Sep 14 2024
Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains one of the most extensive hiking networks in the National Park System, with more than 800 miles of trails crossing forested valleys, rushing streams, waterfalls, grassy balds, historic settlements, and some of the highest mountains in the eastern United States. Choosing where to hike can be difficult because the …
Sep 14 2024
Great Sand Dunes National Park may be famous for enormous mountains of sand, but the dunes are only one part of a remarkably varied ecosystem. Elk graze across the broad San Luis Valley, mule deer wander through wooded foothills, black bears forage along mountain streams, bighorn sheep move across rocky slopes, and mountain lions travel …
Sep 14 2024
High on the cold, rocky slopes of Great Basin National Park grow some of the oldest individual trees on Earth. Great Basin bristlecone pines have survived for thousands of years in places where winter storms are fierce, soils are poor, moisture is scarce, and the growing season may last only a few weeks. Instead of …
Sep 14 2024
Hiking is the best way to understand just how enormous Grand Canyon National Park really is. From the rim, the canyon can look almost like a vast painted landscape, but descending even a short distance reveals layer after layer of cliffs, ridges, side canyons, desert vegetation, and changing rock formations that cannot be appreciated from …
Sep 14 2024
At the bottom of Grand Canyon National Park, almost a vertical mile beneath the South Rim, a cluster of rustic stone-and-wood buildings sits beneath cottonwood trees beside Bright Angel Creek. This is Phantom Ranch, one of the most unusual lodges in the National Park System and one of the few places in America where simply …
Sep 14 2024
Gateway Arch National Park is better known for stainless steel, American history, and the St. Louis skyline than for wildlife. Yet the landscaped grounds surrounding the Gateway Arch support a surprisingly varied community of animals, including squirrels, eastern cottontail rabbits, coyotes, raccoons, Virginia opossums, bats, peregrine falcons, migratory warblers, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, and dozens of …
Sep 11 2024
Wildlife at Dry Tortugas National Park lives in a world dominated by water. Almost 70 miles west of Key West, seven tiny islands rise from an enormous expanse of shallow tropical sea, coral reef, seagrass, sand, and open ocean. Fort Jefferson may be the park’s most immediately recognizable landmark, but most of the protected landscape—and …
Sep 11 2024
Death Valley National Park may be famous for extreme heat, salt flats, sand dunes, and some of the lowest elevations in North America, but it is also one of the most varied hiking destinations in the desert Southwest. Trails and cross-country routes lead through narrow marble canyons, golden badlands, volcanic craters, shifting sand dunes, hidden …
Sep 08 2024
The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail is the thread that ties much of Cuyahoga Valley National Park together. For roughly 20 miles, the nearly level path follows the historic canal route through forests, wetlands, old canal towns, locks, river valleys, and some of the park’s most popular wildlife areas. Visitors can walk, run, bicycle, …
Sep 08 2024
The Ledges Trail is one of the most distinctive hikes in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, replacing the park’s familiar river valleys and canal landscapes with towering sandstone walls, narrow passages, moss-covered boulders, cool ravines, and one of the best sunset overlooks in northeast Ohio. Although the main loop is short enough for a casual afternoon …
