I never think, when I start itching to travel again, to just seek out the nearest national park. That’s Shenandoah for me, and it’s only about an hour and a half away from my home in DC. For people living out West, there are a ton more options: Less than 10 of the country’s 59 parks are east of the Mississippi, with huge numbers of them in California, Utah, Arizona, and Alaska.
And they’re all truly spectacular. While there are obviously the popular destinations of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon, there are at the same time less visited ones, particularly in the more remote parts of Utah and Alaska, that are nonetheless mindblowingly awesome. Here are pictures from each of the 59 designated national parks, along with their locations. You know, in case you’re itching to travel a bit.
Yellowstone is the oldest and probably most spectacular of the national parks in the United States (though that’s a tough competition). It sits in northwestern Wyoming, with edges spilling into southeastern Idaho and southwestern Montana.
Grand Canyon National Park in northwest Arizona is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and is an absolute must on every traveler’s bucket list.
Yosemite National Park is in eastern California, and behind Yellowstone, is probably the best known of the 59. Its founding was in large part due to the efforts of John Muir and the Sierra Club.
Redwood National Park is in northern California, and is known for its massive trees, as well as for being the place where they shot the Endor scenes in Return of the Jedi.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is on the Big Island of Hawaii and covers two volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Kilauea (which is one of the most active volcanoes in the world).
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, in southeastern Alaska near the panhandle, has one of the sharpest reliefs in the world: 10 miles from the coastline are the St. Elias Mountains, some of the tallest on the continent.
Death Valley National Park straddles California and Nevada just east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It contains Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the United States, and is also known for being America’s hottest and driest spot.
The Great Basin is in Nevada along the Utah border, lying between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountains. It’s home to the oldest trees in the world, the Great Basin bristlecone pine.
Mount Rainier, located in southwest Washington in the Cascade Range, is best known for the peak it’s named after, its incredible trails, and its huge glaciers.
Katmai National Park is on mainland Alaska just opposite Kodiak Island. It’s known for its brown bear population, particularly this famous spot where they converge to fish.
The Channel Islands are just off the coast of Southern California, across from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. It is known for its seals, whales, and underwater kelp forests.
Big Bend National Park is in southern Texas, and runs 118 miles along the Rio Grande, thus making it an international border. It’s named after the big bend you can see in the river on a Texas-Mexico map.
Crater Lake is in southern Oregon. It fills in the crater of the collapsed volcano Mount Mazama, and is the deepest lake in the United States, at 1,943 feet, making it the ninth deepest in the world.
Sequoia National Park is located in eastern California, and is best known for its giant sequoia trees, including General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth.
Wind Cave is near Theodore Roosevelt NP in western South Dakota, and consists of the cave, which was the first cave in the world to be declared a national park, and the prairie on top of it.
The Great Smokies covers part of the Appalachian Mountains and part of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. The Appalachian Trail passes through it, and it is the most visited national park in the United
Named after Denali (also known as Mount McKinley), the highest mountain in the United States, Denali National Park is in south-central Alaska, about a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Anchorage.
Biscayne National Park protects Biscayne Bay (just south of Miami) and its incredible barrier reefs: only 5% of the park is on land, and that 5% is largely a mangrove forest.
Arches National Park, in eastern Utah near Moab, is (obviously) best known for its over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, though the number is decreasing over time due to erosion.
Congaree is located in South Carolina, and is known for its swamps and its old-growth bottomland hardwood forests. It’s a great park to canoe or kayak through and was founded as a result of a conservation campaign led by the Sierra Club.
Kings Canyon, near Fresno, California, is connected to Sequoia National Park. It contains the third largest tree in the world, the famous “General Grant.”
Bryce Canyon is in southwestern Utah, and is not actually a canyon but rather a natural amphitheatre with geological structures called “hoodoos.” It was originally settled by Mormon pioneers.
The Dry Tortugas National Park is situated at the westernmost end of the Florida Keys, and includes Fort Jefferson, the largest piece of masonry work in the Western Hemisphere, as well as seven other islands. It is only accessible by seaplane or boat.
The northernmost national park, Gates of the Arctic is entirely in the Arctic Circle in the Brooks Range in Alaska. It is larger than Belgium, and is not accessible by road: you either have to hike or fly in.
The Everglades in southern Florida is the third largest national park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley and Yellowstone, and it protects the Everglades wetlands and the huge number of endangered species that live there.
Haleakala National Park covers a large portion of southeast Maui in Hawaii, and includes the summit and crater of the dormant Haleakala volcano. It’s known for its incredible sunrises.
Glacier National Park, in northern Montana, sits right along the border with Canada. Scientists predict its glaciers will have fully vanished in another few years.
Hot Springs National Park in central Arkansas is the smallest National Park, and includes parts of the town Hot Springs. The springs are not in their original natural condition, but have been changed to work as therapeutic baths.
The Guadalupe Mountains in western Texas comprised the highest points in the state, topping out at 8,749ft. There’s good hiking in the park.
Virgin Islands National Park
Photo: Scott Sporleder
Virgin Islands National Park covers most of St. John Island and Hassel Island in the US Virgin Islands. Check out its scuba diving and rainforest hikes.
This post was originally published on May 5, 2014.
