What's your favorite National Park?

Mesa Verde 2018. This is truly a magical place! As is Chaco Canyon!

 

Great thread. Thanks to all who've posted and especially for the photos.

We've visited roughly half of our sixty one National Parks - haven't made it to the west coast yet or to any of those outside the continental US but I'm working on it.

As to favorites, I'd say Big Bend in southwest Texas along the Rio Grande. At over 800,000 acres and one of our least visited Parks, its not too hard to find a little isolation.

Yeah, that's snow and mountains right along the US/Mexican border. We'd made an overnight backpack up to the South Rim and got a pretty good dusting.

Although not a National Park, Cape Lookout National Seashore off the NC coast is another favorite. Access is by boat only and there are no permanent inhabitants, roads or services. A private ferry concession will take you and your 4WD vehicle over and you have roughly twenty miles of oceanfront to find a campsite. If you haven't seen a sunrise over the Atlantic without leaving your tent, it should be on your bucket list.


In addition to our National Parks, don't overlook the chance to enjoy other Federal public lands. The US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management manage more than six times the acreage of our Parks. Add in the Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Reclamation and the National Recreation Areas and it becomes even easier to find just the right spot(s).

 

One more vote for Big Bend. Couple it with the Davis Mountains and it is a true picture of remote desolate country.


I've been to a number of parks, but haven't really gotten to visit very many Northeast of the Smoky Mountains.

My most memorable: Denali, mid-October, 1984. After a successful run building the pipeline, Grandad's company secured a contract to remove old mining equipment from the park. He had the keys to Denali, and we were allowed to visit after it closed for the season. Crammed into the cab of a rusty company Chevy truck, we climbed those snowy back roads with the entire park to ourselves. Saw Arctic foxes with most of their winter coats on, playing in the road. Meanwhile grandad, in the driver's seat, explaining the finer points to some elementary-school punk about true snow driving and how to operate a truck with differentials, locking hubs, and dual gas tanks, it was a life changing experience. Made me decide right then and there that no matter where I go, what I do, how much I travel the world, nothing substitutes the allure of an old fashioned American road trip.

 

They have a marathon on pikes peak. 13 up 13 down. Those poeple are silly.

 

Also... They have a place to stay the night snd eat pancakes half way up the pike. That is more my speed

 

North Rim Grand Canyon
Zion
Yosemite

 

Did you see any bison at the north rim?

 

Grand Canyon is at top of my list. I backpacked down South Kaibab and spent a couple of nights at Bright Angel in 2016. Then in 2017 I hiked rim to rim. Going back in October to hike some non-corridor trails to celebrate the park’s 100th anniversary.

Also, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Brice Canyon. My bucket list parks are Zion, Capital Reef, Canyonlands. Strangely enough, even though I’m from Texas, I’ve never visited Big Bend or Guadalupe Peak.

 

Been there 4 times and yet to see any. Going back in late August to camp at point sublime! Hopefully I will then.

 

Some pics of the North Rim and some of Zion. Having trouble finding the pics from Yosemite.

 

The BLM Horsethief campground off 313 is a great base for exploring Canyonlands, Arches and Dead Horse Point SP. No water but clean vault toilets. Lots of places in Moab to stock up on water and all other necessities. Check with the locals for boondocking options - we found many to be closed and those that were open weren't marked all that well. The Shafer Trail starts just a few miles from this cg. Gemini Bridges is also nearby.

Deer Creek is another BLM campground just outside Capitol Reef and off the Burr Trail if you're tenting. Take the road all the way to Bull Frog on Glen Canyon NRA. No water here either.

There are two campgrounds in Guadalupe Mountain NP. The main one, near the Visitor Center, is literally a paved parking lot. I'd suggest the Dog Canyon option. Its lightly used but does have water and flush johns. Several trails lead out from there. McKittrick Canyon is a nice hike in the Fall with all the leaf colors. Lincoln NF borders the Park and offers plenty of boondocking.

Big Bend NP has numerous camping options. It's one of the few NPs that have developed roadside camp sites; a few are even accessible to trailers. Don't pass this one up.

 

Thanks BalutTaco, I like this thread!

 

Zion.



Canyon de Chelly

 

I did

 

We've been to 28 NPs. Just got back fom Acadia and Shenandoah. We like Theodore Roosevelt NP in ND. More bison than people.

 

Badlands. And in Canada the Cape Breton Highlands NP. Bring a motorcycle.

 

-Yosemite (went there on our honeymoon)
-Arches/ Canyonlands (amazing dirt driving around both of these Moab)
-The other 3 national parks in Utah are all amazing although we thought Zion was WAY too crowded...
-Rocky Mountain NP is truly spectacular
-Acadia for an East Coast Park

-Our Personal bucket list park is Dry Tortugas, most remote national park of all! Getting there isn’t hard but we’d like to get a permit to stay for a few days so we need to get the logistics right.

-I’ve also been fortunate enough to visit Denali, and quite a few other California Parks, If I had to pick a place to drive to parks and visit it Would be Utah’s 5 all day any day... but really it’s hard to go wrong as long as you’re outside and enjoying yourself and in good company.


Because everyone loves pictures this was INSIDE Arches NP

 

I love all of them, but the one that really got to me was Denali. I really want to go backpacking there.

 

Visited Great Smokey Mountain N.P. Last week. Beautiful, but way too crowded.