Destinations

Venture into the Picturesque Mojave Desert You’d never expect a desert to be so teeming with life.

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America’s Most Visited National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited park in the system, hosting more than 9 million visitors a year. Unlike most national parks, entry to the park is free. Its surrounding communities depend heavily on the park, which is the lynchpin of the region’s tourism economy.

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Fish the Brooks River with over 2,000 Brown Bears Located on the Alaska Peninsula almost directly across from Kodiak Island, Katmai National Park and Preserve is famous for its large population of brown bears and its stunning Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

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America’s First Sunrise If Maine is known by the moniker “Vacationland,” then Acadia National Park is one big reason why. More than 2.5 million people visited the 47,000-acre park in 2010 — the most notable among them being the First Family, whose day-one itinerary illustrated much of what Acadia has to offer.

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Land of the Midnight Sun Located entirely north of the Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic National Park is the northernmost park administered by the National Park Service. At more than 7.5 million acres, it is a vast, mountainous region roughly the size of Switzerland, and almost 95 percent of the park is wilderness.

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The Guardian of the Gulf of Mexico Travelers to Dry Tortugas National Park have to fly or sail about 70 miles in order to visit this island’s beauty. Located closer to Cuba than to the U.S. mainland, many people are unaware that this isolated national park exists.

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Discover Waterfalls and Caves Along the Crooked River Cuyahoga Valley National Park is among the smallest and the newest parks in the system, but don’t let its diminutive size or recently elevated status fool you.

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Clear Blue Waters Await in America’s Deepest Lake Crater Lake is the most prominent feature of Crater Lake National Park. Formed from a cataclysmic volcanic eruption about 7,700 years ago, the lake has long been revered as a sacred site by the Klamath peoples native to southern Oregon.

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Narrow Canyon Walls Rise over 2,000 Feet Geologically formed by water and rock, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in western Colorado is so named for its darkness — the canyon’s great depth makes it difficult for the sun’s rays to penetrate it.

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Discover a Wrinkle in the Earth The defining feature of Capitol Reef National Park is the Waterpocket Fold, a monoclinal fold, or “wrinkle on the earth.” The wrinkle, in south-central Utah’s red country, is punctuated by crevices, cliffs, canyons, domes, and bridges.

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Explore 175 Miles of Undeveloped Coastline Consisting of five islands located off the coast of Southern California in the Pacific Ocean, Channel Islands National Park is reachable only by park concessioner boat or plane, or private boats.

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Striking Pinnacles and Rich Fossil Beds Ever wondered where are the Badlands? They are located in southwestern South Dakota, the rugged beauty of Badlands National Park’s buttes, pinnacles, and spires mark terrain once roamed by giant Pleistocene-era beasts.

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Traverse the Hot, Dry Mojave Desert In the arid Great Basin of eastern California lies Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the lower 48 United States. As the name of the park suggests, it is the hottest and driest national park with temperatures reaching “deadly” highs.

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Over 110 Limestone Caves Await Beneath the Surface Located in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is named for its impressive network of caves, which are the seventh-longest in the world.

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A Wondrous Red Rock Landscape Where is Arches National Park? Home to more than 2,000 sandstone arches, natural bridges, towers, rock fins, and other awesome formations, Arches National Park is a great place to take in the wonders of Utah, hike its scenic trails, and explore its canyons.

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Hike a Labyrinth of Hoodoos Is it a forest of stone? No. Is it a cave without a ceiling? No. Is it even really a canyon? No! Descriptions of Bryce Canyon always seem to fall short, but as you can see, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Home to the Highest Peak in North America Denali National Park and Preserve is a wild, wonderful place. Located in central Alaska, Denali is a protected area about the same size as the state of Massachusetts.

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Venture into an Alaskan Marine Wilderness Nestled on the Alaska panhandle west of Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park is a terrestrial and marine sanctuary spanning more than 600,000 acres. While the park has no roads, it isn’t all that hard to get to.

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Canoe or Hike through Old Growth Bottomland Hardwood Forest The largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in North America can be found in this swampy national park. Rivers sweep through the floodplains, and great bald cypress trees make up one of the highest deciduous forest canopies in the world.

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Discover the World’s Third-Longest Living Coral Reef Located in southern Florida, Biscayne National Park is 95 percent water. Sail its immaculate blue-green bay, explore the world’s third-longest living coral reef, and get a glimpse of one-of-kind scenery above and below the surface.

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Explore the Maze and Island in the Sky Experience the majesty of the red, orange, and yellow canyons, mesas, and buttes formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries.

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From the Rio Grande to Mile High Mountains With over 800,000 acres of varied terrain, Big Bend National Park is sometimes referred to as “three parks in one” — an hour drive can bring visitors from the lovely Rio Grande to mountains that are more than a mile high.

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Glacier-capped Peaks Rise High above Deep Valleys North Cascades National Park has a wide variety of ecosystems, from glaciers (more than 300 of them) and mountains to lakes and rivers, to temperate rainforests, marshes, and swamps.

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Three Major Ecosystems in One Incredible Park Situated on the remote Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington, Olympic National Park is a land of deep wilderness and incredible diversity. More than 95 percent of the park is backcountry, with habitats ranging from coastline to dense forests, to alpine grassland and glaciers.

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Ascend the Tallest Peak in the Evergreen State Mount Rainier National Park, the fifth national park established, preserves more than 200,000 beautiful acres, including all of Mount Rainier. This 14,411-foot stratovolcano is the tallest mountain in Washington state. The park is home to a variety of ecosystems, like glaciers, meadows, and forests.

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