Emily Stone

A muleteer and his horses follow the 39-mile, high-altitude path to Choquequirao, an Incan settlement built in the same era as Machu Picchu. While many travelers hike the full route—which can take two or three days round trip by foot—others ride pack animals for some or all of the journey.

Sheldon Chalet, accessible only by helicopter, perches 5,818 feet above the Ruth Glacier Great Gorge—an abyss in Alaska’s Denali National Park and Reserve that’s deeper than the Grand Canyon. Larger than the state of New Jersey, the wilderness reserve offers opportunities for big adventure, from backcountry camping to mountaineering.

Spring-fed swimming hole in central Texas

West Texas sunset, Marfa

Lovers Esteban Armenta and Jessica Clark kiss while riding the Ferris wheel at the 60th annual Stock Show and Rodeo in San Antonio, Texas.

A Temminck’s ground pangolin named Tamuda searches for a meal of ants or termites at a rehabilitation center in Zimbabwe. He was rescued from illegal wildlife traders, who likely would have smuggled his scales to Asia for use in traditional remedies.

All clear? A rat peeks out from a stormwater catch basin.

Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” is believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine silk merchant. Every year, millions of visitors jostle for a view at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The painting, protected by a thick layer of glass that must be cleaned regularly, has never been restored.

Orphan elephants mudding in a human-made waterhole in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Scotts Bluff National Monument