Some national parks are best visited at certain times of year, sometimes because they’re too hot in the summer or too snowed-in during the winter. Many are accessible and great all year long, though, so let’s see what some of them are. A few might surprise you!
Hawaii Volcanoes
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Being in the tropics, Hawaii doesn’t see too much fluctuation in temperature from season to season, so anytime is a great time to go. At this park, you can visit rainforests, stroll along pristine beaches, watch active lava flows, and more.
Olympic
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Heavy winter precipitation shuts down access to the high country for all but the hardiest backcountry travelers, but there’s much more to the park than mountains in this Washington park. At lower elevations, the frequent rain may put a damper on things, but it won’t keep you from visiting the lakes, beaches, and rainforests.
Redwood
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California’s northern coast rarely gets too hot or too cold, so all seasons are great for this park. In addition to seeing the world’s tallest trees, make sure you also set aside time to explore the beautiful coastal areas of this park.
Yosemite
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World-famous Yosemite Valley in California is open all year except after exceptionally heavy winter storms and other rare weather events. If it’s too hot for you in the summer, head up to the high country of Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass. These areas are closed from late fall through late spring, and sometimes into the summer, due to heavy snowfall.
Yellowstone
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Most of Yellowstone’s roads shut down for the winter, but an important exception is the section between the North Entrance at Gardiner and the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate connecting two Montana towns but mostly passing through Wyoming. The high elevations here provide a respite from summer heat, and winter transforms the park into a wonderland of ice and snow. That’s also when you can take a ride on a snow coach deeper into the park, including for a stay at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.
Great Sand Dunes
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The mountains in this southern Colorado wilderness are difficult to penetrate in the winter since all high roads into them become impassable, but the namesake dunes are almost always accessible. A fresh snowfall adds a magical touch.
Zion
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Southern Utah gets baking hot in the summer, but in Zion, you have the options of going to the high country, where it’s usually 10 degrees or more cooler, or staying in Zion Canyon, which is narrow enough to not be in full sun for most of the day. Winters can be cold and snowy, sometimes blocking easy access to the high country, but Zion Canyon is always accessible unless it floods.
Grand Canyon
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The South Rim in Arizona is pretty much jammed all year long, but winter offers a little letup along with the touch of white snow on the red sandstone. In the summer, the place to go is the more-remote North Rim, only open from late spring into early fall, which has a higher elevation and more tree shade, making it significantly less hot than the South Rim is.
White Sands
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The desert flats of southern New Mexico sometimes get cold and infrequently see snow, so this park is great fall through spring. Summers can be brutally hot, but you can avoid the worst by going early in the morning, when temperatures are cool, or late in the afternoon, when thunderclouds often build above the surrounding mountains and bring breeze and shade.
Big Bend
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Winters in Big Bend are mild but see an occasional snowstorm. In most of the park, summers are dangerously hot, but you can drive up into the Chisos Mountains in the heart of the park. Up there, temps will be a bit cooler, and afternoon storms and clouds can cool things down even more, providing relief from the seemingly endless Texas summer.
Shenandoah
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Spring is the prime time to see wildflowers blooming. Summer is an escape from the humid East Coast conditions. Fall brings a vivid display of stunning colors in the trees. Winter conditions often cause road closures and always shut down the campgrounds and lodges, but hiking in from the park boundaries and road closures can expose you to an amazing world of unobstructed views, frozen waterfalls, and other wonders.
Great Smoky Mountains
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The nation’s most-visited national park is a lot like Shenandoah’s description above. One major difference is that the road through it rarely closes because it has to connect the towns of Gatlinburg in Tennessee and Cherokee in North Carolina.
Everglades
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At the southern tip of mainland Florida, the summers are hot and humid, but if you go to the southern end of this park where it meets Florida Bay, sea breezes can offer some relief. The best time to visit is in winter, when days are mild, nights are cool, and the park is teeming with migrating birds, some of which are fleeing the cold up north and others of which are escaping the heat down south.
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