Earlier this week we touched on the national parks mentioned in the book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Somehow, Mammoth Cave National Park didn't make the cut, and if you've been there, you know it should have. Help us compile a list of the top 100 national park locations to see before you die. We'll start the list.
* Mammoth Cave National Park. The longest cave in the world -- and still with no end in sight! -- this underground labyrinth presents geologic wonders sculpted down through the millenia by trickling waters.
* Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park. This geyser has been amazing viewers for hundreds of years.
* Half Dome, Yosemite National Park. Just making the trek to the top of this granite dome is something you'll never forget. Gazing down into the Yosemite Valley is another marvel.
* Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park. Why the architects of the cliff dwellings that drape Mesa Verde fled the region continues to be a mystery. Today the dwellings are a showcase of the tenacity and ingenuity of a long ago society.
* Logan Pass, Glacier National Park. While the Going-to-the-Sun Road is a main attraction for those visiting Glacier, stopping atop Logan Pass to snap photos of the ever-present mountain goats and to look at the whittling long-ago glaciers did to the surrounding mountains is an image that stays with you long after your vacation ends.
* The Racetrack, Death Valley National Park. True, it takes some determination to reach the Race Track, but when you pass Tea Kettle Junction and finally reach the playa with its rocks that mysteriously snake across the landscape, you're left with a mystery that you'll talk about for years.
* Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park. An idyllic setting on an island that is idyllic on its own, the pond and its pond house, where you can snack on over-sized popovers smothered with strawberry jam, or stick around for a lobster dinner, is one of the iconic settings in the National Park System.
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Grove of the Patriarchs at Rainier.
Having a buffalo herd suddenly shift to surround you at Yellowstone.
The solemn experience of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
The Hoh Rain Forest.
Climbing Star Dune in Great Sand Dunes National Park
Hiking along the Chilkoot Trail or strolling through the Historic District at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Whale watching in San Juan Island National Historical Park
Sea kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park
The Elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park
Wolf watching in Yellowstone National Park
I will also second:
The Hall of Mosses in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic NP
Hiking up the volcano in Hawai'i Volcanoes NP
and the Battlefield at Gettysburg NMP
A Spring float on the Buffalo National River to include camping on a gravel bar and watching the moonrise over the bluffs.
Places of Religion to Visit before You Die
Some would argue, and I would tend to agree, that all national parks are places of religion. But many sites in the national park system have specifically religious histories, and a number of these continue to serve explicitly religious purposes. Some of my favorites include:
The churches at all four of the primary locations in the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, San Antonio, Texas. Each of these Spanish colonial mission churches is unique with its own qualities: the largest and most popular is Mission San José; Mission Concepción has remarkable colonial-era ceiling paintings in one of the buildings; my favorite is Mission Espada, the smallest and most remote of the four sites.
Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark [**] in northern Wyoming. This ceremonial site is of unknown origin, and the specific ritual uses of its builders remain a mystery, but it is still an actively used sacred site for contemporary Native American communities.
[** Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark is not part of the National Park System. It is a U.S. Forest Service holding. Ed.]
The Ebenezer Baptist Church at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the historic home church of the civil rights leader, now preserved as a museum space; the Ebenezer congregation has a new church directly across the street. King’s tomb is next to the historic church.
The Chapel at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Built to serve troops stationed at Fort Yellowstone, the chapel was consecrated in 1913 and was the last building that the army built there. It has remained in more or less continuous use since then, currently utilized for weddings and regular Sunday morning services during the summer season.
The picturesque and widely photographed Chapel of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal place of worship in Grand Teton National Park.
The view of Wizard Island at Crater Lake.
Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch and the Windows Section at Arches National Park.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The Mud Pots at Yellowstone National Park.
Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde.
Mt. Rushmore.
The colors of the Badlands.
Painted Desert at the Petrified Forest.
So many to choose from...
For the SERIOUS hiker... hike to the bottom of the Black Canyon of Gunnison and back. you will never forget that hike.
Nor would you forget the hike from the South or North Rims of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado and back up!
What about Big Bend Nat'l Park in Tx? I've been there 3x and always find something new to enchant: javolinas, dagger yucca and the secret hot springs just to name a very few.