u/my_blu_horizon

As beautiful as Trevi is at night, my favorite time to visit is early in the morning—and for me, early means about 4:00 a.m. At that hour, Rome is still mostly asleep, the crowds are gone, the square is quiet, and you can actually slow down and appreciate the fountain without fighting your way through a sea of people.

There’s also another advantage now. Under Rome’s new access rules, tourists and non-residents pay €2 to enter the area closest to the fountain between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Arriving well before then lets you experience Trevi during the quieter hours and avoids that admission charge.

For me, standing there around 4 a.m., with little more than the sound of the water filling the square, makes Trevi feel a little more like Rome—and a lot less like an attraction.

I love the carriage roads and bridges of Acadia National Park. I'm not sure which one is my favorite but Hemlock is definitely in the top three. I can sit on the rocks below Hemlock Bridge and listen to the leaves falling in the fall and sounds of Maple Spring Brook trickle by all day long.

Made the hike down to the lower viewing platform at Lookout Point just as the morning light began reaching into the canyon. From that close, Lower Falls is something else entirely—the thunderous roar of more than 300 feet of water dropping into the Yellowstone River echoes through the canyon around you.

The climb back up definitely wakes you up, but standing there in the cool morning air with the falls roaring below was worth every step. One of those Yellowstone mornings that stays with you.

I was fortunate enough to grab a last-minute permit and hike bottom-up to The Subway. Light rain followed me for most of the hike, which made the temperature pretty pleasant and Archangel Cascades especially beautiful.

I eventually made it all the way to The Subway before heading back. The rain did create a bit of a mini flash-flood situation on the return and slowed the hike back to the trailhead considerably, but it turned into one of those adventures I won’t soon forget.

Absolutely amazing hike and easily one of my favorite experiences in Zion.

Hemlock Bridge is one of those places in Acadia National Park where the history is almost as impressive as the scenery.

Completed in 1924, Hemlock Bridge was the fourth of 17 stone-faced bridges constructed along the historic carriage-road system on Mount Desert Island. John D. Rockefeller Jr. financed 16 of the 17 bridges as part of his vision for a network of roads where people could travel through the landscape by horse, carriage, or on foot — away from the growing presence of automobiles.

Rockefeller was an avid horseman and wanted visitors to be able to experience the forests, mountains, streams, and valleys of Mount Desert Island without motor traffic dominating the experience. Beginning in 1913, that vision eventually became an extraordinary network of carriage roads designed to follow the natural contours of the land rather than overpower them.

Hemlock Bridge itself stretches about 200 feet across the deep ravine of Maple Spring Brook. Its reinforced-concrete structure was faced with native granite so it would feel as though it belonged in the surrounding forest — which, more than a century later, it still does.

Today there are 16 of the historic stone-faced bridges within Acadia National Park, with the 17th, Cobblestone Bridge, located just outside the park.

It’s one of my favorite examples of how the human history of Acadia and the natural landscape were intentionally designed to work together.

For those who have explored Acadia’s carriage roads — which of Rockefeller’s bridges is your favorite?

Sources: National Park Service, Acadia National Park, Joe's Guide to Acadia National Park

Most of my bridges are from Acadia, the Carriage Road System built by Rockefeller is one of my favorite places to explore and enjoy. Here is Waterfall Bridge as summer starts to give way to fall.

Very easily accessible Gibbon Falls in Yellowstone National Park. I shot this from one of the lookouts along the paved walkway just past the parking lot. There are numerous viewing points along the paved path that is wheel chair accessible.