The ultimate guide to the must-visit national parks in the United States
The United States is blessed with a diverse array of 63 national parks, each offering unique landscapes, ecosystems, and recreational opportunities. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to experience all of them, but there are certainly some absolute must-see destinations for every traveler to visit during their life. Here's an overview of some of the best national parks in the U.S. and their distinctive features:
Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho)
- Yellowstone is America's first national park and is renowned for its geothermal features, including geysers, hot springs, and bubbling mud pots.
- It is home to iconic attractions like Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
- The park also boasts diverse wildlife, including bison, elk, bears, and wolves.
Yosemite National Park (California)
- Yosemite is famous for its dramatic granite cliffs, towering waterfalls, and ancient sequoia trees.
- Iconic landmarks, such as El Capitan, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls, draw millions of visitors each year.
- The park offers excellent hiking, rock climbing, and wildlife viewing opportunities, including bears, coyotes, bighorn sheep, and mule deer.
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
- The Grand Canyon is one of the world's most spectacular geological wonders, with its vast expanses of layered rock formations carved by the Colorado River.
- Visitors can enjoy breathtaking vistas from overlooks along the rim, hike into the canyon on various trails, or raft down the river.
- The park also features diverse ecosystems, ranging from desert scrub to pine forests, supporting a variety of plant and animal life.
Zion National Park (Utah)
- Zion is characterized by towering sandstone cliffs, narrow slot canyons, and verdant river valleys.
- The park's most famous hike, Angels Landing, offers stunning panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.
- Visitors can explore the Virgin River Narrows by hiking through its towering walls or enjoy scenic drives through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.
Glacier National Park (Montana)
- Glacier National Park is known for its pristine wilderness, mountainous terrain, and numerous glaciers (although their numbers are dwindling).
- The park offers over 700 miles of hiking trails, including the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road, which traverses the park's stunning alpine scenery.
- Wildlife enthusiasts can spot grizzly bears, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep roaming the park's forests and meadows.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee, North Carolina)
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park is America's most visited national park, renowned for its mist-shrouded peaks, lush forests, and rich biodiversity.
- The park features over 800 miles of hiking trails, including a section of the Appalachian Trail.
- Visitors can explore historic homesteads, waterfalls, and scenic drives through the park's diverse landscapes. More than 1,500 species of plants and animals call this place home too.
Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
- Rocky Mountain National Park is celebrated for its soaring peaks, alpine lakes, and abundant wildlife.
- The park offers opportunities for hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, and scenic drives along the Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the Continental Divide.
- Visitors can spot elk, mule deer, moose, and bighorn sheep, as well as elusive predators like mountain lions and black bears.
Arches National Park (Utah)
- Arches National Park is famous for its stunning red rock arches, spires, and fins carved by erosion.
- Visitors can hike among over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the iconic Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch.
- The park offers breathtaking vistas, excellent photography opportunities, and stargazing due to its dark skies.
Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
- Grand Teton National Park is known for its majestic Teton Range, pristine alpine lakes, and abundant wildlife.
- Visitors can enjoy hiking, mountaineering, boating, and fishing amidst the park's rugged beauty.
- The Snake River winds through the park, offering scenic float trips and wildlife viewing opportunities.
Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)
- Bryce Canyon is known for its otherworldly landscape of hoodoos, spires, and natural amphitheaters.
- Visitors can hike among the colorful rock formations, take scenic drives along the rim, stargaze under one of the most ideally dark skies in the country, or even go cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter.
- The park's elevation provides cooler temperatures in the summer, making it a popular destination for escaping the heat.
Acadia National Park (Maine)
- Acadia is the juncture of mountains and the sea, which provides scenic vistas of the Atlantic coastline from oceanside cliffs.
- Visitors can explore rocky shores, hike to the top of Cadillac Mountain for sunrise, and bike along carriage roads through forests and meadows.
- The park offers a wide range of outdoor activities, including hiking, birdwatching, kayaking, and scenic drives along the Park Loop Road.
Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)
- Mount Rainier National Park is among the most visually stunning parks in the entire country. It is renowned for its majestic peak, the 14,411-foot Mount Rainier, glaciated landscapes, and diverse ecosystems.
- Visitors are drawn to the park for its opportunities for hiking, climbing, wildlife viewing, and scenic drives along the winding roads that encircle the mountain.
- Wildlife enthusiasts can spot a variety of animals, including black bears, deer, elk, marmots, and mountain goats, while exploring the park's diverse habitats.
The National Park System actually includes over 400 sites across the U.S., but the main 63 with “National Park” in their name feature some of the most majestic wonders the country has to offer. Now is the time to gather your loved ones, plan your road trip route, and make memories in the natural beauty of our world.
Stay safe on your way to, through, and from these beautiful national parks by wearing a seat belt. Buckling up saves lives!