Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaii
This is the most dependable and safest place to watch a volcano in action, Hayes says. Kilauea has been erupting continuously for a quarter century. "Watching volcanoes in Hawaii is a spectator sport. The road leads right to the edge, and right now you can see the smoke and the gas coming out of the crater." 808-985-6000; nps.gov/havo
Mammoth Cave National Park
Kentucky
Caverns, Hayes says are "the closest thing we have to an alien world on our planet, a realm of total darkness." And Mammoth, the world's largest, is one of the best to explore. 270-758-2180; nps.gov/maca
Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming and Montana
The nation's first national park contains 70% of the world's geysers. The heat powering them is left over from some of the largest volcanic explosions in the planet's history. It takes a rare combination of conditions to develop a geyser, Hayes notes. When everything is just right, you get Old Faithful. 307-344-7381; nps.gov/yell
Death Valley National Park
California
The lowest point in North America exposes rocks as old as those in the Grand Canyon. "The Earth is being ripped apart in Death Valley," Hayes says. "The fault valleys there are incredibly deep." Visitors can stand on the desert floor, where temperatures top 120 degrees, and look up to see snow-covered mountains. 760-786-3200; nps.gov/deva
Dry Tortugas National Park
Florida
Hayes suggests a visit to a coral reef like the one surrounding this island park. Reefs are constructed by tiny animals, and over millennia, they turn into limestone. "A rock made out of life is a stunning thought to me," Hayes says. 305-242-7700; nps.gov/drto
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Washington
Mother Earth isn't always so gentle. This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the nation's most significant volcanic explosions. "An earthquake shook the top of the mountain loose, and that was like taking the cork out of a Champagne bottle," Hayes says. 360-449-7800; fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm
San Andreas Fault
California
Hayes cites two places to see the fault that makes California so earthquake-prone. At Point Reyes National Seashore (415-464-5100; nps.gov/pore), the earth shifted 20 feet in 1906, causing the massive San Francisco earthquake; hikers on the Earthquake Trail can see how a fence was offset. The fault is also visible at Carrizo Plain National Monument near Bakersfield. 805-475-2131; blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bakersfield/Programs/carrizo.html
Jasper National Park
Alberta, Canada
Hayes recommends a visit to Athabasca Glacier, "a place where you can get out of your car, and walk a few hundred yards and be standing on a glacier" in the Canadian Rockies. 780-852-6176;pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/jasper/index.aspx
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Tennessee and North Carolina
The Appalachians top out at less than 7,000 feet, but they once towered as high as the Himalayas, Hayes says. The East Coast range, formed when Africa collided with North America, has been steadily eroding, "but the rocks there show this great geologic violence." 865-436-1200; nps.gov/grsm
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