Aniakchak National Monument

“For a decade now, I’ve been obsessed with one of the most overlooked patches of real estate” in America, said Christopher Solomon in The New York Times. Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, located 350 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan Peninsula, has the distinction of being the least visited of America’s 401 national parks. Last year, just 19 people trekked into the 600,000-acre preserve, which is accessible by boat or floatplane out of King Salmon. When you arrive, you won’t find a visitors’ center, trails, or any permanent facilities. What you will find is a collapsed volcano whose caldera is home to “pumpkin-colored” hot springs and a lake where brown bears feast on salmon. Aniakchak, a guide once told me, is where the rest of the country’s weather is made. Never one to follow the throngs to Yellowstone, I find it comforting to know there remains at least one corner of this nation where we can still vanish. [The Week]