The U.S. National Park System: Great Vacation Destinations

The National Parks are great destinations for family vacations and friends getaways. Many of them offer a beautiful natural setting and offer great activities, such as hiking, fly fishing, backpacking, bird watching, and wildlife viewing. The National Parks also offer great seasonal attractions for your group trips. This article highlights three of my top choices for summer and fall National Park trips. You may notice that my list does not have Yosemite, Yellowstone, and some other obvious choices. My hope is that you will explore some other great places and avoid some of the largest crowds of the summer season as well.

Olympic National Park – Washington State

Olympic National Park offers unique and interesting experiences. Three distinct regions comprise the park: the Pacific coastline, the Olympic Mountains, and the temperate rainforest. There are very few places on earth you can visit a temperate rainforest. The Hoh Rainforest is approximately 90 miles from Port Angeles, Washington, and it is not to be missed when you take a trip to Washington. This area of the National Park has a visitor center, a campground, and picnic areas. For some, hiking the Hoh Rainforest can be a pleasant hike in a beautiful and distinct eco-system. For others, it is a sublime, spiritual experience. Either way, make the journey.

The park’s Pacific coastline is 73 miles long and ranges from sandy stretches of beach to cliffs that drop right into the ocean. Rugged rocky areas are awe inspiring and powerful and leave a lasting impression on Olympic National Park visitors.

I recommend planning your trip to Olympic. Get yourself a good map, and look at the National Park’s website for Olympic National Park before you go. It is such a diverse and beautiful place. You want to make the most of your time by figuring out the places you want to visit.

Of course, you can always just get in the car and go where the spirit moves you. That is a fun way to explore the park, too.

MesaVerde National Park – Colorado

Mesa Verde National Park is located in the Four Corners region, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico all touch. Mesa Verde is home to a number of cliff dwellings, which are the abandoned dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people. Anthropologists have long referred to the ancient inhabitants as the Anasazi, but many of the various Pueblo peoples simply know them as their ancestors.

Mesa Verde has some well-known cliff dwellings, including Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree House. Some of the most impressive sites in the park are accessible by ranger guided tour only, while Spruce Tree House is easily accessible by a path. Visit the Mesa Verde National Park site for details on the tours available in the park.

Mesa Verde is in the high dessert. There is lots of juniper, pinyon pine, and exposed rock in the area. The environment is very stark, but beautiful. It gets quite hot in the summer, and it is arid as well. It is important to drink plenty of water, and do not forget your sunscreen, hats and sunglasses.

This is one of my favorite national parks for photography.

Rocky Mountain National Park – Colorado

Rocky Mountain National Park has no shortage of visitors. It is definitely not as crowded as Yosemite during its peak season, but you do want to consider the summer crowds when you visit RMNP. I am including it on my list of favorites because Colorado is where I live, and I think Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most beautiful places in the state. I have hiked to the headwaters of the Colorado River, where it is little more than a trickle in some places. It is quite an experience. I have hiked to the top of Long’s Peak and many smaller mountains. You can drive up to the tundra areas, where you can experience a stark, fragile, high altitude eco-system.

If you come during the warmer season, Trail Ridge Road is an amazing drive, and if you visit during the fall you should definitely come to the park. The fall is mating season for the elk, and that means you can see the elk when they are in larger groups. The cows are gathered in harems at this time, and the bulls compete for the right to mate. For park visitors, this is a chance to hear the bull elk bugling in the low meadows. The sound is haunting and beautiful, and watching the bulls occasionally lock horns or running off the smaller bulls is a lot of fun for both children and adults.

I firmly believe that everyone should take advantage of the National Park System. The parks afford us the ability to get away to pristine, beautiful places that are also easily accessible. They offer the chance to take an adventurous trek through the mountains or a safe, scenic drive. Either way, I hope you get the chance to enjoy the National Parks this summer. For a complete listing of all parks, sites, and historic buildings administered by the N.P.S., visit the full list at the National Park Service.

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