How many national parks (USA) have you visited? (Include national recreation areas, national seashores, national monuments, etc. ) What have been your favorites? What have been the most unusual or provided any surprises?
There are over 60 now!
I fortunately, some people like to leave their initials, graffiti, paint, etchings, and TRASH in the parks, making the visiting experience not as good for other visitors.
Chrissy
- South Dakota Badlands (I do a lot of rockhounding near there).
- Black Canyon in Colorado.
- Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico.
- Death Valley in California (I grew up not far from there).
- Gateway Arch in Missouri.
- Grand Canyon in Arizona.
- Grand Teton in Wyoming.
- Joshua Tree National Monument in California (One of my favorites).
- Kings Canyon in California.
- Redwoods in California.
- Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. (My parents live near there)
- Sequoia National Park in California.
- White Sands, New Mexico (did desert warfare training there in the Army).
- Wind Cave, South Dakota (believed by the Lakota Tribe to be where their people came from, so it is considered sacred to them).
- Yellowstone in Wyoming.
- Yosemite in California. (Our family camped there often when I was a kid.)
1 - Arches National Park - Utah
2 - Badlands National Park - South Dakota
3 - Black Canyon of the Gunnison - Colorado
4 - Bryce Canton - Utah
5 - Canyonlands - Utah
6 - Capitol Reef - Utah
7 - Death Valley - California/Nevada
8 - Gateway Arch - Missouri
9 - Great Sand Dunes - Colorado
10 - Mesa Verde - Colorado
11 - Rocky Mountain - Colorado
12 - Wind Cave - South Dakota
13 - Yellowstone - Wyoming
14 - Zion - Utah
A complete list of US National Parks:
https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm
For those veterans out there, you can get a LIFETIME US National Parks Pass for $10, which includes shipping. For more information about a National Parks Pass:
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm#america-the-beautiful-passes
Love always -- Jessica Rose
That is a lot of places visited!
Chrissy
1. Glacier
2. Yellowstone
3. Crater Lake
4. Mt. Ranier
I grew up camping with my family at many different National Parks. Since then I have gone to many additional parks with multiple return trips to Sequoia/Kings Canyon.
- Sequoia
- Kings Canyon
- Yosemite
- Lassen Volcano
- Crater Lake
- Redwoods
- Grand Canyon
- Bryce Canyon
- Acadia
- Big Bend
- Olympic
- Zion
- Glacier Bay
- Daniela
- Joshua Tree
We spent a number of summer vacations in a little town called Wilsonian which is totally surrounds by Kings Canyon/Sequia National Parks. It is still my favorite place in the world and my will even have instructions to scatter my ashes in Kings Canyon/Sequia National Parks.
Crater Lake seems picturesque.
Chrissy
Quote from: ChrissyRyan on August 11, 2024, 01:58:43 PMCrater Lake seems picturesque.
Chrissy
Chrisy,
Yes, Crater Lake is very picturesque, but in my humble opinion there is nothing more beautiful than the meadow that Ansel Admas called the jewel of the Sieria's which is surrounded by 1000-year-old trees.
(https://i.imgur.com/ADwu4AH.jpeg)
Or walking in a grove of the ancient giants.
(https://i.imgur.com/gIC9yIU.jpeg)
Ellen
@EllenW I haven't been back there in decades, but I remember at one of the Ranger stations they had a slab of one of those trees that had been cut down. They had the rings marked to show how old it was. One was marked "1492 - Columbus Discovers America". At that time, the tree was about eight inches in diameter! Those are indeed "ancient giants". Thanks for sharing!
I like the SLO and Big Sur areas but I do not think there are national parks there.
Quote from: EllenW on August 12, 2024, 09:57:43 AMChrisy,
Yes, Crater Lake is very picturesque, but in my humble opinion there is nothing more beautiful than the meadow that Ansel Admas called the jewel of the Sieria's which is surrounded by 1000-year-old trees.
(https://i.imgur.com/ADwu4AH.jpeg)
Or walking in a grove of the ancient giants.
(https://i.imgur.com/gIC9yIU.jpeg)
Ellen
Yes, very pretty!
I wonder what the Virgin Islands National Park is like.
Chrissy
Okay it is time to go to some parks, don't ya think?
Some of trees get huge around and/or tall, plus old! So cool.
Chrissy
Glacier National Park may be good to visit.