Purple Mountain Majesty

After visiting 11 new National Parks on our recent road trip, this is how I now rank all of the Parks, from least favorite to most favorite. See my previous blog for details on all the parks I’ve visited in the past.

Cuyahoga Valley – Ohio
Preserves 33,000 acres along 22 miles of the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland. I wasn’t too impressed with this park; it felt more like a State Park to me. Good for the NPS for setting aside some land so close to an urban area though.

Shenandoah - Virginia

Acadia - Maine

Great Smoky Mountains – North Carolina/Tennessee

Capitol Reef – Utah
A giant wrinkle in the earth’s crust stretches for 100 miles across south-central Utah called the Waterpocket Fold. Capitol Reef preserves the fold and its jumble of colorful cliffs, massive domes, twisting canyons, and graceful arches. While Capitol Reef is quite nice, it’s hard to compete with all the other spectacular Utah National Parks.

Death Valley – California

Black Canyon of the Gunnison – Colorado
It’s easy to see why this canyon is named "Black" - It is so deep, so sheer, and so narrow that very little sunlight can penetrate it. While small, Black Canyon is very impressive. Bonus points for low crowds.

Theodore Roosevelt – North Dakota
As a conservationist, Teddy Roosevelt was a major figure in American history. Here in the North Dakota badlands, Roosevelt is remembered with a National Park that honors the memory of this great conservationist. I liked this park a lot more than I thought I would -- great hiking and wildlife viewing.

Badlands – South Dakota
For centuries humans have viewed South Dakota’s Badlands with a mix of dread and fascination. The peaks, gullies, buttes, and wide prairies are home to a surprisingly rich and varied plant and animal community. I felt like a kid again exploring the gullies and buttes of Badlands.

Virgin Islands - USVI

Zion – Utah

Wind Cave – South Dakota
One of the world’s oldest caves, Wind Cave has more than 100 miles of passageways. Above ground, Wind Cave offers a diverse mix of wildlife living amongst the rolling grasslands and pine forests. Surprisingly, one of the best parks for wildlife viewing with great herds of bison, pronghorn antelopes, and prairie dogs.

Mesa Verde – Colorado
About 1,400 years ago a group of people living in the Four Corners region chose Mesa Verde for their home. For more than 700 years they lived and flourished here, building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Such a unique park, preserving remnants of an ancient culture.

Waterton-Glacier – Montana
Here, the prairies give way to glacier-sculpted mountains. In 1932, the governments of Canada and the U.S. linked two adjacent National Parks into the world’s first International Peace Park. I loved the blue and green lakes here, and of course the bighorn sheep and mountain goats.

Canyonlands - Utah

Arches – Utah

Rocky Mountain – Colorado
The snow-mantled peaks of Rocky Mountain rise above verdant valleys, twisting rivers, and glistening lakes. One-third of the park is above tree line, where tundra predominates. The best feature of this park is the main road which winds through many different environmental zones and past the animals that live there, from the fertile valley to the high alpine tundra.

Grand Teton – Wyoming
With no foothills obstructing your view, the jagged peaks of the Teton Range rise abruptly from the broad valley. Glaciers carved the peaks and formed beautiful lakes at the base of the Teton Range. This is probably the most picturesque park I’ve seen; it's hard to beat those huge peaks rising up from the valley accompanied by all those alpine lakes.

Yellowstone – Wyoming
Huge volcanic eruptions occurred here. The magmatic heat powering those eruptions still powers the park’s geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots. But geysers are only part of Yellowstone’s appeal. It’s also home to a canyon, waterfalls, rugged mountains, and vast plateaus and valleys. Bison, elk, grizzly, black bears, wolves and coyotes are only some of the animals living here. By far the best park for viewing wildlife and it’s hard to beat the variety of landscapes.

Bryce Canyon – Utah
Bryce Canyon, famous for its unique geology caused by the erosional force of frost-wedging and the dissolving power of rainwater which shape the colorful limestone rock into bizarre shapes -slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called "hoodoos." Even Yellowstone can’t beat out the scenic beauty of Bryce in my opinion. Fairyland Canyon is heaven on earth.