Even if you don't believe in campfire stories about ghosts and aliens, you can get your fill of fright with a haunted pre-trick-or-treat hike this Halloween.
The country鈥檚 parks are chock-full of huts supposedly occupied by 聽and trails cursed by . So in honor of All Hallows Eve falling on a Saturday this year, we鈥檝e pulled together five of the best spots around the country for spooky outdoor fun.
The Pine Barrens, New Jersey
The Pine Barrens, a vast expanse of coastal forest that stretches almost uninterrupted from New York City to Philadelphia, is an inhospitable tract of land. The soil never yielded to early colonial efforts to cultivate crops, so the Pinelands鈥攁ll 1.1 million acres of them鈥攚ere left largely untouched and became a national reserve in the 1970s. It鈥檚 a perfect escape from the city if you鈥檙e up for a leisurely hike or if you want to see Jersey鈥檚 unofficial state monster. The , a mythical creature that has supposedly terrorized South Jersey for centuries, is a winged, kangaroo-like dragon with fiery eyes and a piercing scream. Over the years, the Devil has racked up hundreds of sightings in south Jersey. And by all accounts, it calls the Pine Barrens home.听
The Pinelands National Preserve is 聽and groups like the Pinelands Preservation Alliance offer .
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
The hundreds of miles of caves beneath Kentucky鈥檚 Green River valley are, in the words of 19th-century guide Stephen Bishop, a 鈥.鈥澛燘ishop, a former slave, was the Mammoth Cave National Park鈥檚 most famous early explorer and one of its original guides. He died in 1857鈥攍ess than a year after he was freed鈥攁nd was .听Now, legend has it that Bishop鈥檚 ghost haunts the largest-known cave system in the world, scaring the flocks of tourists who come to hike the deep underground chambers. The pitch-black cavern is such a naturally frightening spot聽that a ranger and a local guide have collected enough known paranormal sightings in the cave .
The park is open until 5:15 p.m. on聽Saturday, with .听
Yosemite National Park, California
Yosemite has a few planned activities for people interested in spending Halloween in the crown jewel of the national park system. A guided hour-and-a-half 聽offers plenty of family-friendly fun. But those seeking a more horrifying experience will have to delve deeper into the park.听
In the 2006 book Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks, former ranger Andrea Lankford tells the tale of Yosemite鈥檚 first civilian guardian (a pre-cursor to the rangers) and his run-in with the supernatural. In 1857, as he rested on the shores of Grouse Lake, Galen Clark heard . Later, when Clark came upon a band of local Indians, the tribe told him of a child who drowned in the lake and how his ghost now tried to submerge anyone who entered the water. 鈥淎t that time I thought that the Indians were trying to impose on my credulity,鈥 Clark later wrote, 鈥渂ut I am now convinced they fully believed the story they told me.鈥 If you鈥檙e hardcore,聽you can hike the 9.73 miles to Grouse Lake to hear the wailing for yourself.
Yosemite is open every day of the year, but roads often close due to weather. (.)聽If you鈥檙e thinking of hiking the 19.5 miles to and from Grouse Lake, consider getting a backcountry permit and staying overnight.听
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado
The towering, undulating dunes of the Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado are the biggest on the continent. They rise as high as 750 feet and sit on the edge of the barren San Luis Valley. The effect is otherworldly鈥攅ven supernatural. Over 60 UFOs have been sighted in the area in the last 15 years and alien reports date back to the 1960s. A local woman, Judy Messoline, even set up an 聽nearby and says the region is home to two separate portals to parallel universes. Sound like tinfoil-hat nonsense? Try explaining why the local cattle keep ending up .听
The park is .
Iron Goat Trail, Leavenworth, Washington
About 60 miles northeast of Seattle, the Iron Goat Trail cuts through majestic old growth forest on federal land. The trail, a six-mile loop, follows the Great Northern Railway tracks that once connected the transcontinental railway to the Pacific Northwest. The trail is also the scene of one of the worst avalanches in U.S. history. Nearly 100 people when a wall of snow swept across the tracks in 1910.听The tracks were abandoned for good in the 1920s and a cave-in rendered its spooky tunnel unnavigable in 2006. Some say you can still feel the spirits lingering by the tracks today.
A is required at the trailhead聽and, the Washington trail association notes, it is .