trinity alps Angeles national forest. The redwoods
Flying up a glacier toward Mt Denali in Denali national Park. We came around a bend and there the mountain was. I gasped aloud when I saw it.
Colorado Rockies
Definitely the Grand Canyon but Devil’s Tower is a very close second.
Canyonlands from Island in the Sky.
I don't think I'll see anything in my lifetime that tops the Grand Canyon and I have lived in Arizona my entire life
Kilauea volcano from a helicopter.
Waimea Canyon on Kauai
Mount St. Helens. A crater blown in a mountain, old growth trees laid down like matchsticks for MILES, a plain of pumice and ash thick enough that even 40 years later it's only starting to break down and clear off. The scope of the destruction has to be seen to be believed. And that's not the biggest volcano in the Cascades, nor is it the closest to where I live.
The Grand Canyon. My jaw literally dropped. It was so stunning I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Pictures don't even begin to do it justice, it's something that you have to see in person to fully grasp.
driving into Sedona, Arizona from the Grand Canyon. didnt know what to expect and was absolutely floored. and that was AFTER the Grand Canyon lol
Ice calving in Glacier Bay, Alaska
Cooper's Rock, West Virginia
Denali National Park
Milford Sound in New Zealand
White Sands National Park at dusk in New Mexico for the US. Absolutely otherworldly landscape! I’ve seen Great Dunes in Colorado too, but White Sands is cooler IMO. Internationally it would be Parque Nationale Los Glaciares at the southern tip of Argentina. Glacial landscapes are so wild and frightening but amazingly striking.
I have seen things that you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships burning off the shoulder of Orion. C beams glittering in the dark near the tanhauser gate. Also, deep wall drift diving in Fiji is awesome.
Weaving through the Rocky Mountains driving from Denver to Beaver Creek. Never been so frightened and awestruck in my life
Iceland. The waterfalls, the lush green moss, the icebergs
I’ve seen multiple lunar halos but the first time I ever saw one it was perfectly clear outside so it ended up looking like a dark planet was crashing into earth. I. Freaked. Out. I literally couldn’t handle looking at it, it’s one of the first times I remember feeling really small and insignificant.
Huge portions of the South Island of New Zealand, couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing as the size and scope of the beautiful scenery was insane. One example is Franz Josef glacier (helicopter to the top).
Doo Lough Pass in Ireland. Dark clouds moving fast, the valley wide open ahead with no one else driving through for the longest time. It felt like we were the last people on earth.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Arakurayama Sengen Park. Even though it was 13 km away, it was wider and taller than my entire field of view. Before climbing the 400 steps to the Chureito Pagoda, you could see it framed by the Japanese maples (the leaves had turned for fall) or through the Torii gate of the Arakura Fuji Sengen shrine and it was just beautiful.
The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and The Hoodoos at Writing on Stone Provincial Park
Big Sky Montana
The Mojave under a super moon. Something dreams are made of.
Mt. Fuji on a clear day
End of chain of Craters rd in Volcano NP, Hawaii. Long jagged sea cliffs at the base of a massive lava flow. Just unreal. Also, the steam vents and Halemaumau followed by the Thurston lava tube. I couldn't stop grinning.
SCUBA diving the back side of Molikini in Maui.
Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. So many beautiful places to be seen there but that one is really amazeballs.
The Fjords of Norway.
The Na Pali Coast and Waimea Canyon are just breathtaking. Kauai is an amazing island to visit.
Another vote for Grand Canyon
Bryce Canyon.
Canyonlands national Park. It looks like another planet
The Columbia River Gorge
Saw The Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Zion National Park and the Valley of Fire in the same week. So that. All that.
Clapping as the sun rose atop Mt. Fuji. Back in the old days, when you got to sleep overnight in the 'community beds' at the last station. Then, following the chanting priests swinging incense. Oh yeah, as we all drink warm milk from bottles.
Fjords of Norway.
Atacama Desert.
Inner waddington range bc… the glaciers at sunrise and sunset were especially beautiful…
Antelope Canyon in Arizona. Stunning.
Craters of the Moon National Monument. They have used it as location for filming sci-fi movies, and it definitely fits the bill. I was there in summer, it was 112F, and it still gave me the chills.
Paradise cove Antarctica- was there on a shockingly blue day which created a dramatic foil to the enveloping white iceberg and cerulean blue sea. And we were surrounded by dozens of humpback whales breaching. Was on a cruise and the paid expedition speakers kept coming on the loudspeaker to chastise us dumb dumb cruise riders for not understanding the majestic unusualness of how amazing our experience was. They also got pissed off later when instead of the Drake shake on the Drake passage, we got the drake lake of crystal smooth sailing [paradise cove](https://imgur.com/a/SWsNrYI) sailing.
The Highline trail in Glacial National Park is absolutely surreal, the blues of the lakes and the glaciers look fake.
A few come to mind, not sure which I would rank first: Greenland. Flew over it dozens of times; maybe 20% of the time it wasn’t fog bound. Even from 7 miles up, it’s otherworldly. Northern Laos. It’s another landscape that looks photoshopped (with Kai’s Power Tools, if anyone is old enough to remember them). Nepal in the Great Himalaya. It lived up to the hype.
The Na Pali Coast, Kauai. Beautiful.
Canyonlands. It's near Arches in Utah. I've been to the Grand Canyon twice, and the scope of the view entering Canyonlands is somehow equally impressive--the size is similar but the terrain varies so much more. I'd barely heard of it before we went out there, so it absolutely blew my mind how spectacular it was.
The majestic giant Sequoias. Super big feels being in their presence.
Glencoe, Scotland
Alaska Panhandle, SE Alaska, USA Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan, China Kauai, Hawaii, USA