National Parks

I really enjoy visiting national parks. It gives me a real rush. Many national parks contain so much exciting, beautiful, and sometimes quite literally breathtaking sights and scenery. Although the United States contains the most extensive national park system, many countries around the world create national parks to preserve what they deem to be their most spectacular natural scenery and most important historical and cultural items.

For a geographer like me, visiting these magnificent places is quite a thrill. Since geography is such a broad field, from the physical sciences to the social, there is so much for a geographer to get excited about in national parks. How did the spectacular scenery within a particular park form, how did come to be the way it is, how does it continue to change today, and in what way will it change in the future? What is the human history and impact on the landscape in and around a particular park? And how has the land in this particular area shaped and impacted human activity in the past and how does it continue to do so? These questions and many more are part of why I get excited every time I plan a visit to a national park.

With this in mind, I would like to include here bits and pieces of an article I previously wrote for another website. Here, I describe the highlights and offer an overview of the top five most visited national parks in the United States. A link to the original article appears below the article text. Enjoy!
"How to Visit the Top Five National Parks"

Original Article by Paul McDaniel:
How to Visit the Top Five National Parks - eHow.com

This article describes major attractions in the top five most visited national parks in the United States' National Park Service (based on number of visitors in 2006). These parks include Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Olympic National Park. Armed with this information, you will be better equipped to plan your trip to some of the most visited and spectacular national parks in the United States. For more detailed information on each park, be sure to check each park's webpage on the National Park Service website (links listed in the additional resources section below).

Top Five National Park #1: Great Smoky Mountains National Park - On the Tennessee/North Carolina border, the Great Smoky Mountains are ancient, but are also some of the highest in the eastern United States. Most visitors to Great Smoky Mountains travel through the park along U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road) between the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, North Carolina. Many attractions are located along this route, including many hiking trails and trailheads, picnic areas, and sights such as the Chimney Tops, Alum Cave Bluffs trailhead (to Mount LeConte via Alum Cave Bluffs), Newfound Gap (with access to the Appalachian trail), the road to Clingman's Dome, and several waterfalls. Another popular area of the park is Cades Cove (a farming valley with several preserved or restored structures), accessible via a road from the Sugarlands Visitor Center, or from Townsend, Tennessee. Laurel Falls is a popular waterfall along the road from Sugarlands to Cades Cove. Backpacking and camping are also popular in the park. Other, more remote areas of the park are also worth visiting: Mt. Sterling, Cosby area, Greenbriar area, Elkmont area, and Cataloochee Valley area.


Top Five National Park #2: Grand Canyon National Park - In northwest Arizona along the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is considered one of the top natural wonders of the world because of its size as well as its display of over two billion years of geologic history. Most visitors to the Grand Canyon arrive by car via Arizona Highway 64 to the South Rim and the Grand Canyon Village area (where the main visitor center and park headquarters are located). The Grand Canyon Village has many amenities for visitors, including several restaurants and national park lodges. Highway 64 enters the park at both the South Entrance near Tusayan, and the East Entrance near Desert View, and travels along the canyon rim in between. Many overlooks for spectacular views of the canyon are found along this route, including Hermit's Rest, Yavapai Point, Moran Point, and Desert View (with a stone watchtower). Hiking down into the canyon is also popular, but strenuous. The Bright Angel Trail from Grand Canyon Village is the most maintained trail down into the canyon. Bring plenty of water!! The North Rim visitors area (only open in summer months) of the canyon is more remote by car (although it is only 10 air miles from the south rim). Popular points at the North Rim are Bright Angel Point, Point Imperial, and Cape Royal.


Top Five National Park #3: Yosemite National Park - in the Sierra Nevada of California. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. As much of the park is wilderness area, most visitors choose to drive through and within the park and see sights from the roadway. Most people enter the park from the west entrances via California Highway 120 (CA-120) or CA-140, or from the southern entrance via CA-41. An east entrance via Tioga Pass, also on CA-120, is only open during summer months after the snow has melted. As of writing this article, there is a $20 entrance fee per vehicle. The most developed area of the park is in Yosemite Valley (open year round, with food and lodging, and the main park visitor center), where many of the famous sights are located. You may drive several loop roads through the valley, which is flanked on either side by sheer granite cliffs thousands of feet high. The most famous sites here include El Capitan (the largest exposed granite monolith in the world, with its sheer cliff face popular with climbers), Half Dome (another granite monolith, which people may hike to the summit), several waterfalls such as Yosemite Falls (one of the highest in the world) and Bridal Veil Falls, and wildlife. Yosemite Valley may be quite crowded in summer months (there is also a free shuttle bus system for visitors in the valley). Glacier Point is another popular site with visitors, with its spectacular and literally breathtaking views of Yosemite Valley below, Yosemite Village, El Capitan, Half Dome, various waterfalls, and the surround high country of the Sierra Nevada Range. It is at the end of Glaciar Point Road, and is several thousand feet higher than Yosemite Valley. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is also a popular place for visitors, located near the southern entrance of the park. Visitors may hike through the grove on a series of loop trails, or take a shuttle bus tour during peak times. Another site is Tuolumne Meadows along Tioga Road (CA-120) heading towards Tioga Pass in the eastern part of the park (open summer and fall only).


Top Five National Park #4: Yellowstone National Park - in northwest Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Montana. Yellowstone is the world's first national park, established on March 1, 1872. It is known for its wildlife and geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular areas in the park. The geothermal features are a result of hot spot beneath the park, and much of the park contains the Yellowstone Caldera, one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world (and has erupted with tremendous force several times over the past two million years). Most visitors combine a visit to the park with a visit to Grand Teton National Park, just to the south connected by the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. There are entrances on all sides of the park (and there is currently a $25 per private vehicle entrance fee). The road network through and within the park is outstanding, and allows motorists the opportunity to visit most of the famous sites. There are several visitor centers located throughout the park, nearby some of the more prominent features. The most popular sites include Old Faithful Geyser (next to the Old Faithful Inn, an old national park lodge built in the grand style), Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (and Artist Point), the abundant wildlife visible throughout the park (never approach wildlife! They are in fact...wild!), West Thumb Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake, Grand Prismatic Spring, and Mammoth Hot Springs. In several of the geyser basins, wooden boardwalks and walkways allow visitors to closely approach the geothermal features (don't step off the walkways though!). Camping, lodging, and food facilities are also abundant throughout the park near to the major visitor areas, as are over 1,100 miles of hiking trails.


Top Five National Park #5: Olympic National Park - On the Olympic Peninsula, in western Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest. The park can be divided into three main regions: the Pacific coastline, the Olympic Mountains, and the temperate rainforest (one of the few remaining in North America). In 1976, Olympic National Park became an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1981 it was designated a World Heritage Site. In 1988, almost all of the Olympic Peninsula was designated as the Olympic Wilderness, further enhancing the protection of the region. Most visitors arrive by car via U.S. Highway 101, which traverses the Pacific coastal section of the park, and a northern portion of the park west of Port Angeles. There are other spur roads leading into the park from various points as well. The coastal section is typical of the Pacific coast - beautifully rugged and rocky, interspersed with sandy beaches. The center of the park is home to the Olympic Mountains, jagged rocky mountain peaks crowned by ancient glaciers. The highest point is Mount Olympus at 7,965 ft. The Olympic Mountains create a drier rain shadow in the eastern part of the park. In the western part of the park, between the coast and the Olympic Mountains, is the temperate rainforest, including the Hoh and the Quinalt Rainforests. This is the wettest area in the continental United States, receiving more rain than any other part of the country (the island of Kauai, in Hawaii, is actually the wettest place in the entire U.S.). Although few roads penetrate far into the park area, there is a well-maintained network of hiking trails. Many visitors choose to backpack into and camp within the wilderness areas of the park's interior.

Original Article by Paul McDaniel:
How to Visit the Top Five National Parks - eHow.com