Top 5 National Parks You Should Visit
Across America, you can find 58 National Parks peppering the landscape. These federally-protected areas are scenic or historically-important locations available to the general public with the intention of the preservation of the landscape and wildlife. Let’s take a look at five of our favorites from coast-to-coast!
Acadia National Park : Maine
As our eastern-most choice for favorite National Parks, Acadia’s geological features boast a meeting of land and sea. Most of the park is on Mount Desert Island, a patchwork of parkland, private property, and seaside villages.
How to Get Here: You’re encouraged to leave your vehicle on the mainland before making your way into the park on Mount Desert Island. While Park Loop Road is available for personal vehicles, it can get quite crowded during the summer months. Island Explorer Buses are available at no cost for visitors to explore the park.
Things to Do: There are plenty of trails for hikers and bikers alike that span across the mainland and into the park itself including 45 miles of historic carriage roads to bike and 125 miles of trails to hike. Travel the original 1930s carriage roads and granite bridges, visit the beautiful sandy beach, and keep an eye out for all sorts of wildlife from red squirrels, white-tailed deer, and black bears with opportune trip timing giving lucky travelers a glimpse of whales off the coast and watching peregrines soar the skies.Take some time to visit Cadillac Mountain, which at 1,530 feet stands as the tallest mountain on the United States Atlantic coast. There are also many historic lighthouses along the park’s coast including Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse on Mt. Desert Island.If you’re aiming to do a little climbing at the park, then Otter Cliffs and Great Head offer spectacular seaside cliff views. You can also canoe, kayak, and sail on the lakes and ponds of Mt. Desert Island. Similarly, one of the best driving paths is Park Loop Road which takes visitors on a 27 mile scenic drive around the park.Even fishermen can enjoy the park, as you’re allowed to fish for both freshwater fish like trout and salmon, and saltwater fish like mackerel and bluefish. Sign up for a whale watching boat tour to see even more of the ocean wildlife. In the winter months, ice fishing is available as well!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park : North Carolina, Tennessee
Drawing more than ten million visitors every year, Great Smoky Mountains National Park ranks as the number one visited National Park. The park itself hosts over 800 miles of hiking trails spanning across North Carolina and Tennessee, but even so, many choose to view this spanning park via highways through the mountainsides. The park itself clocks in at just over half a million acres, and due to its diversity, it’s also designated as an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.
How to Get Here: There are three main entrances into the park: Gatlinburg, TN; Townsend, TN; and Cherokee, NC. If you’re not comfortable with driving into the park yourself, note that there are several private businesses from local metropolitan areas like Ashville, TN, and Knoxville, NC, that offer transportation into the park (as there is no public transportation going into the park itself).
Things to Do: The park itself boasts many cultural heritage sites, audio tours, and has one of the most diverse selections of flora and fauna (over 10,000 identified species!). Some favorite destinations within the park include:
Cades Cove
Cataloochee
Clingmans Dome
Roaring Fork
Visitors can enjoy a host of popular activities including auto touring, bicycling, family campgrounds, fishing, hiking and backpacking, picnicking, waterfall walks, wildlife watching, and more!
Yellowstone National Park : Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
Yellowstone National Park is America’s very first national park (est 1872) and is still visited by more than 3.5 people annually. As one of the most widespread reserves covering 2.2 million acres, you’re able to find a variety of geological features and biodiverse species to explore and study. Bison, bear, sheep, moose, and wolves can all be found in Yellowstone, and your adventure can take you through craggy peaks, explosive geysers, alpine lakes, and miles of deep forests. In fact, half of the world’s geysers reside within Yellowstone National Park!
What makes Yellowstone so explosive? Thousands of years of volcanic activity have punched through the earth’s crust, creating active geothermal hot springs and the towering geysers that Yellowstone is so well-known for.
How to Get Here: While there’s no train service into the park, you can opt for bus service or simply drive into the park yourself from one of four entrances (one for each Cardinal Direction accordingly).
Things to Do: Arguably the most famous feature of the park is Old Faithful, a springing geyser recognizable by many across the world. You can also see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, one of the world’s largest petrified forests, and countless waterfalls. Fish for brown and rainbow trout as well as mountain whitefish in the Yellowstone River. Bike trails wind around the park and river as well, making for a great biking/fishing excursion. Choose to hike and camp in the park or opt for horse or llama trips hosted by stock outfitters in Yellowstone. A historic point of interest includes Fort Yellowstone, the permanent post of the cavalry when they managed the park in the late 19th century before the National Park Service was established in 1916.
Glacier National Park : Montana
With more than 2.3 million visitors yearly, Glacier National Park covers over a million acres of landscape in the glacier-carved region of Montana. The park itself encompasses sections of two mountain ranges with active avalanche areas and a spectacular mountain pass. The park’s vast pristine ecosystem is the centerpiece of what has been referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem", a region of protected land encompassing 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2). While the area was an active glacier region at one point, there are currently less than 25 active glaciers in the region today. It’s estimated that there will be no more glaciers in the area by 2030 should the current climate conditions persist.
How to Get Here: Access this park via car, airplane (within driving distance), or train! Glacier is distant from major cities. The closest airport is in Kalispell, Montana, southwest of the park. Amtrak trains stop at East and West Glacier, and Essex. A fleet of restored 1930s White Motor Company coaches, called Red Jammers, offer tours on all the main roads in the park.
Things to Do: 700 miles of trails give explorers the chance to explore pristine forests, and 400 meters of boardwalk allows visitors to explore deep into ancient hemlock rainforest. Avalanche Lake and Cracker Lake are colored an opaque turquoise by suspended glacial silt, which also causes a number of streams to run milky white. Over 200 waterfalls are found within the park largest falls include those in the Two Medicine region, McDonald Falls in the McDonald Valley, and Swiftcurrent Falls in the Many Glacier area, which is easily observable and close to the Many Glacier Hotel.
Yosemite National Park : California
The 7-mile-wide glacier-carved canyon of Yosemite National Park is a site to behold (if you can fit it within the lens of your camera!). Glacier erosion has crafted the stunning geological features that earned Yosemite UNESCO World Heritage Site status. In fact, Yosemite hosts five of the world’s highest waterfalls, over 300 lakes, mountain meadows, hanging valleys, granite domes, and giant sequoia groves.
How to Get Here: While Yosemite is open year-round, keep in mind that many of the roads are inaccessible during the winter months due to snow and ice. There are shuttles in many areas to help nervous travelers make their way into the park safely. Reservations are strongly recommended for those who plan to camp - but they’re not required. Nearby airports and public transportation makes this trip an easily-accessible one for any type of traveler.
Things to Do: The park's Going-to-the-Sun Road is considered by many to be one of the world's most spectacular drives. Climb some of the world’s most famous granite routes or simply view from below for a spectacular climbing site. With more than 1,125 kilometers of hiking trails, adventurers are able to view more than 1,100 different species of plants, 400 species of moss, and hundreds of species of animals. And if you’re travelling to Yosemite, then you’ll not want to miss a visit to Half Dome which is arguably one of the most iconic features of the park itself. Half Dome is a 5,000 square foot peak rising above the peak floor. It’s been a popular attraction for climbers from all walks of life since 1919. Another excursion to explore in Yosemite is Glacier Point, where you can sit in an amphitheater while admiring spectacular views of waterfalls, granite peaks, and the climbers on Half Dome. Don’t forget to take your binoculars for this view of a lifetime!
