Lake Tahoe

Highway 395 is the High Sierra’s main thoroughfare filled with endless scenic wonders—from fields of volcanic rock to waterfalls and eerie limestone tufa towers. Any piece of this trip could be its own multiday adventure. Start at South Lake Tahoe, near the idyllic Emerald Bay State Park, and head south toward Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve to see the bizarre, ghostlike towers.Continue to Mammoth Lakes, where you’ll find family-friendly skiing and snowboarding during winter, and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. From there, keep driving south to Lone Pine, the setting for many an old western movie, and near the photo-op-magnet, eight-foot Mobius Arch in Alabama Hills.