How To Find Popular National Parks in the US

The United States is blessed with so many beautiful national parks.  Each park has something special to offer its visitors.  Each year, travel websites and magazines come up with the best, top or most popular national parks in the country.

There are forest parks and nature preserves.  Some boast of long, winding park trails while others have geysers and geological formations.  Some have monuments established long ago that are historically significant. Visitors are lured by many different park activities, great deals on overnight accommodations and discounts on entrance fees depending on the season.

Here are some of the popular federal parks in the US:

1. Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho) is the very first national park in the world.  From geysers to waterfalls, hot springs and steam vents, Yellowstone is simply a wonderful testament to Mother Nature’s brilliance.  The park is rich in wildlife and plants.  Here you can find the bald eagle together with many other species of birds and mammals. The most popular attraction is undoubtedly the Old Faithful Geyser, which blows off steam every 80 minutes.
2. Yosemite National Park (California) is where you find the largest granite monolith, the El Capitan.  The park is simply enormous with its giant sequoias, waterfalls and huge slabs of granite. From coyotes, to bighorn sheep and American black bears, there are hundreds of different animals and plants to marvel at.
3. Acadia National Park (Maine) features geological and ecological features from forests to streams, oceans, mountains and meadows, to beaches and wetlands.  This diversity is a result of glacial activity long ago.
4. Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah) is wildlife rich – birds, mountain lions, prairie dogs and coyotes to name a few.  It is a maze of rock formations - colored stones in different shapes and sizes forming spires, pinnacles and towers.  There are 13 viewpoints where you can absorb the spectacular sites.
5. Death Valley National Park (California) is where you find the lowest and highest land elevation in the United States. There are deep ravines and gullies found in the Black Mountains.  Scotty’s Castle, a mansion found in the desert, is a historic site one should not miss together with the different Gold Rush era ghost towns in the area.
6. Everglades National Park (Florida) is the home of a wide variety of flora and fauna.  This “river of grass”, with the waters coming from Lake Okeechobee, is the natural habitat of more than 14 endangered species.  You can find West Indian manatees, Florida panthers, rare sea turtles, a host of wading birds and of course, alligators.
7. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (Alaska) has a continuously changing landscape. What started out as a 4,000-foot-thick glacier is now a 65-mile-long wilderness of fjords, beaches, hidden coves and shores lining Glacier Bay.  Visitors can experience the thundering crash of calving glaciers as they tumble into the ocean among other magnificent scenery.
8. Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona), a steep-sided gorge created by the Colorado River, is a spiritual experience especially when you stand on the Skywalk.  It has vast cliffs in a myriad of colors and jagged walls, which play host to ponderosa pines and juniper trees.  Bobcats, mules, coyotes, scorpions and rattlesnakes have called the park their home. 

There are so many unbelievably awe inspiring national parks in the United States that did not make this list.  Many of them offer different vistas that should be enjoyed by the young and old.  Visiting a national park is one way to bask in the majesty of Mother Nature.  Why wait?! Visit a national park today!