{"id":2461598,"date":"2016-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/uncategorized\/10-best-adventures-new-atlas-obscura-book\/"},"modified":"2022-05-12T12:22:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:22:20","slug":"10-best-adventures-new-atlas-obscura-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/exploration-survival\/10-best-adventures-new-atlas-obscura-book\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs from the New Atlas Obscura Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since its founding back in 2009, funky-destination arbiter Atlas\u00a0Obscura<\/a>\u00a0has showcased the odd and usual across the globe.<\/p>\n

The website features entries on everything from hair museums to the country\u2019s biggest (and\u00a0only) unclaimed baggage museum. After seven years in operation, co-founders Dylan Thuras\u00a0and Joshua Foer, with associate editor Ella Morton, are releasing a digest<\/a>\u00a0featuring over 600 of their favorite oddities.<\/p>\n

For the adventurous, Atlas Obscura<\/em>\u00a0is goldmine of unusual hiking destinations\u00a0and road trips that wind far, far off the beaten path, says Thuras. Here, with help from Thuras,\u00a0is a collection of the Atlas\u2019 best oddball destinations.<\/p>\n

Devil\u2019s Kettle<\/h2>\n

This spot on Lake Superior\u2019s rugged north shore, a stone\u2019s throw from Canada, is one of Thuras\u2019\u00a0favorite attractions. About a mile and a quarter down\u00a0a trail<\/a>\u00a0through Minnesota\u2019s Judge C. R. Magney\u00a0State Park, the Brule River cascades into a waterfall. \u201cIt\u2019s a split waterfall,\u201d Thuras says. \u201cOne\u00a0side of the waterfall goes into a river like you expect and the other side disappears into this\u00a0glacial pothole.\u201d Where the water in the pothole goes is a mystery. \u201cDespite really concerted\u00a0efforts to figure out where the water comes out\u201d\u2014scientists have dropped in dye and ping\u00a0pongs to no effect\u2014\u201cnobody knows where it goes, Thuras says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stiltsville<\/h2>\n
\"\"
(Courtesy of Atlas Obscura)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Atlas Obscura started with a few hundred entries written by Thuras and Foer, the vast\u00a0majority of entries today are written by volunteer contributors. The Wikipedia model has led to\u00a0over 10,000 published articles online, Thuras says, with a few thousand in the backlog, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stiltsville, a collection of shacks built on stilts a mile into Biscayne Bay, in Florida, is a treasure trove for\u00a0explorers. The \u201ccommunity at sea\u201d was built in 1920s and \u201830s and served as a den of booze\u00a0and gambling during prohibition. At one time there were 27 structures above the bay, but\u00a0hurricanes have taken their toll\u2014today, only seven remain.<\/p>\n

Although you have to a permit to dock at Stiltsville, a trip out to the shacks is an easy jaunt for\u00a0any intrepid kayaker in South Florida<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ra Paulette\u2019s Cave<\/h2>\n
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(Courtesy of Atlas Obscura)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These enticing caves, dug into the New Mexico desert, are an Atlas Obscura classic. For over 25\u00a0years, Ra Paulette, a New Mexico artist, has hand carved a network of huge caves<\/a>\u00a0and created a series of\u00a0what the Atlas calls \u201cpsychedelic sandstone temples.\u201d The miles of caves, Thuras says, are\u00a0worth the trek. \u201cTheir locations are kind of secret, but they\u2019re not locked or anything,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cIf you hike out you can find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ringing Rocks of Montana<\/h2>\n

Not too far from Butte lies a particularly interesting pile of stones. The geological formation\u00a0isn\u2019t much to look at, but when tapped with a metal wrench or pipe, the rocks begin to ring<\/a>.\u00a0Hitting one rock will cause others\u00a0throughout the pile to call out in different timbres or pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is believed that the ringing is a combination of the composition of the rock and the way the\u00a0joining patterns have developed as the rocks have eroded away,\u201d the Atlas notes, \u201cthough\u00a0ultimately a concrete scientific explanation has yet to be arrived at.\u201d<\/p>\n

California City<\/h2>\n
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(Courtesy of Atlas Obscura)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northeast of Los Angeles, smack in the middle of the desert, is one of the most interesting\u00a0places to mountain bike in the Mojave.<\/p>\n

California City was supposed to be a suburban paradise. Its developer figured millions would\u00a0flock to the desert if he built thousands of cheap houses on leafy cul-de-sacs. The\u00a0city\u2019s founder was so confident, he carved hundreds of miles of streets in a grid and named them all. The city\u00a0never took off, but the location is now a surreal 125 square mile destination\u2014an entire city\u00a0street system laid out, with a central park, but no houses\u2014for anyone looking for a particularly\u00a0unusual mountain bike ride.<\/p>\n

Fireflies of the Great Smoky Mountains<\/h2>\n
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(Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two weeks out of the year, the Smoky Mountains are home to one of the Atlas\u2019 most\u00a0spellbinding sights. Each June, swarms of fireflies light up the park with a synchronized display\u00a0of flashing lights. Per the Atlas, \u201cThese bugs start up in mid-June at 10 p.m. nightly. They\u00a0exhibit six seconds of total darkness; then in perfect sync six more seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NPS has tips for seeing the bugs<\/a>\u00a0and even runs a nightly shuttle during the show.<\/p>\n

Blythe Intaglios<\/h2>\n

The geoglyths of Peru\u2014the famed Nazca Lines<\/a>\u2014may get more attention, but California has its\u00a0own collection of gigantic drawings carved into the earth.<\/p>\n

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Blythe, in the Colorado desert, are the Blythe Intaglios, a collection of enormous\u00a0figurines scraped from the clay. The largest figure is 171 feet long and can only be truly appreciated\u00a0from the air. Their origins aren't\u00a0known;\u00a0scientists estimate they may date back 3,000 years.<\/p>\n

The Atlas is so vast, and filled with so many far flung entries, that Thuras says\u00a0it\u2019s impossible to see them all. \u201cThe percentage I visit is a tiny fraction, but I try to get to as\u00a0many as I can when I\u2019m traveling,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Horsetail Fall\u2019s Fire Fall<\/h2>\n
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(Alamy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the nicest jaunts in the Atlas is also one of the most rewarding. For a few hours a day\u00a0during the last two weeks of February, Horsetail Falls in Yosemite appears to catch fire. You can\u00a0catch the sight, a trick of the setting sun over El\u00a0Capitan, in the valley like most of the other\u00a0photographers who pile into the park, but the Atlas suggests hiking away from the picnic area\u00a0for unique, uncrowded viewing.<\/p>\n

Dry Falls<\/h2>\n

In Central Washington, far from the lush forests of the coast, is the \u201cgreatest waterfall that ever\u00a0existed.\u201d The falls, three times the size of Niagara, would be a wonder of the world\u2014if water\u00a0still flowed down it.<\/p>\n

Today, Dry Falls<\/a> is a vast landscape of groundwater-fed lakes and a habitat for unique wildlife.\u00a0There are 15 miles of trails throughout and above the canyon, and campsites, too.<\/p>\n

Hamilton Pool<\/h2>\n
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(Alamy Stock Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thuras and Foer never expected Atlas Obscura to take off the way it has. \u201cWe went into this\u00a0without a business plan,\u201d Thuras says. \u201cIt was a passion project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hamilton Pool is classic Obscura. It\u2019s accessible\u2014the pool\u2019s 23 miles outside Austin\u2014but it\u00a0feels worlds away from normal. Over the centuries, an underground river has carved away at\u00a0the limestone beneath Texas\u2019 hill country, leading to this freshwater oasis. The pool, which is\u00a0often ringed with waterfalls, features a small beach and a cavern for exploring, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get out and explore the country\u2019s weirdest sites with help from Atlas Obscura\u2019s co-founder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36506,"featured_media":2117161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"121a358a5e1ade11310254bf545f2abc","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[2754,3306,2753,2752],"byline":[1383],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2461598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exploration-survival","tag-california-city","tag-great-smoky-mountains-national-park","tag-ringing-rocks-of-montana","tag-stiltsville","byline-david-ferry"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The 10 Best ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs from the New Atlas Obscura Book","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/exploration-survival\/10-best-adventures-new-atlas-obscura-book\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/exploration-survival\/10-best-adventures-new-atlas-obscura-book\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/22\/dry_falls_colorful-h.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/22\/dry_falls_colorful-h.jpg"},"articleSection":"Exploration & Survival","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"nhunt"}],"creator":["nhunt"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["california city","great smoky mountains national park","ringing rocks of montana","stiltsville"],"dateCreated":"2016-09-28T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2016-09-28T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-05-12T18:22:20Z"},"rendered":"