Jun 12 2024
Everglades National Park protects one of the most unusual landscapes in the National Park System: an immense subtropical wetland where water moves almost imperceptibly across a nearly flat sheet of limestone toward mangrove estuaries, the Gulf Coast, and Florida Bay. Instead of mountains, cliffs, or deep canyons, the defining feature here is water—its depth, timing, …
Jun 11 2024
Dry Tortugas National Park protects one of the most remote and unusual landscapes in the National Park System: seven tiny islands surrounded by nearly 100 square miles of turquoise water, coral reefs, seagrass beds, shipwrecks, sea-turtle habitat, migratory bird colonies, and the massive red-brick walls of Fort Jefferson. Located roughly 70 miles west of Key …
Jun 10 2024
Death Valley National Park protects a landscape of almost unbelievable extremes. Here, the lowest point in North America lies 282 feet below sea level while snow can cover 11,049-foot Telescope Peak only about 15 miles away. Summer temperatures routinely climb above 120°F on the valley floor, yet high mountain forests shelter ancient bristlecone pines. Vast …
Jun 09 2024
Cuyahoga Valley National Park protects a surprisingly wild corridor of forests, waterfalls, wetlands, sandstone ledges, historic farms, canal ruins, and river habitat between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. Unlike national parks created around a single monumental landscape, Cuyahoga Valley is woven directly into one of the most populated regions of the Midwest. Neighborhoods, highways, farms, rail …
Jun 07 2024
Congaree National Park protects the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States. Just southeast of Columbia, South Carolina, this remarkable landscape contains towering loblolly pines, enormous bald cypress and tupelo trees, slow-moving blackwater creeks, oxbow lakes, sloughs, wetlands, upland pine forest, and more than 20,000 acres of federally …
May 25 2024
Glacier National Park may be famous for challenging backcountry routes and all-day mountain adventures, but you do not have to hike ten or fifteen miles to experience its waterfalls, alpine meadows, wildlife, forests, and dramatic mountain scenery. Some of the park’s most memorable places can be reached on hikes measuring less than five miles. Short …
Jan 30 2024
Yosemite National Park is best known for granite walls, giant sequoias, waterfalls, and sweeping Sierra Nevada scenery, but it is also an exceptional place for birdwatching. From peregrine falcons circling the cliffs of Yosemite Valley to western tanagers flashing through summer forests, birds occupy nearly every major habitat in the park. The diversity comes largely …
Jan 27 2024
Petrified Forest National Park is one of the most unusual landscapes in the American Southwest. Spread across the high plains of northeastern Arizona, the park protects vast deposits of brilliantly colored petrified wood, striped badlands, sweeping grasslands, ancient petroglyphs, historic buildings, fossils, and a surviving piece of Route 66. The name can be slightly misleading …
Oct 18 2023
Old Faithful is the most famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park and one of the best-known natural landmarks in the United States. For more than a century, visitors have gathered around its steaming cone to watch superheated water surge into the air above Yellowstone’s Upper Geyser Basin. Its fame comes partly from spectacle and partly …
Jun 05 2023
A national park road trip can be even more memorable when your dog comes along for the adventure. Morning walks beneath towering mountains, evenings at a campground, scenic drives through forests, and quiet stops beside lakes can all be wonderful experiences to share with a four-legged traveling companion. Traveling through national parks with a pet, …
