National Parks

[papaT10932]

Who here is a fan of America's National Parks? 

Which parks have you visited? Which ones do you want to visit? Have any good photos to share? Natural (Grand Canyon, etc.) and historical (Gettysburg, etc.) are both permitted for this thread. 

[1995hoo]

I have no idea as to a listing of which ones I've visited, but here's a picture from Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. An iceberg had just calved from the glacier:




Managed to get this fellow staring right at me in Sitka National Park, also in Alaska:




Very well-known view of Cape Breton Highlands National Park (and the Cabot Trail) looking south to Cheticamp:

[J N Winkler]

I am definitely a fan of the national parks.  Partial list of the ones I've visited ("full" national parks only--national monuments, etc. not included):  Yosemite, Yellowstone, Great Basin, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Olympic, Mt. Rainier, North Cascades, Crater Lake, Glacier, Theodore Roosevelt, Badlands, Wind Cave, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

[papaT10932]

I'm from the east, so my experiences in the natural national parks are few. I've been to Hawaii Volcanoes and Badlands in the West and Shenandoah, Everglades and Acadia in the East.

My favorite national park, however, is Independence NHP in Philadelphia. What a thrill it was to visit Independence Hall and stand in the chamber where the founders signed the Declaration of Independence and later wrote the Constitution. As an American, I found it a very moving experience.

[formulanone]

Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and Olympic National Parks are the only ones I can think of, but are we counting things like Ellis Island or San Marco National Monuments, they're pretty large parks?

[papaT10932]

Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and Olympic National Parks are the only ones I can think of, but are we counting things like Ellis Island or San Marco National Monuments, they're pretty large parks?

Yes. All parks, natural or historical, count as long as they are operated by the National Park Service.

[kurumi]

Our goal is to visit them all, but there's a long way to go. Sometimes the opportunity arises off-season; e.g. for Lassen NP in November, the roads were closed at the visitor center, and the rest of our visit was on foot.

[Chicagosuburban]

One. Great Smoky Mountains.

[agentsteel53]

are there any national parks to which you don't have to pay admission?  I could've sworn I've gone to several, casually noticed a sign, and not been stopped at a tollbooth.

I have been charged $25 toll just because I needed to cross the sierras and CA-120 was the most expedient through route ... but I've also avoided paying at the Grand Canyon by arriving at 2am and leaving at 5.30.

[tdindy88]

are there any national parks to which you don't have to pay admission?  I could've sworn I've gone to several, casually noticed a sign, and not been stopped at a tollbooth.

Great Smoky Mountains doesn't have any admissions. I suspect that may be one reason why it's the most visted national park in the country (among only the National Parks themselves.)

[agentsteel53]

this does explain why I don't seem to remember going to particular parks.  I definitely have crossed the Smokies on US-441, and noticed the Clarendon signage, but didn't think twice because there wasn't a tollbooth.

[1995hoo]

This thread got me interested in thinking about the parks, so while I was eating lunch I pulled up a list of National Park Service facilities on Wikipedia and I came up with the following ones that I can remember having visited. If I've given just a name (such as "Acadia"), then it's designated simply as "[Name] National Park" (such as "Acadia National Park"), with the exception of a few in the DC area that don't have any designation of "park" or the like.

Acadia (Maine)
Antietam National Battlefield (Maryland)
Arlington House (Virginia)
Assateague Island National Seashore (Virginia)
Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia)
Boston National Historical Park (Massachusetts)
C&O Canal National Historical Park (Maryland and DC)
Cape Cod National Seashore (Massachusetts)
Cape Hatteras National Seashore (North Carolina)
Catoctin Mountain Park (Maryland)
Colonial National Historical Park (Virginia)
Constitution Gardens (DC)
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (Pennsylvania)
Eisenhower National Historic Site (Pennsylvania)
Everglades (Florida)
Ford's Theatre National Historic Site (DC)
Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (Maryland)
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial (DC)
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (Virginia)
Gateway National Recreation Area (New York)
George Washington Memorial Parkway (Virginia)
Gettysburg National Military Park (Pennsylvania)
Glacier Bay (Alaska)
Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina)
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (DC)
Independence National Historical Park (Pennsylvania)
Isle Royale (Michigan)
Jefferson Memorial (DC)
Lincoln Memorial (DC)
Manassas National Battlefield Park (Virginia)
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site (Georgia)
National Mall (DC)
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site (DC)
Prince William Forest Park (Virginia)
Rock Creek Park (DC)
Theodore Roosevelt Island (DC)
Shenandoah (Virginia)
Sitka National Historical Park (Alaska)
Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York)
Valley Forge National Historical Park (Pennsylvania)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (DC)
Washington Monument (DC)
The White House (DC)
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (Virginia)–it was called Wolf Trap Farm Park when I used to go there as a kid
Wright Brothers National Memorial (North Carolina)

Misty Fiords National Monument in Alaska doesn't qualify under the rules the OP specified because it's administered by the Forest Service rather than the National Park Service. Otherwise I would have included it on this list because it's similar to a national park. But I suppose then I'd have to add national forests and I would list the Chugach, Tongass, White Mountain, Nantahala, Green Mountain, and George Washington.

Canadian national parks:

Bruce Peninsula (Ontario)
Cape Breton Highlands (Nova Scotia)
Fundy (New Brunswick)
Georgian Bay Islands (Ontario)
Gros Morne (Newfoundland)
Prince Edward Island (PEI, obviously)

There are so many national historic sites in Canada that I haven't tried to figure out all of those. Just a glance at the list of them in Nova Scotia told me that it would take too long to figure it out.

[Sykotyk]

Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Mount Rainier, Glacier, Arches, Redwood, Sequoia, Wind River, Mammoth Cave, Great Smoky Mountains, Everglades, Cuyahoga Valley, and Acadia.

Also driven quite a bit of the Nachez Trace (great road). Then some of the Monuments: Craters of the Moon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Jewel Cave, and probably more.

Sykotyk

[DeaconG]

Independence Park, Valley Forge; Canaveral and Gulf Breeze National Seashores.

[SSOWorld]

Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Great Smoky Mts, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Cape Hatteras SS, Cape Lookout SS, Golden Gate NRA, Lake Mead NRA, Great Sand Dunes.

[NE2]

I like Jefferson National Expansion Memorial because it's right next to a bunch of Interstates. There's a reason nobody visits Yellowstone.

[Scott5114]

The only full NP I can think of that I've been to is Wind Cave NP in SD, and of course Mt Rushmore National Monument, as well as a bunch of monuments in DC, and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Oklahoma doesn't have anything titled National Park. The area around Lake Arbuckle was once Platt National Park, but it was retitled to Chickasaw National Recreation Area for some reason. I have been there as well.

[triplemultiplex]

NPS facilities I've been to (in no particular order):

Isle Royale NP
Mesa Verde NP
Apostle Islands NLS
Pictured Rocks NLS
Theodore Roosevelt NP
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP (was still NRA at the time)
Lake Mead NRA
Badlands NP
Jewel Cave NM
Mt. Rushmore NM
Golden Gate NRA
Ross Lake NRA
St. Croix NSR
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Pkwy
Ice Age Trail
Lewis and Clark Trail
North Country Trail
Arches NP
Grand Teton NP
Yellowstone NP
Olympic NP
Devils Tower NM

List of NPS facilities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_in_the_United_States_National_Park_System

[PAHighways]

Constitution Gardens (DC)
Ford's Theatre National Historic Site (DC)
George Washington Memorial Parkway (DC)
Lincoln Memorial (DC)
National Mall (DC)
United States Navy Memorial (DC)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (DC)
Washington Monument (DC)
White House (DC)
World War II Memorial (DC)
Baltimore-Washington Parkway (DC/MD)
Oklahoma City National Memorial (OK)
Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (PA)
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (PA)
Flight 93 National Memorial (PA)
Eisenhower National Historic Site (PA)
Gettysburg National Cemetery (PA)
Gettysburg National Military Park (PA)
Independence National Historical Park (PA)
Johnstown Flood National Memorial (PA)
Valley Forge National Historical Park (PA)
Arlington National Cemetery (VA)

[english si]

I've only done the Grand Canyon NP in the US, but have done all but 5 UK NPs (not done Northumberland and Yorkshire Dales, but have clipped them on my travels, not been anywhere near the Cairngorms, Pembrokeshire Coast or the Broads).

I've holidayed in the Brecon Beacons, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, Snowdonia, Dartmoor and Exmoor NPs, holidayed to the Lake District (stayed outside it, but went into the park most days), weekended in the New Forest, Peak District and North York Moors and simply visited the South Downs (though it was only a proposed park back then in 2009).

When I lived in Southampton I was within about 5 miles of both the New Forest and proposed South Downs NPs. I visited the New Forest often, including cycling there from my house several times. The South Downs NP only had it's borders finalised in 2009, and made officially an NP last year, after I had moved away. However I cycled there perhaps twice, and (unwittingly - it's only now I see the boundary on a map and think about it) walked through the NP twice on my way to Winchester (obviously the purpose of going to Winchester was the scenic walk, not the city, or we'd have gone by train or car).

The proximity to, and frequency of visits to, the New Forest NP has made it my favourite NP, despite the fact it's there's nothing special about the landscape other than being protected as hunting land, with common grazing, for the past 1900 odd years.

[texaskdog]

Next month going to: El Malpais NM, Petrified Forest NP, Grand Canyon NP, Zion NP, Cedar Breaks NM, Bryce Canyon NP, Escalante Staircase NM, Capitol Reef NP, Arches NP, Canyonland NP, Mesa Verde NP, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, all in one trip.  As far as NPs, have also been to Glacier, Yellowstone, Denali, Badlands, Wind Cave, Yellowstone (lived there), Grand Tetons, Roosevelt, Guadlupe Mtns, Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, and I know I have to be missing some.

[texaskdog]

I like Jefferson National Expansion Memorial because it's right next to a bunch of Interstates. There's a reason nobody visits Yellowstone.

Hmm Yellowstone's gift shop was sure busy when I worked there

[texaskdog]

Forgot Rocky Mountain NP.  If I was to add NMs, NRAs, etc, I'd be up all night typing

[huskeroadgeek]

Been to many, mostly in the West. My favorites-close between Yellowstone and Yosemite. One thing I'd like to do that I haven't done yet is a tour of all of the Utah National Parks in one trip(I've done Zion, but that's the only one of those I have been to).

[xonhulu]

I like Jefferson National Expansion Memorial because it's right next to a bunch of Interstates. There's a reason nobody visits Yellowstone.

Hmm Yellowstone's gift shop was sure busy when I worked there

I suspect that was a joke, coming from a couple recent suggestions of building an interstate through Yellowstone.

I have been to too many National Park units to list.  I build trips around visiting them.  Most of them are interesting and well-interpreted. 

About the only parts of the country I've never been to the park units in are the southeast and Hawaii, where I've never been.  Then are a scattering in states I've visited that I missed, like Nicodemus in KS, a few in IN, OH, VA, KY, TN, and the off-the-road-network parks in Alaska.  Interestingly, I've never technically been to North Cascades NP or Lake Chelan NRA even though I've lived only a couple hundred miles from them my entire life, but I'm planning to take care of that next month.

Sounds a little obsessive, but I've met people who collect NPS Passport stamps, and they put me to shame.  They can tell you exactly what visitor center in Mesa Verde to visit to get the stamp for Yucca House NM, a very old site with no facilities protecting an unexcavated pueblo.  One told me exactly where to get the stamp for Rosie the Riveter in CA (Richmond City Hall, of all places, but you have to ask the receptionist to get the stamp pad for you -- that was several years ago, so it may be different now).