There are 63 national parks in the United States.
Many of them are really popular, and it seems like everyone has heard of them or wants to visit them but, several aren’t that well-known and as a result are not as packed.
All of this is not because they lack scenic value. Most often, it’s because they aren’t easy to get to or are overshadowed by larger, better-known parks in the same region.
Yet others were long national monuments, and not everyone heard about their upgrades to national parks.
Let’s take a look at 15, where you won’t have to worry about dealing with the crowds at places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon.
Kobuk Valley (Alaska)
Like Gates of the Arctic, Kobuk Valley is in the Arctic and has no roads to it. Each year, half a million caribou migrate through this park known for its mountains, lakes, rivers, and sand dunes.ere are miles of wilderness hiking trails on the island. Most visitors hope to catch a glimpse of wolves descended from a pack that crossed over decades ago when the lake froze over.
North Cascades (Washington)
The peaks of the North Cascades are among the most rugged in the country. While a road passes by the park and offers views of the mountains, no roads really penetrate the park itself. To appreciate this park, you have to go on foot.
Katmai (Alaska)
Katmai is known as one of the best bear-watching sites in the world. Each year, when salmon return from the ocean to spawn far up the rivers where they were born, brown bears gather to capture them as they leap up, over, and through cascades and waterfalls.
Dry Tortugas (Florida)
70 miles or so west of Key West, a handful of islands surrounded by ocean make up this park. It’s one of the best places in the United States to see tropical birds and sea turtles.
Great Basin (Nevada)
Located far out near the eastern edge of Nevada, Great Basin is several hours’ drive from the closest major city. There’s a lot to do here, including hiking to alpine lakes and summits, touring a cavern, and visiting a grove of bristlecone pines, the world’s longest-living organisms.
Congaree (South Carolina)
Just minutes from downtown Columbia, Congaree is like another world, one of wetland and forest. There are some nature trails, but canoes and kayaks are the best ways to see the park.
Guadalupe Mountains (Texas)
This park is close to Carlsbad Caverns, which gets a lot of visitation, but Guadalupe doesn’t. That’s because although you can see the mountains from a highway, the only way to get into them is to hike, and the trails tend to be rugged and steep. Here, you can hike to the summit of Guadalupe Peak, Texas’s highest point.
Voyageurs (Minnesota)
Voyageurs is mostly lakes and islands. As such, the only way to get to the park, aside from a small mainland area with a visitors center, is by boat. Once out there, you can hike and backcountry camp in virtual solitude.
Pinnacles (California)
Pinnacles is characterized by its many caves and spires that attract hikers and rock climbers. It was a national monument for years; since its change in status, it has become busier, but only on weekends and holidays does it get crowded.
Capitol Reef (Utah)
Southern Utah boasts five spectacular national parks and Capitol Reef is in the middle going east-west. Most people visiting these parks treat Capitol Reef as a picture stop on their way between Zion and Arches, but others know that this least-visited Utah national park has a bit of everything the other parks feature, and then some more.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado)
This former national monument has one of the country’s most spectacular canyons. It’s not as wide, deep, or long as the Grand Canyon is, but it’s steeper and darker, and getting into and out of it requires both stamina and fitness.
White Sands (New Mexico)
The dunes here are far from the tallest you’ll find around the country. Still, they’re arguably the most beautiful and ethereal since they consist of white gypsum sands.
Channel Islands (California)
The eight Channel Islands are off the Pacific coast, not far from Los Angeles and San Diego, and the park protects five of them. Despite their closeness to such large cities, the islands have seen little development, and they’re a paradise for hikers, backpackers, divers, anglers, and kayakers.
Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota)
This park honors its namesake and protects and preserves some of the landscapes the legendary president loved. Among its colorful badlands, you’ll find free-roaming bison and wild horses.
New River Gorge (West Virginia)
From 1978 until 2020, “the New” was a designated national scenic river. Now that it’s a national park, it’s getting more attention, but even though it’s near the population centers of the East Coast, remoteness and steep, winding mountain roads make it not so easy to get to. The gorge has some of the country’s best rock climbing and whitewater rafting.
15 Must-Dos on Your Next Trip to Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border makes a lot of lists of the most beautiful places in America. There’s also a lot to do there, with a wide range of outdoor recreation, great dining, resorts, nightlife, and more. If it’s your first time going or if you’re going back, consider adding some of the following places to your itinerary.
15 Must-Dos on Your Next Trip to Lake Tahoe
The Two Best Scenic Wonders in Each of the Mountain States
Image Credit: Galyna Andrushko/Shutterstock.
The Mountain States– Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico– have some of the wildest and most rugged landscapes in the United States. Because they’re so big, it can take a lot of time to visit them, so it helps to be able to plan for some specific destinations.
Following are our choices for the top two must-see outdoor locations in each of these seven states.
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