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 13 2024
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve protects one of the largest and least-developed landscapes in the United States, a place where the boreal forests of interior Alaska gradually give way to shrub tundra, alpine vegetation, wetlands, wild rivers, and the open Arctic landscapes north of the Brooks Range. Calling Gates of the Arctic …
Sep 12 2024
Shark Valley is one of the easiest places in Everglades National Park to experience the famous “River of Grass” without a boat, strenuous hike, or long drive deep into South Florida. Located along the Tamiami Trail west of Miami, this popular section of the park gives visitors access to a 15-mile paved loop through freshwater …
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
Sand dunes are among the most recognizable landscapes in Death Valley National Park, yet they occupy surprisingly little of this enormous desert wilderness. Despite the popular image of Death Valley as an endless sea of sand, less than one percent of the park is covered by sand dunes. Most of the landscape consists instead of …
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 …
Sep 08 2024
The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad offers one of the most unusual ways to explore an American national park. Instead of driving from trailhead to trailhead, visitors can settle into a vintage passenger car and travel through the forests, wetlands, historic communities, and river corridor of Cuyahoga Valley National Park while the landscape passes outside the …
Sep 08 2024
Brandywine Falls is one of the signature landscapes of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where Brandywine Creek plunges approximately 60 feet over resistant sandstone and layers of softer shale into a deep, wooded gorge. A boardwalk leads from the parking area to viewpoints facing the cascade, while the surrounding Brandywine Gorge Trail allows hikers to descend …
