You have to remember how large the U.S. is. It covers so many different terrains from swamps to glaciers, mountains to plains, forests to canyons and everything in between. Our population is just as diverse so with it is no wonder that different regions would appreciate the wonders of their areas and move to preserve what they cherish. Our National Parks number 423 in total and cover more than 84 million acres.
Yes. I think most would have to agree that the US is the geographical sweet spot of the world for it's diversity. Tropical climates ( Florida) , beaches ,mountains ,deserts , canyons, forests , prairie land
@@lindaeasley5606 Even in a state like Florida that's mostly tropical or sub tropical, temperatures and climate can widely vary just inside of the state. The northern parts can be well below freezing in the winter while on the same day the southern parts can be experiencing summer like weather
You underestimate the size of the formations in Bryce national park, its natural formations over time. Most national parks are natural, most man-made youll see there are specific and obvious tourist stops. National parks were created to protect the unique wildlife and geography.
The National Park System encompasses 424 national park sites in the United States. They span across more than 84 million acres, with parks in each state and extending into the territories, including parks in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.
No mention of Great Lakes area. Five enormous bodies of FRESH water that appear as oceans from the perspective of the beach. Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan has more sand, and higher dunes, than can be believed!
The coolest part is all of these parks are natural. America is a beautiful country from coast to coast. I will add that Acadia National Park is located in Maine which wasn't mentioned but is only 20 miles from where I live. It is amazing especially in the fall.
There are over 6,600 state park sites in the United States covering 14 million acres of land. These parks provide a wide range of recreation opportunities in accessible, relatively close- to-home settings.
It's always a fun ride to see someone who hasn't seen the depths of America's landscapes, since most of the TV and movie footage is in the big cities. Heck, I've lived here for 60 years and if it weren't for these videos I wouldn't know they exist either!
What most non-Americans don't know is that, besides lots of big national parks, in the US there are also lots of other nationally protected areas, like national preserves, national forests, national wilderness areas, and even national marine sanctuaries.
There are 63 National Parks proper and 423 National Park sites totaling 84 million acres. The 63 National Parks proper have over 50 million acres, almost the size of Great Britain. The Grand Canyon you were wondering about is 1.2 million acres.
General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located at an elevation of 2,109 m above sea level in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth. It is estimated to be around 2,200 to 2,700 years old. Wikipedia
Are Bristlecone Pines not single stemmed then? I know Aspens are a giant organism and that's why they don't count, but I never thought about Bristlecones being anything other than single stemmed trees. Methuselah, a Bristlecone in the Inyo National Forest in California has been dated to around 4800 years old. And Pando, the Quaking Aspen forest in Fishlake National Forest, Utah is estimated to be around 80,000 years old.
The fun thing is that after watching this, you'll know 19 more. Can't wait? Thought so.😀 Katie doesn't sound like she's from this side of the pond. The #2 park--Zion--has been mispronounced a bit too much in recent videos here. It rhymes with 'lion'; she pronounced it ZYE-ahn. Death Vly's Badwater Basin is 200'/61m below sea level, and has the record for the hottest place in the world. Yet, there's a 12,000'/3658m peak there, which is plenty high to be snow capped. The Redwoods are biggest in height, whereas the Sequoias are biggest by volume, and its General Sherman is the one you can drive through. I backpacked into Grand Canyon 3 times back in the '90s, and you're right--by the time you get to the bottom, you can't see the original rim where you started. At 7:24 in the Yellowstone section is the lower falls of the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (River). Mt. Rushmore, in Rapid City, SD, is a wonderful park, but right down the road is a mere state park by the name of Custer, which is spectacular because of the profusion of wildlife, including bison herds. Joshua trees are a species of yucca. Grand Teton is just an hour or so south of Yellowstone. This must be an old video, because White Sands was upgraded to a national park in 2019. Oops! Not YO-suh-might, but yo-SEM-ih-tea. Bryce Canyon's formations, called hoodoos, are caused by the freeze-thaw cycle, which chips away at the rocks. This is another park with dark sky status. At around 14:40, the arch in the Arches section is Delicate Arch, and is about 100'/30m high.
Redwoods are the tallest, Sequoia's are the biggest in volume. The Sequoia's are a humbling experience. You stand in front of them and realize it was there 2000 years ago. Bryce Canyon is the most bizarre place I've been to. It really 'feels' prehistoric. Plus it's so pristine, it almost looks man-made. Like Disney made it or it's The Flintstone's movie.. Kept thinking a some flying dinosaur was going to swoop down and pluck me from the ground.....
Important to realize for travelers from europe that America is BIG.... I ran into a couple in the Phoenix international airport who said they wanted to visit the Grand Canyon.. and they only were going to be in the area for a few days.. Well.. first it would take at least a full day's drive up the steep 17 freeway to flagstaff.. then another long drive west to the park. at short notice I would bet no rooms or cabins avail.. It takes at least 2 days to really see the Canyon... early morning and sunset views are a must, and don't mess with the ELK!
I don't mean to sound awful, but I just drove from Gallup NM to Redlands CA on Saturday in 10 hrs, through a very snowy Flagstaff. I took the 40W to the 17S, to the 10W. A full day up from Phx to Flag is nonsense. I used to drive from Sky Harbor to my Uncle's ranch in Ash Fork in a few hours all of the time. Sometimes, we'd even pull a big toy hauler. I'm sorry, I just disagree with your estimate of how long it would take to get from Phx to Flagstaff and then on to the Canyon. It doesn't line up with my experience.
I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked across to the far side, not really able to grasp the scale, with no frame of reference. Then I looked down. Thousands of feet below where I stood, out over the center of the canyon, was an airplane. Astonishing. Give my best to BP3. FYI, I spent the day working on the printing press that we call BP7 ( and it is in fact British )
I have been to all of these parks and some others. The state parks are vastly underrated. There are many of them and some are really nice. I often canp in a county park that is very good as well.
Just about everyone in the world knows Yellowstone. Which stands to reason. Since it's the oldest national in the WORLD. It's the very first park ever created by ANY nation.
These little pictures that you so enjoyed of Glacier National Park did not do it justice. Glacier is a-maz-ing. A must-visit-at-least-once-in-your-life type of place.
The combined acreage of the National and State park systems is larger than most countries. People used to dig on Americans not having passports but in reality, you can visit every climate there is on just a State-issued ID - from ancient forests, wind blown deserts and snow capped mountains to tropical islands, beaches, jungles and more. Heck, until relatively recently you didn't even need a passport to travel to Mexico and Canada.
Yes, I think the sole reason for going abroad for Americans would be to experience a foreign culture. But most travelers just want a vacation and don't care so much about that foreign experience. Europeans for instance don't have as varied of a landscape as the U.S. does, so they have to leave the country to experience something different. Not so in the U.S.
"Only 40% of Americans have passports". Yeah, but in real terms that's about 120 MILLION Americans. More than the combined populations of the UK and Italy...
Now you have an idea as to why Americans don't travel abroad much, and why most don't bother to get passports. Why should we when there is so much scenery and culture within the 3000 miles of 48 contiguous states? And then there is the incredible landscapes of Alaska and Hawaii!
Another amazing sight to see is the Hot Air Balloon Festival in New Mexico! Thousands of these balloons take flight and fill the skies with amazing colors! Alaska has amazing scenery and in Pennsylvania, Longeood Gardens is a beautiful place to visit with it's immense garden landscapes including many water fixtures, fountains and hiking trails!
Y'all were amazed by the size of one of the parks, but she didn't mention Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve which is 13.2 million acres in size. It's larger than Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined!
The Everglades is actually a large slow moving river and not a swamp. It starts at Lake Okeechobee and flows south covering most of the entire width of the lower part of Florida.
As an American I have traveled to Bryce National Park, which is gorgeous! I went in April and the Temps were pleasant during the day and a bit chilly at night. One of the things I learned traveling out west was to always have a bottle of water. Although southern Utah gives off dry heat, it is easy to get dehydrated since there is little humidity in the air. Since I live in Ohio, visiting Bryce really was like being in another world.
There used to be a giant Sequoia tree called the Wawona Tunnel Tree in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, but it fell down during a winter storm in the winter of 1969-70.
Please remember that the parks have many wild animals such as bears, wolves, cougars, moose and bison....never mistake the animals as zoo type, they are wild and can maime/kill you.
I’ve been to maybe 5 or 6 of theses parks. In my opinion, Bryce Canyon is the most breathtaking, and beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The light orange hue of the hoodoos and spires are amazing. It’s otherworldly.
Actually with a flight to either Las Vegas or Salt Lake City you can in one week visit, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Grand Canyon and Canyonlands National Parks in a circle tour. This will also take you thru monument valley where many western movies were filmed. In my opinion, Utah is the most scenic state in the USA.
I used to live in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I have been on many of the hiking trails. Amazing views and beautiful scenery. I am so glad it was mentioned on this list.
My old stomping grounds! Death Valley!! Also LOVED Sequoia National Park, when you stand next to the giant red woods you feel like an insect. Muir Woods is also awesome. Joshua Tree is breath taking too. I remember many times camping in the desert and getting up carefully, often there were scorpions and or rattle snakes UNDER your sleeping bag. The Great Smokey Mountains, where Chuey and us now live, well spitting distance anyway, is GORGEOUS! Chuey needs some metal & Hank needs some country!
Fun fact: it is a 200+ mile (338km) drive from the Grand Canyon South Rim to North Rim. Closest real towns is Williams and Flagstaff (90 miles) . Vegas is around 200 miles. Phoenix is 215 miles. In Arizona be ready for vastness. Saguaro National Park near Tucson is amazing. Tombstone is nearby. So is the Titan Missle Museum and Pima Air Museum.
I'm (more or less) a Washington State native (I moved here in 1978) and was going to "correct" you about ash trees in the forest. Turns out that there ARE some ash trees native to the state. However, our western forests are predominantly coniferous, with Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock as the main species, along with the deciduous Vine maple. ETA: Hemlock are both coniferous and deciduous.
@@joshcorley9607 By that definition, I am a native of Texas, even though we left for Japan when I was 6 weeks old. I have lived in the same town in Washington pretty much continually since I was 9 and I'm now 55; that's as close as I can get to being native.
I'm Afraid Zion Canyon got a bit of a short shift here! When you are in the Zion Park Canyon, the floor is flat and between 300 to 5 yards wide, but the Perpendicular Walls on each side reach up to 2,600 feet in height (the Empire State Building in NYC is Only 1,450 feet tall!) The tour bus windows wrap around the roof edge and meet in the center to avoid blocking the view!
Grand Canyon is one continuous canyon. The best view is from the South Rim. The Colorado River runs through it. You can river raft down the river. Or, you can ride a mule down the canyon. Mt. Rushmore is in South Dakota. You can drive directly from Yellowstone Park to Grand Teton Park.
The Grand Canyon is 1 mile deep. You can rent a donkey to ride down the canyon winding sides and camp out overnight. The have a tour guide that takes you down & back up. The Canyon gorge is many miles long.
Sounds like the distance from major cities was a high valued commodity. Alaska must be a bit too far off the beaten path for most 'tourists'. It's a shame. The diversity and expanse of the park system should make each park your ultimate destination and not just a day-trip for a fair-weather fan. My daughter, a biologist, lived up there for a short period. I regret not having taken a trip to visit her and the state when she was there.
This was only a top 20; obviously not all states are going to be represented! The thing is that ANY list of "the best" is going to be subjective. I found it intriguing to see how this list differs from other "best" lists. Based on the accent, I'm assuming this is a list compiled by someone from the UK. It's fascinating to me to see what an "outsider" would find to be the best. Also, as someone born in the USA over 50 years ago, I have to admit that I haven't been to all of these parks and I would hesitate to make a list like this; I can only judge by pictures and reputation for SO many!. I'll agree that MY top 20 would include Volcanoes National Park but, as others have stated, there are 423 National Parks. Have YOU been to all of them?
Hey guys always enjoy your videos. We do have beautiful parks here and I would love to see them all. Yes BP2 there is a tree where you can drive through and it is in California. I love the Great Smoky Mountains National park. The scenery is beautiful. Thanks for sharing 🤗🤗
You are right! General Sherman in the biggest tree in the WORLD! Getting the actual size of those monsters in a photo is the hardest thing to do. The people in that one photo are standing quite a long distance away from the tree, so the perspective is way off. If you see them in real life, you would be amazed at their magnificence. If there is anyway you can get to California once in your life, I would seriously recommend that seeing the Giant Redwoods or Giant Sequoia as one of your bucket lists. They are mind blowing.
Thank you for clarifying this information for them! I live 18 miles from the Sherman tree and want it to get its fair dues as the largest tree in the world!! 😊
@@billgee4237 I am in Chico. Have not had the opportunity to get to the Sequoia's but I have been to the Giant Redwoods on many occasions and they will always hold a bright spot in my heart, if only because I also love the coast.
Chico is a great place to live too! I used to stay there frequently for work. I hope you can visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs some day. I’d say the best part is that once one hikes a short distance from the drivable tourist spots like the Grant tree or Sherman tree, another person won’t be seen all day. Great solitude unlike many other NPs like Yosemite. And in the summer when it’s so hot in the valley, the temperatures up there are very pleasant.
I’ve hiked the 40+ miles rim-to-rim-to-rim of the Grand Canyon. I found out there are few places where you can see the Colorado River from the rim of the canyon.
Was really surprised the only park from Washington they showed was north cascades.... Mt rainier, Mt Shuksan, The Hoh rainforest, all of them are a lot more beautiful, Also its only rainy in the fall and winter, in spring and summer its remarkably hot and sunny.
Gettysburg's National Park is a must. Walk the actual battle grounds where Americans fought for the soul of the country. Unfortunately the war still rages. Glacier National Park is also a must. You drive through it on the Going to the Sun highway. It's called the Alps of North America.
The General Sherman tree is the largest tree in the world by volume of wood. By the way, they didn’t show a view of it. The coast redwoods can be taller, but the giant sequoias are much larger in circumference. Bryce Canyon is made of limestone that has been weathered over the centuries to create the hoodoos.
Sequoias are the largest trees in the world, in both diameter and height. The only trees that come close are also in America and are the Redwoods, also in California.
Unless I somehow missed it, they left out two incredible parks, Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Park both in Washington State. Mt. Rainier itself is the largest glaciated peak in the contiguous US, there are two historic lodges, the National Park in at Longmire and the Paradise Inn at Paradise. The Jackson Visitor Center is also at Paradise. Climbers training for Mt. Everest use Rainier as a training climb. The Olympic National Park includes the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the rainiest places on earth and has incredible peaks, rain forest and glacial lakes and it’s western side inches some beaches with unbelievable rock formations.
The General Sherman Tree is the world's largest tree. It stands 275 feet (83 m) tall, and is over 36 feet (11 m) in diameter at the base. Sequoia trunks remain wide high up. Sixty feet above the base, the Sherman Tree is 17.5 feet (5.3 m) in diameter.
25 Best National Parks in the USA, by touropia and it's 29:55 long. You guys are doing a great job, it's just that this video missed a lot of the true beauty of these parks.
@will robinson Cheers Will, we had a few recommendations for that video, we may break it into 2 parts, but we will give it a watch, we were impressed with what we watched on this one. I recently watched a documentary "Valley Uprising" about climbing in Yosemite Park, that helped to put into perspective how huge those rocks are and how brave people can be. Cheers for now
@@BritPopsReactI have seen that movie too and have been to Yosemite….it’s just amazing to experience it in person. A friend of mine is a climber and he had pictures of when he did the climb in Yosemite, he had seen the movie and knew many of the people featured in it.
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest tree by trunk volume in the World! Its cousin, the Coast Redwood, is 30 meters taller but not as large in diameter. I have been in both parks.
That video didn't do North Cascades National Park justice at all. The park is known for its never-ending mountain peaks and brightly colored alpine lakes and the video didn't show any of them.
There are many more National Parks. They didn't even touch Alaska. In fact, there are 423 parks covering 84 million acres. There are also thousands of state parks.
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is a drainage basin of creeks that flow into the Colorado River; mostly fhom the North side, but there is the Havasu Creek (and Falls) on the South side. The only way to see the falls is to hike or go on horseback. The creek an the trails there, are all on Private Native American lands and permission to enter is controlled by the local tribal elders; but they usually welcome visitors!
I got the Bob Ross reference, Bob used to be in the US Air Force and he was a Drill Sgt if you could believe that. I used to be a Drill Sgt also and I even find that hard to believe
The largest US national park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in the state of Alaska. It covers 13.2 million acres, which is about 35.7% the size of England and Wales.
such as Dinosaur Valley State Park in GLen Rose Texas. Real dinosaur footprints in the river bed. You can play in the river where dinosaurs walked, and if the water is low enough you can see the footprints well enough to just sit in them It is a fun way to spend a day in the summer heat of Texas
All lists are subjective, but I'll generally agree this list is a good representation. HOWEVER..., these images would lead you to believe they're all void of wildlife except for the occasional elk or crocodile. Flocks of birds, free roaming bison, rams, bears and wolves are all abundant and viewable. Some are close to the park roads and some are afar in their natural habitat. Some are well hidden and can be quite dangerous. Except for the occasional moron who wants to take a selfie with a one-ton bison, few visitors will get close enough to get injured. Off-seasons can be particularly satisfying for wildlife photographers.
I'm not sure I want to go all the way out to Wyoming just to see an "erupting geezer" (7:15). This must be a British pronunciation, LoL. We know these as geysers, as in "guy-zer." Kidding aside, this is a pretty good list. Pay attention to the guidance she is providing on when to go to these parks. Don't try to do anything strenuous, for example, in Death Valley or Joshua Tree in the dead middle of summer (no pun intended). Also, your major tourist parks (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite, for example) will be overrun with people at the height of the summer.
dude there are dozens of geysers, and thermal pools all different too. Yellowstone is just awesome. It has two totally different areas The western half of the park is the geyser field and the eastern halve is all woods, waterfalls, canyons etc. You can see Grand Teton, which adjoins Yellowstone on the same 7 day pass. There
Bryce Canyon was and isformed by the constant seeping and freezing of water down into the very porous sedimentary rock there. See, it used to be a lake bed. And because it gets very cold at night in the desert, even in the dead of Summer, the water freezes within the rock, which then expands and cracks the rock open. Repeat this process on an almkst daily basis and you can see how this Park can rapidly change over short periods of time.
No, the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon are not man-made. Bryce Canyon National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
How would that Even be possible?? It's all from Mother Nature!! Beautiful things happen to sandstone when you add water and wind. Throw in just a "few" Year's and you could get Delicate Arch. Lol man-made. 🙄
@@lianabaddley8217 ... That's what the guy in the reaction video asked. I simply provided an answer. If you want to roll your eyes, roll them at him, not me.
@@buddystewart2020 I'm sorry. I was not rolling my eyes at you. Just also agreeing with you. I know they make a LOT of movies here in Utah to get those otherworldly effects. They can't actually film a movie on Mars yet. So they come here. To see them in person though that is something else entirely.
“Mount Rushmore is known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers" (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe) or "Cougar Mountain" (Igmútȟaŋka Pahá);[20][21] but American settlers knew it variously as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain and Keystone Cliffs. As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was on the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.[22]”
Comments on some of the parks I've been to that were on the list (and a few that aren't but should have been): - The Grand Canyon has to be seen in person to really get a full sense of the scale. It's about 10 miles across and more than a mile deep. - Mount Rushmore is neat to see (it's in western South Dakota), but Badlands (a bit further east) and the Black Hills Petrified Forest (not to be confused with Petrified Forest National Park, which is in Arizona) are more interesting to me. - Didn't get to see much of Grand Teton when I went there (it was around the 2017 total eclipse, and the park was completely packed), but what I did see was gorgeous. It's adjacent to Yellowstone, which makes for a nice dual trip. - Bryce Canyon might be my favorite of all. The rock spires are eroded by constant cycles of water embedded in the rock freezing and thawing, as the temperature is almost always above freezing during the day but is typically below freezing about 200 nights a year. - Arches and Canyonlands are both near Moab, Utah. I think I prefer Canyonlands, which has some incredible cliffs and canyons, but Arches is also spectacular. - Rocky Mountain is impressive. The altitude takes some time to get used to - Estes Park (a small resort town at the east end) is at about 2300m, but parts of US 34 (the main route through the park) climb as high as 3700m. - Hawaii Volcanoes is fascinating. There are two active volcanoes in the park, one of which has been erupting nearly continuously for 40 years (apart from about a 2-year break from late 2018 to the end of 2020), occasionally allowing views of a lava lake in the summit crater from the visitors' center or of lava flowing into the ocean. - Carlsbad Caverns is a giant cave complex in New Mexico with some pretty incredible formations. You can take an elevator down to the main room (or up once done exploring) or follow the switchbacks of the Natural Entrance (the trail is about 2km long with a 230m elevation change - roughly the height of the Leadenhall Building in London).
If you've ever seen the sea stacks along the coasts of the Hebrides, the stacks of Bryce Canyon NP are probably the result of similar erosion in eons past.
The Giant Sequoia trees are the largest trees in the world and they are located in Sequoia National Park. These trees are also in other parks in the western US as well. Do not forget the giant Redwood trees as well in Redwood National Park. Both parks are in California.
Bryce Canyon is made up of red sandstone fornations called "Hoodoos." North Cascades an Olympic National Parks are both forested mountain parks with lots of hiking trails and photo points. Both are in the State of Washington, both get lots of rain throughout the year. On the East side of North Cascades N. P. is Lake Chelan, a 60 mile long by 1 to 2 mile wide gem of a boat ride if you like Windemere in Cumberland.
New York's Adirondack Park, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park COMBINED. It is a protected park in the U.S. state of New York. It’s known for its fall foliage viewing and forested mountains, with hiking trails crossing the Adirondack High Peaks near Lake Placid. 9,375 SQUARE MILES IN SIZE.
Let me tell you, this video showed the worst picture of the Grand Canyon. I took a helicopter ride down the middle of the canyon. It is colorful and beautiful!! We landed on a plateau and had a champagne lunch. I took pictures of other helicopters coming in, and they looked like little mosquitos. That’s how big the canyon is. I hope you will look up better pictures of the Grand Canyon. I think you might really be amazed at its beauty. Just had to let you know.
This is why a lot of Americans never leave this country. It would take a lifetime to see everything.
That part. I’m 31 and have been traveling the states and North America/carribean for 10 years. It’s VERY hard seeing all the states and these cities.
No Name, I’m 67 and have not seen nearly enough of it.
That's why I will never leave! Unless I have to defect to Canada.......
Chuey’s mama, hahahahahahahaha…..!!
@@chueysmama2622- News Flash - Canada doesn’t want you. Stay put.
You have to remember how large the U.S. is. It covers so many different terrains from swamps to glaciers, mountains to plains, forests to canyons and everything in between. Our population is just as diverse so with it is no wonder that different regions would appreciate the wonders of their areas and move to preserve what they cherish. Our National Parks number 423 in total and cover more than 84 million acres.
And that doesn't even cover all of the super cool state parks.
Yes. I think most would have to agree that the US is the geographical sweet spot of the world for it's diversity.
Tropical climates ( Florida) , beaches ,mountains ,deserts , canyons, forests , prairie land
@@lindaeasley5606 Even in a state like Florida that's mostly tropical or sub tropical, temperatures and climate can widely vary just inside of the state. The northern parts can be well below freezing in the winter while on the same day the southern parts can be experiencing summer like weather
You underestimate the size of the formations in Bryce national park, its natural formations over time. Most national parks are natural, most man-made youll see there are specific and obvious tourist stops. National parks were created to protect the unique wildlife and geography.
The National Park System encompasses 424 national park sites in the United States. They span across more than 84 million acres, with parks in each state and extending into the territories, including parks in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.
No mention of Great Lakes area. Five enormous bodies of FRESH water that appear as oceans from the perspective of the beach. Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan has more sand, and higher dunes, than can be believed!
It's a shame they did not show the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park, in western Washington. I'd recommend you check it out. Stunning.
Yes, the only rain forest in the US should be on this list
The coolest part is all of these parks are natural. America is a beautiful country from coast to coast. I will add that Acadia National Park is located in Maine which wasn't mentioned but is only 20 miles from where I live. It is amazing especially in the fall.
The colors are all natural.
I have been to Bryce Canyon NP. It's a short drive from Vegas and is spectacular. Great easy hiking through the HooDoos.
There are over 6,600 state park sites in the United States covering 14 million acres of land. These parks provide a wide range of recreation opportunities in accessible, relatively close- to-home settings.
It's always a fun ride to see someone who hasn't seen the depths of America's landscapes, since most of the TV and movie footage is in the big cities. Heck, I've lived here for 60 years and if it weren't for these videos I wouldn't know they exist either!
What most non-Americans don't know is that, besides lots of big national parks, in the US there are also lots of other nationally protected areas, like national preserves, national forests, national wilderness areas, and even national marine sanctuaries.
There are 63 National Parks proper and 423 National Park sites totaling 84 million acres. The 63 National Parks proper have over 50 million acres, almost the size of Great Britain. The Grand Canyon you were wondering about is 1.2 million acres.
And the there are the State Parks.
General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located at an elevation of 2,109 m above sea level in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth. It is estimated to be around 2,200 to 2,700 years old. Wikipedia
Are Bristlecone Pines not single stemmed then? I know Aspens are a giant organism and that's why they don't count, but I never thought about Bristlecones being anything other than single stemmed trees. Methuselah, a Bristlecone in the Inyo National Forest in California has been dated to around 4800 years old. And Pando, the Quaking Aspen forest in Fishlake National Forest, Utah is estimated to be around 80,000 years old.
Finally someone having an understanding about the geology of the Grand Canyon. Glad you two enjoyed the video.
Petrified Forest National Park would have been a good one to add to that list of parks.
The fun thing is that after watching this, you'll know 19 more. Can't wait? Thought so.😀 Katie doesn't sound like she's from this side of the pond.
The #2 park--Zion--has been mispronounced a bit too much in recent videos here. It rhymes with 'lion'; she pronounced it ZYE-ahn.
Death Vly's Badwater Basin is 200'/61m below sea level, and has the record for the hottest place in the world. Yet, there's a 12,000'/3658m peak there, which is plenty high to be snow capped.
The Redwoods are biggest in height, whereas the Sequoias are biggest by volume, and its General Sherman is the one you can drive through.
I backpacked into Grand Canyon 3 times back in the '90s, and you're right--by the time you get to the bottom, you can't see the original rim where you started.
At 7:24 in the Yellowstone section is the lower falls of the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (River).
Mt. Rushmore, in Rapid City, SD, is a wonderful park, but right down the road is a mere state park by the name of Custer, which is spectacular because of the profusion of wildlife, including bison herds.
Joshua trees are a species of yucca.
Grand Teton is just an hour or so south of Yellowstone.
This must be an old video, because White Sands was upgraded to a national park in 2019.
Oops! Not YO-suh-might, but yo-SEM-ih-tea.
Bryce Canyon's formations, called hoodoos, are caused by the freeze-thaw cycle, which chips away at the rocks. This is another park with dark sky status.
At around 14:40, the arch in the Arches section is Delicate Arch, and is about 100'/30m high.
Redwoods are the tallest, Sequoia's are the biggest in volume. The Sequoia's are a humbling experience. You stand in front of them and realize it was there 2000 years ago. Bryce Canyon is the most bizarre place I've been to. It really 'feels' prehistoric. Plus it's so pristine, it almost looks man-made. Like Disney made it or it's The Flintstone's movie.. Kept thinking a some flying dinosaur was going to swoop down and pluck me from the ground.....
Important to realize for travelers from europe that America is BIG.... I ran into a couple in the Phoenix international airport who said they wanted to visit the Grand Canyon.. and they only were going to be in the area for a few days.. Well.. first it would take at least a full day's drive up the steep 17 freeway to flagstaff.. then another long drive west to the park. at short notice I would bet no rooms or cabins avail.. It takes at least 2 days to really see the Canyon... early morning and sunset views are a must, and don't mess with the ELK!
I don't mean to sound awful, but I just drove from Gallup NM to Redlands CA on Saturday in 10 hrs, through a very snowy Flagstaff. I took the 40W to the 17S, to the 10W.
A full day up from Phx to Flag is nonsense.
I used to drive from Sky Harbor to my Uncle's ranch in Ash Fork in a few hours all of the time. Sometimes, we'd even pull a big toy hauler.
I'm sorry, I just disagree with your estimate of how long it would take to get from Phx to Flagstaff and then on to the Canyon. It doesn't line up with my experience.
@Lyngus Robb no problem.. we all have different driving comfort levels, but driving up 17 in the snow!!!
@@lyngusrobb5323 Agree. I live in Phoenix area. About 2 1/2 hours to Flagstaff.
I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked across to the far side, not really able to grasp the scale, with no frame of reference. Then I looked down. Thousands of feet below where I stood, out over the center of the canyon, was an airplane. Astonishing. Give my best to BP3. FYI, I spent the day working on the printing press that we call BP7 ( and it is in fact British )
I have been to all of these parks and some others. The state parks are vastly underrated. There are many of them and some are really nice. I often canp in a county park that is very good as well.
Just about everyone in the world knows Yellowstone. Which stands to reason. Since it's the oldest national in the WORLD. It's the very first park ever created by ANY nation.
No it isnt.
These little pictures that you so enjoyed of Glacier National Park did not do it justice. Glacier is a-maz-ing. A must-visit-at-least-once-in-your-life type of place.
Each park has enough interesting information for its own video. Americas park systems, National, state, and city, are amazing!
The combined acreage of the National and State park systems is larger than most countries. People used to dig on Americans not having passports but in reality, you can visit every climate there is on just a State-issued ID - from ancient forests, wind blown deserts and snow capped mountains to tropical islands, beaches, jungles and more. Heck, until relatively recently you didn't even need a passport to travel to Mexico and Canada.
Yes, I think the sole reason for going abroad for Americans would be to experience a foreign culture. But most travelers just want a vacation and don't care so much about that foreign experience. Europeans for instance don't have as varied of a landscape as the U.S. does, so they have to leave the country to experience something different. Not so in the U.S.
"Only 40% of Americans have passports". Yeah, but in real terms that's about 120 MILLION Americans. More than the combined populations of the UK and Italy...
Now you have an idea as to why Americans don't travel abroad much, and why most don't bother to get passports. Why should we when there is so much scenery and culture within the 3000 miles of 48 contiguous states? And then there is the incredible landscapes of Alaska and Hawaii!
Another amazing sight to see is the Hot Air Balloon Festival in New Mexico! Thousands of these balloons take flight and fill the skies with amazing colors! Alaska has amazing scenery and in Pennsylvania, Longeood Gardens is a beautiful place to visit with it's immense garden landscapes including many water fixtures, fountains and hiking trails!
I retired and travel the country from one National Park to another, and rate Crater Lake in Oregon as one of the most spectacular parks anywhere.
Y'all were amazed by the size of one of the parks, but she didn't mention Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve which is 13.2 million acres in size. It's larger than Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined!
The Everglades is actually a large slow moving river and not a swamp. It starts at Lake Okeechobee and flows south covering most of the entire width of the lower part of Florida.
Oh, those erupting geezers!
As an American I have traveled to Bryce National Park, which is gorgeous! I went in April and the Temps were pleasant during the day and a bit chilly at night. One of the things I learned traveling out west was to always have a bottle of water. Although southern Utah gives off dry heat, it is easy to get dehydrated since there is little humidity in the air. Since I live in Ohio, visiting Bryce really was like being in another world.
There used to be a giant Sequoia tree called the Wawona Tunnel Tree in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, but it fell down during a winter storm in the winter of 1969-70.
Please remember that the parks have many wild animals such as bears, wolves, cougars, moose and bison....never mistake the animals as zoo type, they are wild and can maime/kill you.
I’ve been to maybe 5 or 6 of theses parks. In my opinion, Bryce Canyon is the most breathtaking, and beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The light orange hue of the hoodoos and spires are amazing. It’s otherworldly.
There is a reason that most Americans don't travel abroad, it would take most of a lifetime to see all there is right here.
Actually with a flight to either Las Vegas or Salt Lake City you can in one week visit, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Grand Canyon and Canyonlands National Parks in a circle tour. This will also take you thru monument valley where many western movies were filmed. In my opinion, Utah is the most scenic state in the USA.
I would highly recommend Acadia National Park up in Maine. Just beautiful!
I used to live in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I have been on many of the hiking trails. Amazing views and beautiful scenery. I am so glad it was mentioned on this list.
My old stomping grounds! Death Valley!! Also LOVED Sequoia National Park, when you stand next to the giant red woods you feel like an insect. Muir Woods is also awesome. Joshua Tree is breath taking too. I remember many times camping in the desert and getting up carefully, often there were scorpions and or rattle snakes UNDER your sleeping bag. The Great Smokey Mountains, where Chuey and us now live, well spitting distance anyway, is GORGEOUS! Chuey needs some metal & Hank needs some country!
Just an FYI the US has 63 national parks and 154 national forests to visit. Every state also has state parks and forests.
Fun fact: it is a 200+ mile (338km) drive from the Grand Canyon South Rim to North Rim. Closest real towns is Williams and Flagstaff (90 miles) . Vegas is around 200 miles. Phoenix is 215 miles. In Arizona be ready for vastness. Saguaro National Park near Tucson is amazing. Tombstone is nearby. So is the Titan Missle Museum and Pima Air Museum.
There are so many more parks out there, it will take your breath away!
I'm (more or less) a Washington State native (I moved here in 1978) and was going to "correct" you about ash trees in the forest. Turns out that there ARE some ash trees native to the state. However, our western forests are predominantly coniferous, with Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock as the main species, along with the deciduous Vine maple. ETA: Hemlock are both coniferous and deciduous.
Native by definition is where you are born
@@joshcorley9607 By that definition, I am a native of Texas, even though we left for Japan when I was 6 weeks old. I have lived in the same town in Washington pretty much continually since I was 9 and I'm now 55; that's as close as I can get to being native.
I'm Afraid Zion Canyon got a bit of a short shift here! When you are in the Zion Park Canyon, the floor is flat and between 300 to 5 yards wide, but the Perpendicular Walls on each side reach up to 2,600 feet in height (the Empire State Building in NYC is Only 1,450 feet tall!) The tour bus windows wrap around the roof edge and meet in the center to avoid blocking the view!
There are 63 formal National Parks. There are 423 sites under the NAP System encompassing over 84 million acres.
Grand Canyon is one continuous canyon. The best view is from the South Rim. The Colorado River runs through it. You can river raft down the river. Or, you can ride a mule down the canyon. Mt. Rushmore is in South Dakota. You can drive directly from Yellowstone Park to Grand Teton Park.
The Grand Canyon is 1 mile deep. You can rent a donkey to ride down the canyon winding sides and camp out overnight. The have a tour guide that takes you down & back up. The Canyon gorge is many miles long.
She ignored Alaska and Hawaii -- for shame! 🙂
AND Crater Lake. What I found funny was Yellowstone was like #18. 18? Really?!
Sounds like the distance from major cities was a high valued commodity. Alaska must be a bit too far off the beaten path for most 'tourists'. It's a shame. The diversity and expanse of the park system should make each park your ultimate destination and not just a day-trip for a fair-weather fan. My daughter, a biologist, lived up there for a short period. I regret not having taken a trip to visit her and the state when she was there.
@@LibertyWolf1 I don't think these were in any sort of order, just a list.
Isn't Niagra Falls a National Park also?
This was only a top 20; obviously not all states are going to be represented!
The thing is that ANY list of "the best" is going to be subjective. I found it intriguing to see how this list differs from other "best" lists. Based on the accent, I'm assuming this is a list compiled by someone from the UK. It's fascinating to me to see what an "outsider" would find to be the best.
Also, as someone born in the USA over 50 years ago, I have to admit that I haven't been to all of these parks and I would hesitate to make a list like this; I can only judge by pictures and reputation for SO many!.
I'll agree that MY top 20 would include Volcanoes National Park but, as others have stated, there are 423 National Parks. Have YOU been to all of them?
Hey guys always enjoy your videos. We do have beautiful parks here and I would love to see them all. Yes BP2 there is a tree where you can drive through and it is in California. I love the Great Smoky Mountains National park. The scenery is beautiful. Thanks for sharing 🤗🤗
You are right! General Sherman in the biggest tree in the WORLD! Getting the actual size of those monsters in a photo is the hardest thing to do. The people in that one photo are standing quite a long distance away from the tree, so the perspective is way off. If you see them in real life, you would be amazed at their magnificence. If there is anyway you can get to California once in your life, I would seriously recommend that seeing the Giant Redwoods or Giant Sequoia as one of your bucket lists. They are mind blowing.
Thank you for clarifying this information for them! I live 18 miles from the Sherman tree and want it to get its fair dues as the largest tree in the world!! 😊
@@billgee4237 I am in Chico. Have not had the opportunity to get to the Sequoia's but I have been to the Giant Redwoods on many occasions and they will always hold a bright spot in my heart, if only because I also love the coast.
Chico is a great place to live too! I used to stay there frequently for work. I hope you can visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs some day. I’d say the best part is that once one hikes a short distance from the drivable tourist spots like the Grant tree or Sherman tree, another person won’t be seen all day. Great solitude unlike many other NPs like Yosemite. And in the summer when it’s so hot in the valley, the temperatures up there are very pleasant.
I’ve hiked the 40+ miles rim-to-rim-to-rim of the Grand Canyon. I found out there are few places where you can see the Colorado River from the rim of the canyon.
Wow.. impressive!!.. amazing you did that :)
Adirondack State Park in NY is as big as Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon COMBINED, Absolutely gorgeous country in NY State
Was really surprised the only park from Washington they showed was north cascades.... Mt rainier, Mt Shuksan, The Hoh rainforest, all of them are a lot more beautiful, Also its only rainy in the fall and winter, in spring and summer its remarkably hot and sunny.
Gettysburg's National Park is a must. Walk the actual battle grounds where Americans fought for the soul of the country. Unfortunately the war still rages. Glacier National Park is also a must. You drive through it on the Going to the Sun highway. It's called the Alps of North America.
Yes, they're the largest trees on the planet, both in height (Redwoods) and total mass (Sequoias).
The General Sherman tree is the largest tree in the world by volume of wood. By the way, they didn’t show a view of it. The coast redwoods can be taller, but the giant sequoias are much larger in circumference.
Bryce Canyon is made of limestone that has been weathered over the centuries to create the hoodoos.
Sequoias are the largest trees in the world, in both diameter and height. The only trees that come close are also in America and are the Redwoods, also in California.
Not quite accurate. Redwoods are the tallest, Sequoias are the largest by volume.
Bob Ross, drummer of the Eagles 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Unless I somehow missed it, they left out two incredible parks, Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Park both in Washington State. Mt. Rainier itself is the largest glaciated peak in the contiguous US, there are two historic lodges, the National Park in at Longmire and the Paradise Inn at Paradise. The Jackson Visitor Center is also at Paradise. Climbers training for Mt. Everest use Rainier as a training climb. The Olympic National Park includes the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the rainiest places on earth and has incredible peaks, rain forest and glacial lakes and it’s western side inches some beaches with unbelievable rock formations.
left out Mammoth Cave too. Although there are 2 of these videos so your two may b e on the other video
The General Sherman Tree is the world's largest tree. It stands 275 feet (83 m) tall, and is over 36 feet (11 m) in diameter at the base. Sequoia trunks remain wide high up. Sixty feet above the base, the Sherman Tree is 17.5 feet (5.3 m) in diameter.
25 Best National Parks in the USA, by touropia and it's 29:55 long. You guys are doing a great job, it's just that this video missed a lot of the true beauty of these parks.
@will robinson
Cheers Will, we had a few recommendations for that video, we may break it into 2 parts, but we will give it a watch, we were impressed with what we watched on this one.
I recently watched a documentary "Valley Uprising" about climbing in Yosemite Park, that helped to put into perspective how huge those rocks are and how brave people can be.
Cheers for now
@@BritPopsReact Sounds great mate, keep up the good work.
@@BritPopsReactI have seen that movie too and have been to Yosemite….it’s just amazing to experience it in person. A friend of mine is a climber and he had pictures of when he did the climb in Yosemite, he had seen the movie and knew many of the people featured in it.
Recently went to Arches National Park. It was pretty neat.
There’s sooooo many more parks! Check out all the parks. There’s a video out there somewhere
Fabulous scenery, some very special places to visit if you ever get the chance!
Five of these are in California. Redwoods, Sequoia, Death Valley, Yosemite, and Joshua Tree.
We have one national park that is 1/4 the size of Great Britain.
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest tree by trunk volume in the World! Its cousin, the Coast Redwood, is 30 meters taller but not as large in diameter. I have been in both parks.
That is just a handful of the 424 national parks in the US. Bryce is my personal favorite.
The biggest tree in Sequoia National Park is 275 ft (83.82 meters) tall and 36 ft. (10.97 meters) in diameter around the base
Her pronunciation of certain places and words is killing me.
Especially erupting geezer. I had a good laugh at that one.
That video didn't do North Cascades National Park justice at all. The park is known for its never-ending mountain peaks and brightly colored alpine lakes and the video didn't show any of them.
There are many more National Parks. They didn't even touch Alaska. In fact, there are 423 parks covering 84 million acres. There are also thousands of state parks.
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River is a drainage basin of creeks that flow into the Colorado River; mostly fhom the North side, but there is the Havasu Creek (and Falls) on the South side. The only way to see the falls is to hike or go on horseback. The creek an the trails there, are all on Private Native American lands and permission to enter is controlled by the local tribal elders; but they usually welcome visitors!
Mount Rushmore is HUGE!
I got the Bob Ross reference, Bob used to be in the US Air Force and he was a Drill Sgt if you could believe that. I used to be a Drill Sgt also and I even find that hard to believe
The largest US national park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in the state of Alaska. It covers 13.2 million acres, which is about 35.7% the size of England and Wales.
The Grand Canyon is a continuous canyon 277 miles long and a mile deep in some areas.
Please remember there's even more special State Parks in the US 😊❤️
such as Dinosaur Valley State Park in GLen Rose Texas. Real dinosaur footprints in the river bed. You can play in the river where dinosaurs walked, and if the water is low enough you can see the footprints well enough to just sit in them It is a fun way to spend a day in the summer heat of Texas
I live in Arizona, the Grand Canyon state. Pictures do not do it Justice. It’s truly awesome.
All lists are subjective, but I'll generally agree this list is a good representation. HOWEVER..., these images would lead you to believe they're all void of wildlife except for the occasional elk or crocodile. Flocks of birds, free roaming bison, rams, bears and wolves are all abundant and viewable. Some are close to the park roads and some are afar in their natural habitat. Some are well hidden and can be quite dangerous. Except for the occasional moron who wants to take a selfie with a one-ton bison, few visitors will get close enough to get injured. Off-seasons can be particularly satisfying for wildlife photographers.
narrator: yo-seh-mih-tee (correct)
immediately after: YO-SEH-MIGHT
I'm not sure I want to go all the way out to Wyoming just to see an "erupting geezer" (7:15). This must be a British pronunciation, LoL. We know these as geysers, as in "guy-zer." Kidding aside, this is a pretty good list. Pay attention to the guidance she is providing on when to go to these parks. Don't try to do anything strenuous, for example, in Death Valley or Joshua Tree in the dead middle of summer (no pun intended). Also, your major tourist parks (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite, for example) will be overrun with people at the height of the summer.
dude there are dozens of geysers, and thermal pools all different too. Yellowstone is just awesome. It has two totally different areas
The western half of the park is the geyser field and the eastern halve is all woods, waterfalls, canyons etc. You can see Grand Teton, which adjoins Yellowstone on the same 7 day pass. There
Bryce Canyon was and isformed by the constant seeping and freezing of water down into the very porous sedimentary rock there. See, it used to be a lake bed. And because it gets very cold at night in the desert, even in the dead of Summer, the water freezes within the rock, which then expands and cracks the rock open. Repeat this process on an almkst daily basis and you can see how this Park can rapidly change over short periods of time.
No, the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon are not man-made.
Bryce Canyon National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
How would that Even be possible?? It's all from Mother Nature!! Beautiful things happen to sandstone when you add water and wind. Throw in just a "few" Year's and you could get Delicate Arch. Lol man-made. 🙄
@@lianabaddley8217 ... That's what the guy in the reaction video asked. I simply provided an answer. If you want to roll your eyes, roll them at him, not me.
@@buddystewart2020 I'm sorry. I was not rolling my eyes at you. Just also agreeing with you. I know they make a LOT of movies here in Utah to get those otherworldly effects. They can't actually film a movie on Mars yet. So they come here. To see them in person though that is something else entirely.
@@lianabaddley8217 ... ok
“Mount Rushmore is known to the Lakota Sioux as "The Six Grandfathers" (Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe) or "Cougar Mountain" (Igmútȟaŋka Pahá);[20][21] but American settlers knew it variously as Cougar Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, Slaughterhouse Mountain and Keystone Cliffs. As Six Grandfathers, the mountain was on the route that Lakota leader Black Elk took in a spiritual journey that culminated at Black Elk Peak. Following a series of military campaigns from 1876 to 1878, the United States asserted control over the area, a claim that is still disputed on the basis of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.[22]”
Comments on some of the parks I've been to that were on the list (and a few that aren't but should have been):
- The Grand Canyon has to be seen in person to really get a full sense of the scale. It's about 10 miles across and more than a mile deep.
- Mount Rushmore is neat to see (it's in western South Dakota), but Badlands (a bit further east) and the Black Hills Petrified Forest (not to be confused with Petrified Forest National Park, which is in Arizona) are more interesting to me.
- Didn't get to see much of Grand Teton when I went there (it was around the 2017 total eclipse, and the park was completely packed), but what I did see was gorgeous. It's adjacent to Yellowstone, which makes for a nice dual trip.
- Bryce Canyon might be my favorite of all. The rock spires are eroded by constant cycles of water embedded in the rock freezing and thawing, as the temperature is almost always above freezing during the day but is typically below freezing about 200 nights a year.
- Arches and Canyonlands are both near Moab, Utah. I think I prefer Canyonlands, which has some incredible cliffs and canyons, but Arches is also spectacular.
- Rocky Mountain is impressive. The altitude takes some time to get used to - Estes Park (a small resort town at the east end) is at about 2300m, but parts of US 34 (the main route through the park) climb as high as 3700m.
- Hawaii Volcanoes is fascinating. There are two active volcanoes in the park, one of which has been erupting nearly continuously for 40 years (apart from about a 2-year break from late 2018 to the end of 2020), occasionally allowing views of a lava lake in the summit crater from the visitors' center or of lava flowing into the ocean.
- Carlsbad Caverns is a giant cave complex in New Mexico with some pretty incredible formations. You can take an elevator down to the main room (or up once done exploring) or follow the switchbacks of the Natural Entrance (the trail is about 2km long with a 230m elevation change - roughly the height of the Leadenhall Building in London).
@Dan Baker
Hi Dan and thank you for comment and all the very informative information.
All the best
"By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth." According to Google. Hyperion (a redwood) is the tallest.
They had to put a "skirt" on it during fires. It was on TV a lot.
Who the heck is cycling in the Everglades...lol!😳😁
There are 424 National Parks in the United States!! You just saw 20! We have beautiful National Parks in Ohio!
@Kris Schobelock
Cheers for the comment Kis, we will be back with a follow up to the National Parks soon to fill in some gaps.
Cheers
If you've ever seen the sea stacks along the coasts of the Hebrides, the stacks of Bryce Canyon NP are probably the result of similar erosion in eons past.
The Giant Sequoia trees are the largest trees in the world and they are located in Sequoia National Park. These trees are also in other parks in the western US as well. Do not forget the giant Redwood trees as well in Redwood National Park. Both parks are in California.
Total area of US national parks is 81,467 sq miles, for comparison area of Great Britain is 80,823 sq miles.
the state of Alaska has by far the most national parks in the US and by far the largest and most magnificent parks
I can’t believe the national parks in Hawaii and Alaska didn’t make the list! Crazy.
Bryce Canyon is made up of red sandstone fornations called "Hoodoos."
North Cascades an Olympic National Parks are both forested mountain parks with lots of hiking trails and photo points. Both are in the State of Washington, both get lots of rain throughout the year. On the East side of North Cascades N. P. is Lake Chelan, a 60 mile long by 1 to 2 mile wide gem of a boat ride if you like Windemere in Cumberland.
New York's Adirondack Park, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park COMBINED.
It is a protected park in the U.S. state of New York. It’s known for its fall foliage viewing and forested mountains, with hiking trails crossing the Adirondack High Peaks near Lake Placid.
9,375 SQUARE MILES IN SIZE.
Note US has 429 national park sites, also 6792 state parks.
Let me tell you, this video showed the worst picture of the Grand Canyon. I took a helicopter ride down the middle of the canyon. It is colorful and beautiful!! We landed on a plateau and had a champagne lunch. I took pictures of other helicopters coming in, and they looked like little mosquitos. That’s how big the canyon is. I hope you will look up better pictures of the Grand Canyon. I think you might really be amazed at its beauty. Just had to let you know.