Is Petroglyph National Monument on your bucket list?/NPS
Summer's all but officially over (just ask folks in Montana, Wyoming or Colorado after this week's snowstorm!), and the main season for traveling is slipping away. Which means it's time to start planning next year's park explorations. And that begs the question: What in the National Park System is on your bucket list?
I've long been traveling to Yellowstone National Park, but it still holds unexplored areas I'd like to visit. But so does Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sequoia National Park, and certainly all the park units in Alaska.
Not to be overlooked are the cultural and historical units of the National Park System. Walking the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg National Military Park, or better understanding the determined colonialists who wintered over at Valley Forge National Historical Park by walking into the Spartan huts there, really connects you with key aspects of the country's history.
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site? El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail? Manzanar National Historic Site? Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park?
The list of possibilities is far from short: So many places to visit, so little time.
All that said, what's on your national parks bucket list?
Comments
Next summer we're rafting through the Grand Canyon to check off one big bucket list item. Before that I hope to visit Zion to hike there this fall.
Hi everyone. Long time reader, first time commenter.
Yosemite is first on my bucket list. I'd also like to get to Mt. Rainier, Arches (with Canyonlands?), Sequoia/King's Canyon, Olympic, Mesa Verde, Crater Lake and Great Smoky Mountains. Of course, I'd never say no to any park, but that's what I'd really like to see. Unfortunately, I don't drive and don't have a traveling companion at the moment, so I know I might not be able to get to alot of these. I'm hoping that Mt. Rainier and Arches might develop shuttle systems eventually while I would still be young enough to do the trails. They certainly sound like candidates from what I've read.
Lisa, Zion is probably my favorite park so far, with Glacier a close second. It was just such a fun place to hike, and the Virgin River just made it so unusual for a desert park. If you can get there, I'd also see Bryce Canyon the same trip. Interesting contrast, since you're on the canyon floor most of the time in Zion and on the rim most of the time at Bryce.
The other parks I've been to so far are Yellowstone, Grand Teton (shorter than I would have liked), Acadia, Rocky Mountain, Denali and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
I'd like to get to Isle Royal in Lake Superior, and maybe the Dry Tortugas. Ideally I'd like to fill my National Parks Passport.
Bruce, Dry Tortugas might actually be the next Park I get to. It's not a bucket list item for me, but my Mom wants to plan a family vacation to the Keys once Covid is under control. If that happens, I'll probably break off from the group for 9 hrs. (not sure if anyone else will be interested, especially considering the time commitment - I believe 4 hours on site and 5 hour round trip on the Yankee Freedom III from my research). I can't see being that close and not going.
The Alaska parks-I've been to over 300 NPS units-but none Alaska-some day I'll take enough leave to get up there for a couple of weeks.
Outside if visiting another country, one of my bucket list experiences is to experience a Dude Ranch operation and participate in moving cattle. I have been a horse lover and owner most of my life but have never been out west. My son has told me he wants to give me the gift of going to a Dude Ranch next year. im very excited and can't wait!
my husband and I explored park in Oregon and Washinton after flying out west to attend our nephews wedding. Living in Virginia we have explored the amazing eastern parks. As far north as Acadia and all the way down to Dry Tortugas (which was well worth the trip) we have been as far west as Natchez Trace, and hope next summer to head for the Grand Canyon and then north to Arches, Zion, Bryce Canyon. Anyone who hasn't been to Mamouth cave in Kentucky is missing a real treat!