Lonely Planet - Explore The Americas

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PAN-AMERICAN

Tour the Pan-American Highway

CANADA

Ice Climb at Banff

Cycle Prince Edward Island

Drive the Icefields Parkway

Find an Island Idyll in the Great
Bear Rainforest

Sail Through the Northwest Passage

Watch Orcas from a Kayak in
British Columbia

Embrace Qubec City in Winter

Find an Island Idyll in the Great
Bear Rainforest

Watch Orcas from a Kayak in
British Columbia

USA

Raft the Colorado River

Hike Californias John Muir Trail

Hear Mountain Music in the
Appalachians

Enjoy Hawaii on a Dime

Journey through Mark Twains USA

Party Hard in the Big Easy

Walk with Wolves in Yellowstone

Join the Revolution in Boston

Find Yourself on the Lost Coast

Hear Mountain Music in the
Appalachians

Check out Chicagos Architecture

Canoe Floridas Wilderness Waterway

Do the San Juan Island-Hop

Climb the Nose of El Capitan

Take a Fresh Look at the Big Apple

Cruise the Mississippi to New Orleans

Hike Alaskas Chilkoot Trail

Take a Bite of San Francisco

Trace the Life of Amelia Earhart

Windsurf the Columbia River Gorge

Ride the California Zephyr

Leave the Las Vegas Strip

Mountain Bike Moabs Slickrock Trail

Road Trip the River Road
(Ro Grande)

Canyoneer Utahs Paria Canyon

Take a Spin down Route 66

Mountain Bike the Great Divide

Road Trip the River Road
(Ro Grande)

CARIBBEAN

Hike the Rainforests of St Lucia

Dance Salsa in Santiago de Cuba

Live Like James Bond in Jamaica

Explore the Pristine Reefs of Bonaire

Make Like a Pirate in Nassau

MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA

Dive the Yucatns Cenotes

Climb Volcanoes in Nicaragua

Plunge into the Caves of Belize

Let the Kids Go Wild in Costa Rica

Celebrate Lost Souls in Oaxaca

Travel along the Ruta Maya

Ride the Copper Canyon Railway

SOUTH AMERICA

Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Climb Argentinas Mt Aconcagua

Have a Grape Escape to Chile

Cruise Argentinas Patagonian Highway

Escape to Ecuadors Cloud Forest

Explore Colombias Ghost Coast

Ice Trek Argentinas Moreno Glacier

Hot-Air Balloon over the
Atacama Desert

Drift down the Amazon River

Motorbike Che Guevaras Diaries

Go Culture-Clubbing in Punta del Este

Enter the Lost World of Mt Roraima

Trek Chiles Torres del Paine

Kayak and Cruise Antarctica

Hot-Air Balloon over the
Atacama Desert

INDEX

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

SORIN VACARU | 500PX

Bison grazing in a valley in Yellowstone
National Park, USA.

explore. dream. discover.

The sky is a perfect blue with puffy clouds like a
childrens drawing and Im blasting through Amarillo,
Texas on Route 66, past the giant cowboy sign advertising
the Big Texan Steakhouse. Im hoping to make Albuquerque
by lunchtime and the state line of California by nightfall.
The radios on, and I feel so free Id float away if my
seatbelt wasnt holding me down.

Is this not the great American adventure?

Yes, but its not the only one. Not by far. America The
Americas is a land of almost unimaginable variety.
Variety of landscape, of people, of climate, of experience.
Were talking, after all, about 35 countries spread
over more than 16 million sq miles (41 million sq km),
stretching from far northern Canada to the subantarctic
islands of South America.

The European explorers of the 16th century called these
two vast continents which, along with their islands,
encompass nearly 30% of Earths landmass the New
World. But they werent new, of course, not to the people
who lived here already. People have inhabited these lands
for at least 15,000 years, when they crossed a long-gone
land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. From there they spread
everywhere. From the frigid tundra of arctic Canada to the
wind-blasted tip of Argentina, from the arid canyons of
northern Mexico to the dripping Amazon rainforest, from
the great grass seas of the US Midwest to the aqua waters
of the Bahamas. And then, in ever-growing waves, people
came from elsewhere. Polynesians reached Hawaii on
canoes. The Spanish landed in the Caribbean and pushed
on to South America. Africans were brought in the holds

of slave ships. And on and on and on. Conquerors and
refugees, pilgrims and prisoners, rich and poor, willing and
unwilling. They all made the Americas what they are today.

This book offers you the very best of this sublimely
diverse land. It showcases adventures in the classic sense:
trekking through the ancient red rock canyons of Utah,
diving the gin-clear, dizzyingly deep cenotes of Mexicos
Yucatn, kayaking past glaciers in Antarctica. It also offers
adventures that have more to do with the mind or the
belly: admiring the soaring architecture of Chicago, sipping
your way through the cabernets of Chiles Colchagua
Valley, binging on poutine in Qubec City. It invites you
to discover the continents history, from the mountaintop
Inca citadel of Machu Picchu to the cobblestone streets of
Revolutionary War-era Boston. And it allows you to follow

in the trailblazing footsteps of great explorers of yesteryear,
whether thats down the Mississippi with Mark Twain, or
through South America with Che Guevara.

So use this book as a jumping off point to explore the
places that inspire you most, in the ways that fit you
best. That could mean a chill weekend trip of chowing
on cioppino and sourdough in San Francisco. That could
mean 10 days of cycling around the elysian meadows and
shorelines of Canadas Prince Edward Island. Or that could
mean tossing your notice on your bosss desk and taking off
for a year of cruising the Pan-American Highway, exploring
the Americas from top to bottom. Just think: nearly 30,000
miles (48,000km) of open road, with arctic peaks, lush
cloud forests and Patagonian grasslands rolling by your
window. Dont say you arent tempted. EMILY MATCHAR

MARK READ | LONELY PLANET