Jul 13 2024
Shenandoah National Park protects a long, narrow section of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where forested ridges rise above the Shenandoah Valley and the Piedmont. Waterfalls tumble through wooded hollows, rocky summits provide sweeping Appalachian views, black bears roam oak forests, and more than 500 miles of hiking trails explore nearly 200,000 acres of protected mountain …
Jul 12 2024
Sequoia National Park is a place built around extremes. Ancient giant sequoias rise like living skyscrapers from the Sierra Nevada forest, deep river canyons cut through the foothills, granite domes overlook vast wilderness, and Mount Whitney reaches the highest elevation in the contiguous United States. Located in California’s southern Sierra Nevada, the park contains far …
Jul 11 2024
Saguaro National Park protects one of the defining landscapes of the American Southwest: a Sonoran Desert forest filled with towering saguaro cacti, rugged mountains, rocky washes, desert grasslands, and surprisingly diverse wildlife. Surrounding Tucson, Arizona, the park is divided into two separate districts—the Tucson Mountain District to the west and the Rincon Mountain District to …
Jul 10 2024
Rocky Mountain National Park protects one of the most spectacular sections of Colorado’s Front Range, where glacier-carved valleys rise toward alpine lakes, tundra, rugged ridgelines, and peaks exceeding 13,000 and 14,000 feet. Located northwest of Denver between Estes Park and Grand Lake, the park encompasses roughly 265,800 acres and more than 350 miles of hiking …
Jul 09 2024
Redwood National Park protects a landscape that feels almost prehistoric. Along California’s far northern coast, immense coast redwoods rise hundreds of feet above carpets of ferns, moss-covered logs, clear streams, and shadowy forest floors. Beyond the trees are open prairies filled with Roosevelt elk, wild rivers flowing toward the Pacific, rugged beaches, sea stacks, tide …
Jul 08 2024
Pinnacles National Park protects one of California’s strangest and most dramatic landscapes, where jagged volcanic spires rise from chaparral-covered hills, enormous boulders form dark talus caves, and California condors circle on warm air currents above the High Peaks. Located in the Gabilan Mountains of central California, the park covers roughly 26,000 acres between the Salinas …
Jul 07 2024
Olympic National Park is one of the most varied landscapes in the entire U.S. National Park System. Within a single protected area, visitors can walk beneath ancient temperate rain forest, stand beside glacier-fed rivers, climb into snow-covered mountains, explore alpine meadows, wander along wild Pacific beaches, and watch Roosevelt elk move through misty valleys. Located …
Jul 06 2024
North Cascades National Park protects one of the wildest and most spectacular mountain landscapes in the contiguous United States. Jagged peaks rise above deep forested valleys, glaciers cling to steep cirques, waterfalls pour from hanging basins, and brilliant turquoise lakes collect water flowing from the high country. Located in northern Washington near the Canadian border, …
Jul 05 2024
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve protects one of the most dramatic river landscapes in the Appalachian Mountains, where the New River cuts deeply through the forested plateau of southern West Virginia. Sandstone cliffs rise above rushing whitewater, waterfalls spill through wooded ravines, abandoned coal towns hide beneath recovering forest, and the enormous New …
Jul 04 2024
Mount Rainier National Park protects one of the most recognizable landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, centered on a glacier-covered active volcano that rises dramatically above the forests, valleys, and cities of western Washington. At 14,410 feet, Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in the Cascade Range and towers so far above the surrounding terrain that …
