[Camlost]

This is far from TSA related, but thankfully this subcategory seems to be the appropriate place, I'm thinking about taking a road trip across the country. I'm hoping I might solicit some advice and/or recommendations from the folks here for things worth stopping for or seeing.

To give something of a perspective on my potential trip: I live in London, Ontario and I'm hoping to coordinate the beginning of my trip to include a favourite music festival (Dark Star Jubilee) before hitting the road. My end game is to hit California, do a few hiking trips there and then drive up the west coast back into Canada and journey my way home from there.

So the most direct route I can tell from looking at a map is to hit Michigan, Ohio (festival is in Thornville), and then cut West across the country. There are at least a dozen states I could hit between Ohio and California along the way. Is there anything I shouldn't miss? It's easy to check state tourism sites, but I consider those tertiary resources compared to firsthand experience.

[EDIT: I realized it might be worth noting that my trip would be beginning around the end of May; whether there are music festivals, cultural events, state celebrations, or what have you that are time sensitive, I'm just hoping for any feedback to better organize my meanderings]

[EDIT Madness]: For title.

[Madness]

Best be back in time for Zaudunyanicon 2017 .

[Wilshire]

Stay up north, go through the Dakota's, see some national monuments, Spend a week in Yellowstone, head through bryce canon, stop by some rocky mountain trails, redwood forests in oregon, maybe crater lake, down through cali for some vinyards and grand canyon.

[Camlost]

Best be back in time for Zaudunyanicon 2017

The plan is for it to be the final celebration of the trip/ The homecoming if you will

Stay up north, go through the Dakota's, see some national monuments, Spend a week in Yellowstone, head through bryce canon, stop by some rocky mountain trails, redwood forests in oregon, maybe crater lake, down through cali for some vinyards and grand canyon.

I can definitely get behind Yellowstone park and the Rockies' trails. I was kind of hoping that Cali would the the south-western-most terminus of my journey, so I'd like if I could avoid recovering ground following that; although that doesn't preclude some Redwood forests in Oregon on my way north. Have you been to any aforementioned landmarks yourself?

P.S. Also, thanks to whoever clarified my attempt at a post title

[EDIT:The other thing to note, and it tends to escape my planning as well, is that since I'm traveling solo, any ground I cover moving away from my car either has to be recovered or looped back. I'm used to multi-day hiking trails, but I've only encountered a few which make accommodations to get people back to trail head.]

[Wilshire]

Took some family trips to those places when I was younger. Once we drove from cincinnati to  Eugene Oregon, down to grand canyon and into nevada and AZ briefly before coming back. Might have swung through Colorado briefly, don't actually remember. Anyway, we hit all the locations mentioned, though no major hiking or camping trails, just tourist stops.

[Camlost]

I've been doing a little more reading into your suggestions and I am excited and impressed. Bryce Canyon looks fantastic! I've never done any desert hiking (I think that probably counts as such), nor have I covered as much elevation changes before, but I definitely want to get in there and see some of those canyon shelves.

I am open to tourist stops too. I mean, they are stops for a reason lol.

It sounds like there are more Redwood forests spanning the west coast than I had imagined. If at all possible, I think I might stop in for a day or two to check out the General Sherman tree (largest redwood in the world). I also encountered an article in Backpacker magazine years ago that described an exclusive, secret hiking destination known as the Grove of the Gods. It would be a highlight of my trip if I could pull that off too

[Wilshire]

The redwood forest is incredible. Likely the most memorable place I've ever been. Yellowstone is great fun too, probably far more interesting than the redwoods, but I liked the trees better.