I love Redwood forests, they're like Narnia. Probably partially because 90% of my outings have been in the Rockies where it's generally pretty dry.
Southern Utah/northern Arizona is also great, Zion is probably the most spectacular if I had to pick one place, nice to just wander off trail there. The maze and needles areas of Canyonlands are pretty special too.
Yellowstone, Wind River, Canadian Rockies are some other good ones.
Only place I've really gone significantly off trail is in the desert though
Too many places I want to go but number one has to be the Himalayas, to see the definitively grandest mountains. More interesting choice is the tepuis in Venezuela, always seem fascinating whenever they show up on Planet Earth (TM) or the like, like a lost world.
>>2684562I've only done one day hike in the Gila but it's one of my favorites.
>>2684574before my trip up the west coast I was super excited about Olympic NP and the Hoh Rainforest specifically but I didn't find it to be as cool as Redwoods which had all the neat rainforest qualities but also way bigger trees.