Favorite National Park

[Slimsawyer]

Not a National park but the BWCA is amazing if you live in Wi or Mn and aren’t looking to drive super far


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[Mighty Mouse]

I lived in Midland, TX for a few years. Guadalupe Mountains National Park was about 3 hrs away. Just close enough for good weekend trips. I wouldn't travel across country for it but it was a cool experience. You start in the desert and hike up to a mountain bowl that has trees. I would do it in January and Febuary and get Rocky Mountain like experience without the snow. Big Bend was a bit farther off but it was amazing too (just don't go in the warmer months).

I agree about Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend...probably not worth traveling a long distance to get to them, but if you're in the area they're definitely worth stopping by. I lived in Midland for a couple years also and did the Guadalupe Peak hike many times.

 

[buffybr]

I live less than 100 miles from Yellowstone NP, so with my "get in free" geezer pass we go there several times a year. Yes, a buffalo jam or many times for to apparent reason there are traffic jams, it's still a great place to visit.

I grew up just outside of Denver and as a kid in the '50s and '60s my family would take camping vacations to many of the National Parks in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Arizona.

My Grandfather on my Dad's side was a MIT graduate engineer that was very meticulous on trip details. One year my family and Grandparents went on a camping vacation from Denver to the Grand Canyon. My Grandfather had every day of the trip planned, and where we would camp and what motels we would stay in.

So our last day in the Grand Canyon we would camp on the North Rim and the next day we would head back to Denver and stay that night in a motel in Utah, where my Grandfather had made reservations.

Only it poured rain all that night we were camping, so we decided to stay an extra day and let our tents dry out, and we stayed camping an extra night.

We left for home the following day. When we got to the motel that we were scheduled to stay in the night before, half of the motel building was gone, and the parking lot was full of the cars of the people that had stayed in that motel the night that we were scheduled to stay there.

A gas leak had exploded that night, killing half of the people staying there. The Grand Canyon rainstorm that soaked our tents probably saved our lives.

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

Yellowstone is hard to beat for me. I’m not a fan of Ole Faithful or any of the tourist hot spots. But the over all nature of Yellowstone. If you’re willing to hike, it is awesome. It’s also good for cruising around but lots of traffic.

Glacier is good too (wife’s favorite). But Yellowstone’s wildlife is what does it for me.

 

[Snowhunter11]

Headed to Acadia soon!

-Denali-hard to beat the hiking and animals seen.
-Yellowstone in the early 90s
-Smokey’s is excellent hiking
-Badlands +custer state

Loved glacier and TR as well. So many great places I am thankful were saved.

 

[Jcvr]

For me, Yosemite for the Incredible scenery. Yellowstone for the wildlife.. But I've only been to a few.

 

[1jeds]

The National Park Service just released the vistor data for 2023 (it includes all historical data as well):

Visitor Use Data - Social Science (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Here's the top 10 for National Parks last year:

 

[Pony Soldier]

Over the years I have avoided Nat Parks because of the people. A number of years I drove through yellowstone just before dark to get to work sites I had on the other side of the park. The wildlife was an experience.

Because of my work I have spent extensive amounts of time in areas surrounding Nat Parks. One of the most interesting was on the edge of Craters of the Moon. It was called Grasslands Kipuka. We gridded it with a helicopter and inventoried mineral resources. There were unique geologic features in the flow basalts including lava tubes. The resources were largely in building stone with unique spectacular colors. Ownership has since been outlawed.

Think of it as a geologic field trip for three fat boys in a Bell 47 helicopter for a week.

 

[11boo]

The Colorado nat monument is not a NP, but is my backyard. I kinda like it.



Yellowstone was pretty cool, only been once. Thought for sure I would see an oriental tourist get gored when they would touch the bison. Glad I didn’t.

 

[BIGEYES]

Yellowstone is my favorite. I first saw the park as a 13 year old kid in 1961 while traveling with my uncle. We camped in Canyon Village campground with many very nice people who were traveling on a shoestring budget as were we. The sheer numbers and variety of wildlife were amazing (Quite a contrast now to see the effects of the wolf on the ungulates). I've returned as many times as life has allowed (including camping at Norris in '88 after the fires had died down). Glacier is beautiful also but like Yellowstone is being "loved' to death. Denali is a very special place but my one trip there only allowed me to scratch the surface. We are so blessed to have these parks.

 

[TaperPin]

There’s a peak in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park that looks over the park and is the best single mountain viewpoint I’ve ever seen. Tetons are cool - stop in the lake lodge for lunch and watch moose in the willows. The best time to see Yellowstone is after record rainfall closes half the park, but the roads weren’t really closed, other than over the flooded river. 5 to 7 miles without seeing another car felt like many decades ago, and the wolves are impressive if you’ve never seen one. Denali NP is cool to check out for a few hours on a clear weather day, but it’s often not clear. For some reason I really liked Glacier, the goats, the grizzly bears on far away ridges, the steep hillsides.

 

[Sbird2019]

Zion in Utah is incredible. Hiking The Narrows is one of the best experiences in the outdoors I’ve had to date. Additionally, the star viewing is unbelievable at night due to the remoteness and lack of light pollution since there are no living quarters in the park

 

[sneaky]

I worked in Yosemite for about 3 years. Lived in the Valley. It's nice in the late fall and winter when most of the Park is empty.

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[Rokbar]

Great Smokies

 

[Rokbar]

If you ever cometo the Smokies on the NC side check out Joyce Kilmer Memorial forest. One of the last Virgins forest on the eastcoast. Pretty impressive. It’s near Robbinsville, NC.

 

[Fujicon]

Difficult to say which national park is a favorite, so many are beautiful. I particularly like Canyonlands, just so much to see and its beauty is ever-changing through each day. Lovely. My biggest let down was Acadia in Maine. Might be something special for Easy Coasters, but after the Oregon coast it was just meh. Saguaro is interesting, but another national park I don't need to return to. That kind of goes for Crater Lake as well. Olympic, on the other hand, is beauty personified.

 

[HoneyDew]

Not specifically in this order. Though I will say Rainier was towards the top for me.
Mt Rainier - Burroughs Mountain Loop


Yellowstone - Lamar valley

Zion - Angels landing

Olympic NP

 

[Phaseolus]

Don’t know which one is my favorite, but Black Canyon of the Gunnison is criminally underrated. Just as interesting as the Grand Canyon but a lot less traffic.

Yellowstone is waaay overrated IMO.

Black Canyon is my favorite, especially from the bottom with a fly rod in my hand. It helps to live close.

 

[grossklw]

Lived in Maine for a PT contract for a summer and we lived right next to Acadia. I’ve been to a dozen or so parks, but Acadia has topped the list so far, it’s busy but easy to get away. Also really liked Ranier and Olympia.

A lot of people don’t realize the Schoodic Peninsula is part of the park but there are some real gems there too.

 

[timekiller13]

Man it’s hard to pick just one.

I’ve been to 35 NP now and counting.

Yellowstone is awesome and probably takes the cake if you want to see lots of wildlife.

The Grand Canyon is breath taking and awe inspiring.

Denali is Denali. I went there in September and the weather was perfect and the colors on the tundra were stunning. Probably my favorite park.

Rocky Mtn NP is beautiful and very accessible.

One that doesn’t get mentioned often is Great Sand Dunes. That’s a really cool park and the Sangre De Cristo mtns are amazing.

And then I am partial to GSMNP but that’s because it’s only a couple hours from me and I can visit it any time without having to make a major event out of it.