Top US National Parks

The United States has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, most of which is visible in the country’s national parks. A wealth of magnificent national parks exists that are well maintained and offer hiking, camping, skiing, walking and much more. Campgrounds are available in most parks but are usually offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Though there are so many beautiful parks, Bakpak has narrowed it down to our Top 10 national parks in no particular order:

Yosemite National Park

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Yosemite is one of the world’s most impressive sceneries and home to the world-famous Half Dome and El Capitain. The mountains of Yosemite National Park contain great biotic richness with more than 230 species of birds, 80 species of mammals, and 1,400 species of plants, trees, and flowers. Yosemite also boasts three giant sequoia groves with trees that can tower over 300 feet with trunks of 40 feet in diameter.

Yellowstone national Park

This is one of the oldest and largest national parks in the USA. Yellowstone offers wildlife from bison, bull moose and bears to elk and marmots. It’s also Geyser country, “Old Faithful” being the most popular.

Redwood National Park

This is the home of the old-growth coast redwoods. Some tower over 300 feet and are over 2,000 years old. The park not only includes forest but rivers, streams, and over 37 miles of ocean along the Northern California Coast.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Hawaii’s Big Island is one of the few places where you can see active volcanoes close up. At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, you can view active lava flows, hike along the volcanoes, drive by the craters, or explore lava tubes. Two different volcanoes are part of this park: Mauna Loa and Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon stands alone in the annals of canyons. No other canyons have the scintillating, spiral-colored majesty of the Grand Canyon. It is over a mile deep, 13 to 18 miles wide and 227 miles long. The canyon is so large that it is really three distinct entities: the South Rim, the North Rim, and the Canyon Floor.

Everglades National Park

This 1.5 million acre park stretches across the southern tip of Florida and is the third largest National Park in the US. This park’s diverse eco-system contains fresh and salt water areas, prairies, forests and swamps. It’s also home to American alligators and crocodiles, sea turtles, birds, fish, and the endangered Florida panther.

Zion National Park

Bakpak Dave's personal favorite. Trek through knee to waist high water and between high cliff walls or check out the many monoliths, massive rock formations that extend up to 4,000 feet in the air from the road and the canyon floors. Or you can take a strenuous 14 mile hike to Kolob Arch, one of the longest arches in the world.

Canyonlands National Park

The largest of Utah’s parks, Canyonlands is set in a desert climate. It is probably the most untouched of the parks, thereby retaining its unique ruggedness.

Bryce National Park

This park is filled with hoodoos – pillars of rock like pinnacles and spires. The elevation here exceeds 8,000 feet. There are over 50 miles of hiking trails available.

Arches National Park

This park contains over 2,000 arches ranging in size from 3 feet to over 300. An underground salt bed, water, ice and extreme temperatures over the last 100 million years led to these formations.

For more information on any of these parks, visit www.nps.gov or call 1-800-365-CAMP.