Happy birthday to the United States’ national parks – America’s big backyards. No cross-country road trip would be complete without a visit to at least one of these remarkable natural treasures, rich in unspoiled wilderness, rare wildlife and history.
The National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for the country’s 61 glorious national parks representing American ideals at their best. That we are able to enjoy these special places today may seem like a matter of course, but the establishment of the national park system was no sure thing. Challenges have been present every step of the way, and many threatened to derail the entire experiment. But, until now, our best instincts have prevailed.
It is testimony to the NPS’s diligent protective measures that the landscapes of many parks look much the same as they did centuries ago. You’ll never cease to be amazed by the USA’s natural bounty. Here’s a little something on each one, and check out these links for more of our extensive coverage:
Acadia National Park
State: Maine
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: The only national park in New England encompasses an unspoiled wilderness of undulating coastal mountains, towering sea cliffs, surf-pounding beaches and quiet ponds.
Great for: Beaches, Cycling, Walking
Arches National Park
State: Utah
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Giant sweeping arcs of sandstone frame snowy peaks and desert landscapes; explore the park’s namesake formations in a red-rock wonderland.
Great for: Family Travel, Photo Op, Walking
Badlands National Park
State: South Dakota
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $20
Description: This otherworldly landscape, softened by its rainbow hues, is a spectacle of sheer walls and spikes stabbing the dry air.
Great for: Scenery, Wildlife, Cycling
Big Bend National Park
State: Texas
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25
Description: Traversing Big Bend’s 1252 sq miles, you come to appreciate what ‘big’ really means. This is a land of incredible diversity, and vast enough to allow a lifetime of discovery.
Great for: Wildlife, Walking, Scenery
Biscayne National Park
State: Florida
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: A portion of the world’s third-largest reef sits here off the coast of Florida, along with mangrove forests and the Florida Keys.
Great for: Family Travel, Wildlife, Scenery
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
State: Colorado
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $20
Description: No other canyon in America combines the narrow openings, sheer walls and dizzying depths of the Black Canyon.
Great for: Family Travel, Scenery, Walking
Bryce Canyon National Park
State: Utah
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: Bryce Canyon’s sights are nothing short of otherworldly: repeated freezes and thaws have eroded soft sandstone and limestone into a landscape that’s utterly unique.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Scenery
Canyonlands National Park
State: Utah
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: A forbidding and beautiful maze of red-rock fins, bridges, needles, spires, craters, mesas and buttes, Canyonlands is a crumbling, decaying beauty – a vision of ancient earth.
Great for: Cycling, Scenery, Walking
Capitol Reef National Park
State: Utah
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $15
Description: Giant slabs of chocolate-red rock and sweeping yellow sandstone domes dominate the landscape of Capitol Reef, which Freemont Indians called the ‘Land of the Sleeping Rainbow.’
Great for: Walking, Photo Op, Scenery
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
State: New Mexico
Entrance Fee: 7-day pass per adult/child, $12/free
Description: Scores of wondrous caves hide under the hills at this unique national park. The cavern formations are an ethereal wonderland of stalactites and fantastical geological features.
Great for: Family Travel, Photo Op, Scenery
Channel Islands National Park
State: California
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: Tossed like lost pearls off the coast, the Channel Islands are California’s last outpost of civilization; the islands have earned themselves the nickname ‘California’s Galápagos’.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Beaches
Congaree National Park
State: South Carolina
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: The lush trees growing here are some of the tallest in the eastern USA, forming one of the highest temperate deciduous forest canopies left in the world.
Great for: Wildlife, Family Travel, Walking
Crater Lake National Park
State: Oregon
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25
Description: The gloriously blue waters of Crater Lake reflect surrounding mountain peaks like a giant dark-blue mirror, making for spectacular photographs and breathtaking panoramas.
Great for: Family Travel, Photo Op, Scenery
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
State: Ohio
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Along the winding Cuyahoga River, between Cleveland and Akron, this park is one of Ohio’s nicest surprises.
Great for: Cycling, Family Travel, Walking
Death Valley National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: The name itself evokes all that is harsh and hellish, yet closer inspection reveals water-sculpted canyons, windswept sand dunes, palm-shaded oases, jagged mountains and wildlife aplenty.
Great for: Scenery, Walking, Wildlife
Denali National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per adult/child; $10/free
Description: The park is probably your best chance in the Interior (if not in the entire state) of seeing a grizzly bear, moose or caribou.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Walking
Dry Tortugas National Park
State: Florida
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per person $15
Description: Your efforts to get here (by boat or plane only) will be rewarded with amazing snorkeling, diving, bird-watching and stargazing.
Great for: History, Photo Op, Scenery
Everglades National Park
State: Florida
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25
Description: This is not just a wetland, or a swamp, or a lake, or a river, or a prairie, or a grassland – it is all of the above.
Great for: Family Travel, Wildlife, Winter Travel
Gates of the Arctic & Kobuk Valley National Parks
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: These parks are part of a contiguous wilderness harboring no roads and a population of precisely zero.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Scenery
Gateway Arch National Park
State: Missouri
Entrance fee: Free
Description: The USA’s newest national park is also one of its smallest, but its main attraction, the Gateway Arch, is the largest manmade monument in the US.
Great for: History, Family Travel, Photo Op
Glacier Bay National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Seven tidewater glaciers spill out of the mountains and fill the sea with icebergs of all shapes, sizes and shades of blue.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Scenery
Glacier National Park
State: Montana
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: Glacier is the only place in the lower 48 states where grizzly bears still roam in abundance, and smart park management has kept the place accessible yet at the same time authentically wild.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Walking
Grand Canyon National Park
State: Arizona
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: The Grand Canyon embodies the scale and splendor of the American West, captured in its dramatic vistas and inner canyons.
Great for: Scenery, Family Travel, Walking
Grand Teton National Park
State: Wyoming
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: Simply put, this is sublime and crazy terrain, crowned by the dagger-edged Grand (13,770ft)
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Winter Travel
Great Basin National Park
State: Nevada
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Rising abruptly from the desert, and dominating Great Basin National Park, 13,063ft Wheeler Peak creates an awesome range of life zones and landscapes within a very compact area.
Great for: Photo Op, Scenery, Walking
Great Sand Dunes National Park
State: Colorado
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $20
Description: Landscapes collide in a shifting sea of sand at Great Sand Dunes National Park, making you wonder whether a spaceship has whisked you to another planet.
Great for: Cycling, Family Travel, Walking
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
State: North Carolina & Tennessee
Entrance fee: Free
Description: The iconic Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers visitors a chance to experience deep, mysterious old-growth forests.
Great for: History, Wildlife, Walking
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
State: Texas
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per adult/child, $5/free
Description: Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a Texas high spot, both literally and figuratively. At 8749ft, Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in the Lone Star State.
Great for: Scenery, Walking, History
Haleakalā National Park
State: Hawaii
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25
Description: It’s impossible not to be awed by the raw beauty of this ancient place, a haven for wildlife and surefooted hikers.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Walking
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
State: Hawaii
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25
Description: This fantastic park dramatically reminds you that nature is very much alive and in perpetual motion.
Great for: Family Travel, Photo Op, Scenery
Hot Springs National Park
State: Arkansas
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Hot Springs borders a city that has made an industry out of the parks’ major resource: mineral-rich waters.
Great for: Family Travel, History, Scenery
Indiana Dunes National Park
State: Indiana
Entrance fee: West Beach $6.00 per vehicle per day; Dunewood Campground $25 per night
Description: The newest of the US national parks (February 2019), Indiana Dunes features 25 miles of sandy beach dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan and is home to more than 2,000 species.
Great for: Beaches, Wildlife, Scenery
Isle Royale National Park
State: Michigan
Entrance fee: 1-day pass per person $7
Description: This is certainly the place to go for peace and quiet: the 1200 moose creeping through the forest are all yours.
Great for: Scenery, Wildlife, Walking
Joshua Tree National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Like figments from a Dr Seuss book, Joshua trees welcome visitors to this park where the Sonora and Mojave Deserts converge.
Great for: Cycling, Scenery, Wildlife
Katmai National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Stand spine-tinglingly close to 1000lb brown bears, who use their formidable power to paw giant salmon out of the river.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Scenery
Kenai Fjords National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Crowning this park is the massive Harding Ice Field; from it, tidewater glaciers pour down, carving the coast into fjords.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Scenery
Kings Canyon National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: Kings Canyon is one of North America’s deepest canyons, plunging over 8000ft.
Great for: Family Travel, Wildlife, Walking
Lake Clark National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: An awesome array of tundra-covered hills, mountains, glaciers, coastline, the largest lakes in the state and two active volcanoes.
Great for: Wildlife, Walking, Scenery
Lassen Volcanic National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $25 ($10 in winter)
Description: Anchoring the southernmost link in the Cascades’ chain of volcanoes, this alien landscape bubbles over with roiling mud pots, noxious sulfur vents, steamy fumaroles, colorful cinder cones and crater lakes.
Great for: Photo Op, Scenery, Walking
Mammoth Cave National Park
State: Kentucky
Entrance fee: Free; cave tours $6-60
Description: With hidden underground rivers and more than 400 miles of explored terrain, the world’s longest cave system shows off sci-fi-looking stalactites and stalagmites up close.
Great for: Walking, Family Travel, Scenery
Mesa Verde National Park
State: Colorado
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $15-20
Description: Shrouded in mystery, Mesa Verde is a fascinating, if slightly eerie place, with a complex of cliff dwellings, some accessed by sheer climbs.
Great for: History, Winter Travel, Scenery
Mount Rainier National Park
State: Washington
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Mt Rainier (elevation 14,411ft) is the USA’s fourth-highest peak (outside Alaska) and arguably its most awe-inspiring.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Walking
North Cascades National Park
State: Washington
Entrance fee: Free
Description: The lightly trodden North Cascades National Park has no settlements, no overnight accommodations and one unpaved road.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Walking
Olympic National Park
State: Washington
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Home to one of the world’s only temperate rainforests, this notoriously wet national park is as ‘wild’ and ‘west’ as it gets.
Great for: Family Travel, Wildlife, Scenery
Petrified Forest National Park
State: Arizona
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $20
Description: Home to an extraordinary array of fossilized ancient logs and the multicolored sandscape of the Painted Desert.
Great for: Walking, Wildlife, Scenery
Pinnacles National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Pinnacles National Park is a study in geologic drama, with craggy monoliths, sheer-walled canyons and ancient volcanic remnants.
Great for: Wildlife, Photo Op, Walking
Redwood National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: Free
Description: The world’s tallest living trees have been standing here from time immemorial; prepare to be impressed.
Great for: Family Travel, Walking, Wildlife
Rocky Mountain National Park
State: Colorado
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: Rocky Mountain National Park showcases classic alpine scenery, with wildflower meadows and serene mountain lakes set under snowcapped peaks.
Great for: Wildlife, Walking, Winter Travel
Saguaro National Park
State: Arizona
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $15
Description: An entire army of the majestic saguaro plant is protected in this two-part desert playground.
Great for: Cycling, Wildlife, Walking
Sequoia National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: With trees as high as 20-story buildings, this is an extraordinary park with soul-sustaining forests and vibrant wildflower meadows.
Great for: Family Travel, Scenery, Walking
Shenandoah National Park
State: Virginia
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: In spring and summer the wildflowers explode; in fall the leaves burn bright; and in winter a beautiful hibernation period sets in.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, Walking
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
State: North Dakota
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $30
Description: Wildlife abounds in these surreal mounds of striated earth; sunset is particularly evocative as shadows dance across the lonely buttes.
Great for: Walking, Wildlife, Scenery
Voyageurs National Park
State: Minnesota
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Voyageurs National Park is an outstanding mix of land and waterways formed form earthquakes, volcanoes and glaciers.
Great for: Scenery, Walking, Winter Travel
Wind Cave National Park
State: South Dakota
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Beneath the mixed-grass prairie and pine forest lies one of the world’s longest, most complex cave systems.
Great for: Scenery, Walking, Wildlife
Wrangell-St Elias National Park
State: Alaska
Entrance fee: Free
Description: Comprising more than 20,000 sq miles of brawny ice-encrusted mountains, this is the second-largest national park in the world.
Great for: Wildlife, Scenery, History
Yellowstone National Park
State: Wyoming
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: The real showstoppers here are the geysers and hot springs, but at every turn this land of fire and brimstone breathes, belches and bubbles like a giant kettle on the boil.
Great for: Family Travel, Wildlife, Photo Op
Yosemite National Park
State: California
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: It’s hard to believe so much natural beauty can exist in the one place. The jaw-dropping head-turner of USA national parks, Yosemite garners the devotion of all who enter.
Great for: Family Travel, Scenery, Walking
Zion National Park
State: Utah
Entrance fee: 7-day pass per vehicle $35
Description: From secret oases of trickling water to the hot-pink blooms of a prickly pear cactus, Zion’s treasures turn up in the most unexpected places.
Great for: Scenery, Walking, Family Travel
