Favorite national parks

[hucifer]

Do you have one? I haven't visited too many, but one of my favorites is Mammoth Caves. I fell in love with it the first time I went down there.

I'd love to hear about YOUR favorite.

 

[NMAmy]

My favorite is Yellowstone but I haven't been there since I was a teenager. I love that there are so many different kinds of things to see there.

Just wanted to say hello to my pal, hucifer, and say, Holy cow, your little one is getting big!

 

[PatsMom]

My favorite is the Grand Canyon. Absolutely awesome to visit.

My second favorite is the White Mountain National Forest because it is quite literally my backyard and I can enjoy it all the time.

 

[RangerPooh]

Hands down Yosemite! I would love to get to Yellowstone as it looks breath taking.

 

[VAN]

I've been to a few ... loved them all. Very unique.

Zion
Bryce Canyon
Grand Canyon
Mammoth Caves
Yellowstone
Grand Teton
Mount Rushmore
Carlsbad Caverns
Glacier
Badlands
Smokey Mountain
Death Valley

I'm sure I'm missing a few -- all of them were spectacular! If you have kids, try to do the Junior Ranger Programs!

 

[momrek06]

I have been to quite a few NP's myself BUT I have to say the most breathe-taking experience I had was when we took the family to the GRAND CANYON!!!

 

[FireDancer]

The only one I have been to is my local national park, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The one I want to visit most is Acadia in Maine.

 

[liamsaunt]

My favorite is the Virgin Islands National Park.

 

[JLiz]

I've visited many but my absolute, all-time favorite is Zion National Park.

 

[Inigo]

Bryce Canyon is my absolute favorite place on earth. I found a motivational poster with the Hoodoos on it to hang in my office so I can look at every day when the clients stress me out.

I also like Cedar Breaks National Monument. It's like a mini-Bryce Canyon, but not as busy with people.

I prefer the badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota over the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It's a lot prettier.

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks are also very nice.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona is beautiful.

We camp, so we go to a lot of National Parks and Monuments. I keep a list on my computer, and every time we add a new one, it gets checked off. We want to do all of them eventually.

 

[hucifer]

These are great! I was looking for ideas of places to visit around the U.S. Please keep them coming.



...hey NMAmy! Yes, he is.

 

[dawnsb]

If you are ever in Alaska you must take the time to get up to Denali National Park. It is different the further into the park you travel. My favorite was Polychrome Pass with the Dall Sheep just sitting there waiting to get their picture taken! Take the earliest shuttle into the park and go as far as Wonder Lake to get views of Mt. McKinley if it is "out".

We've also been to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Devils Tower, Glacier Bay via a cruise.

Arches, Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain are also on the top of my list to visit again!

On our future list is Yosemite, Acadia and Glacier in MT.

Dawn

 

[lajones81]

Do you have one? I haven't visited too many, but one of my favorites is Mammoth Caves. I fell in love with it the first time I went down there.

I'd love to hear about YOUR favorite.

Acadia National Park!

 

[SCHBR'smom]

How about a National Seashore? We love Padre Island National Seashore! We go every chance we get.

 

[KarenB]

I've visited many but my absolute, all-time favorite is Zion National Park.

Yes, I have to agree!

 

[CajunDixie]

Yellowstone if my favorite. It has such a huge variety of sites: mountains, rivers, waterfalls, geysers, mudpots, the lake, the valley, and a large variety of wildlife! You have a variety of places to spend the night from various campgrounds to a choice of lodges. One campground requires hard sided campers (no tents) because the of the possibility of a visit from a grizzly bear. Head south out of Yellowstone and you can hit the Tetons and Jackson Hole area too!

 

[CoMickey]

Hands down Yosemite! I would love to get to Yellowstone as it looks breath taking.

Totally agree. We just spent a week there in early July and I fell in love with the place. I can't wait to go back! I grew up in Colorado and I never imagined I'd have a favorite outside of my home state but I do now.

Yosemite stole my heart!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I love Bryce, Zion, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain, Carlsbad Caverns, Arches, Banff, Buffalo River, and Big Bend. I really like the North Rim and South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Pacific Rim, Yoho, Jasper, Guadaloupe Mountains, Mesa Verde, Mount Revelstoke, Canyonlands, Dinosaur, Petrified Forest, Capital Reef, and the Great Smoky Mountains. I was pretty non-plussed with Mammoth Cave and I didn't care for Hot Springs.

Here are a few pictures from some of my more recent visits:
Elk crossing Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park

Our family canoe on the Buffalo River

Bears at Pacific Rim

Alpine Meadow at Mount Revelstoke

Two Jacks Peak at Banff

Grand Tetons

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

And of course, the best way to get to know a National Park is to camp there.

 

[Lauree]

In June, my family went to Smoky Mountain National Park and Mammoth Cave. At Mammoth Cave, I bought Passport Books for my kids. Many of the parks have stamps for the books. It has a lot of information about the parks and its a great way to document your trips. I hope to visit many more as my kids get older (their 6 and 9 right now). The Grand Canyon is on my "must do" list.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

On the National Park level, I've only been to Acadia in Maine and Yosemite in California. Both beautiful. I enjoyed Yosemite more because its so different than Acadia which is a lot like what I normally see here in New England.

I have so many I would love to see. Trying to arrange a OR/WA/Banff/MT trip for next year but I don't know how much of it we'll be able to do.