Sep 21 2024
The wildlife of Kenai Fjords National Park is as dramatic and varied as the landscape itself. Humpback whales feed in cold coastal waters, orcas patrol the fjords, sea otters float among kelp beds, harbor seals rest on glacial ice, mountain goats cling to precipitous cliffs, and black bears wander through the forests surrounding Exit Glacier. …
Sep 21 2024
Hiking in Kenai Fjords National Park is different from hiking in many national parks. Most of this rugged Alaska landscape is made up of glaciers, steep mountains, dense coastal vegetation, and remote fjords that are reached more easily by boat than on foot. In fact, the park’s only maintained hiking trails are concentrated around Exit …
Sep 21 2024
Whale watching is one of the most memorable ways to experience Kenai Fjords National Park. From the harbor town of Seward, boats travel into Resurrection Bay and along Alaska’s rugged Gulf of Alaska coastline, passing forested mountains, rocky islands, seabird colonies, tidewater glaciers, and waters used by an impressive variety of marine mammals. Humpback whales …
Sep 19 2024
The brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve are among the most famous wild animals in North America. Each summer, bears gather along salmon-rich rivers, roam coastal sedge meadows, dig for clams on tidal flats, and move through an enormous Alaska wilderness where food remains abundant and human development is limited. About 2,200 brown …
Sep 19 2024
Hiking is one of the best ways to experience Joshua Tree National Park. Trails weave between enormous granite boulders, climb desert mountains, cross sandy washes, pass abandoned mines, and descend into secluded oases where native fan palms rise unexpectedly from rocky canyons. The park protects portions of both the Mojave and Colorado deserts, giving hikers …
Sep 19 2024
Hiking is the heart of the experience at Isle Royale National Park. There are no roads connecting the island’s destinations, no cars carrying visitors from overlook to overlook, and no easy way to shortcut a long day once you are deep in the backcountry. Exploring Isle Royale means traveling on foot or by water through …
Sep 18 2024
Hot Springs National Park is unlike almost any other national park in the United States. Instead of surrounding a remote mountain range, canyon, or wilderness, the park rises directly from the center of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where historic bathhouses line the city’s main street and naturally heated spring water still flows from the slopes of …
Sep 18 2024
The wildlife of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is unlike that of almost any other national park in the United States. Thousands of miles of open Pacific Ocean isolated the Hawaiian Islands from continental ecosystems, allowing the animals that successfully reached these remote volcanic islands to evolve in remarkable ways. Native birds dominate the park’s wildlife …
Sep 17 2024
Watching sunrise from Haleakalā is one of Maui’s most famous experiences. Long before daylight reaches the beaches below, visitors climb more than 10,000 feet into the Summit District of Haleakalā National Park, where the first light of morning spreads across volcanic ridges, cinder cones, clouds, and the Pacific Ocean. On a clear morning, the experience …
Sep 15 2024
Wildlife in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is remarkably diverse for a landscape that can appear, at first glance, to be an enormous expanse of dry West Texas desert. Black bears roam high-elevation forests, mountain lions move silently through canyons and desert slopes, mule deer browse near springs, elk inhabit the mountains, and hundreds of bird …
