Which of these are actually worth visiting, and which are memes/overrated?
Only good one on east coast is everglades probably.
>>2680332Acadia is goated
>>2680333Maybe. Or is overrated? Mammoth cave is also probably good. Stuff like Shenandoah and smokey is just good for camping etc.. but nothing one of it's kind.
Here are the visitor statistics for last year:>1. Great Smoky Mountains (Tennessee; North Carolina) - 13,297,648>2. Grand Canyon (Arizona) - 4,733,705>3. Zion (Utah) - 4,623,238>4. Yellowstone (Wyoming; Montana; Idaho) - 4,501,380>5. Rocky Mountain (Colorado) - 4,115,837>6. Yosemite (California) - 3,897,070>7. Acadia (Maine) - 3,879,890>8. Grand Teton (Wyoming) - 3,417,106>9. Joshua Tree (California) - 3,270,404>10. Olympic (Washington) - 2,947,503....>11. Glacier (Montana) - 2,933,616. Note - contiguous with Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada (475,842). Combined total: 3,409,458>12. Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio) - 2,860,059>13. Indiana Dunes (Indiana) - 2,765,892>14. Hot Springs (Arkansas) - 2,502,967>15. Bryce Canyon (Utah) - 2,461,269>16. Gateway Arch (Missouri) - 2,422,836>17. New River Gorge (West Virginia) - 1,707,223>18. Mount Rainier (Washington) - 1,674,294>19. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes (Hawaii) - 1,620,294>20. Shenandoah (Virginia) - 1,576,008....>21. Arches (Utah) - 1,482,045>22. Capitol Reef (Utah) - 1,268,861>23. Death Valley (California; Nevada) - 1,099,632>24. Badlands (South Dakota) - 1,046,400>25. Saguaro (Arizona) - 1,010,906>26. Sequoia (California) - 980,567>27. Everglades (Florida) - 810,189>28. Canyonlands (Utah) - 800,322>29. Haleakalā (Hawaii) - 791,292>30. Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota) - 746,862
>>2680338>31. White Sands (New Mexico) - 729,096>32. Glacier Bay (Alaska) - 703,659>33. Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) - 654,450>34. Kings Canyon (California) - 643,065>35. Wind Cave (South Dakota) - 592,459>36. Biscayne (Florida) - 571,242>37. Crater Lake (Oregon) - 559,976>38. Petrified Forest (Arizona) - 520,491>39. Great Sand Dunes (Colorado) - 512,219>40. Big Bend (Texas) - 509,129....>41. Mesa Verde (Colorado) - 505,194>42. Denali (Alaska) - 498,722>43. Lassen Volcanic (California) - 418,978>44. Redwood (California) - 409,105>45. Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) - 394,121>46. Kenai Fjords (Alaska) - 387,525>47. Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado) - 357,069>48. Virgin Islands (US Virgin Islands) - 343,685>49. Pinnacles (California) - 341,220>50. Channel Islands (California) - 328,746....>51. Congaree (South Carolina) - 250,114>52. Guadalupe Mountains (Texas) - 227,340>53. Voyageurs (Minnesota) - 220,825>54. Great Basin (Nevada) - 143,265>55. Dry Tortugas (Florida) - 84,285>56. Wrangell–St. Elias (Alaska) - 78,305. Note - contiguous with Kluane National Park, Yukon, Canada (47,098). Combined total: 125,403>57. Katmai (Alaska) - 33,763>58. North Cascades (Washington) - 40,351>59. Isle Royale (Michigan) - 28,965>60. Kobuk Valley (Alaska) - 17,616....>61. Lake Clark (Alaska) - 16,728>62. National Park of American Samoa (American Samoa) - 12,135>63. Gates of the Arctic (Alaska) - 11,045. Note - contiguous with Ivvavik and Vuntut National Parks, Yukon, Canada (179). Combined total: 11,224
>>2680335Hmm, well I guess when you put it that way Acadia isn't that special. I'd say it's properly rated, defiinitely worth a visit at least once but not the best park out there.
Gateway Arch and a handful of others don't deserve NP status
>>2680341Gateway Arch was an attempt to help Missouri's senator Claire McCaskill. She got Obama to begin the process of a national park designation before he left office. But it didn't matter, since she was defeated in the 2018 election anyway.
>>2680324Shenandoah is cool. The trails are almost all very easy if you're the least bit fit. Nice views from the peaks. The surrounding area though outside the park is rather boring. Blue Ridge Parkway below it is nice though (for parts of it, some parks are pretty boring drives)
>>2680338>>2680339I don't think visitor stats really make sense. Indiana Sand Dunes being in the top 15 is laughable. It's likely only that high up because of it's location to Chicago, easy tourist stop basically. Places like Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt are very cool to see and camp at, but the states they are in are pretty much 95% garbage so no one bothers. Likewise Alaskan NP are actually extremely cool (especially for outdoors), but it's so fucking far away and you have to really come prepared + the costs associated to just travel and stay so no one bothers or even thinks about it.
National Parks are America’s greatest invention. Some are better than others but they’re all worth seeing IMO. Yellowstone is a wonder of the world type place. Yosemite is great too.
>>2680324>CONGAREEI always forget there's a national park right by the city I'm from. Its interesting if you're really into the ecosystem and plant biology, otherwise its walking through a swamp with a bunch of mosquitos.
>>2680332There are plenty that are good but the only ones that are really interesting and unique are Everglades, Acadia, and Mammoth Cave. The rest can be fun but wouldn't be worth a long trip. >>2680324Zion was incredible but go early in the morning. Bryce Canyon is great. The only Western U.S. ones I wouldn’t recommend are Grand Canyon and Death Valley. Grand Canyon is cool but too big to be fun. Death Valley is self explanatory.
The National Parks I've visited that I would definitely skip are the Everglades, Gateway Arch, The Smokies and probably Shenandoah. The Smokies are probably controversial, but they get too busy. The traffic and the people are just too much. Don't go to Joshua Tree, Death Valley, The Badlands, Grand Canyon or Zion in the summer. They all get hot as shit with zero trees for shade. And Zion is a fucking zoo in the summer. If you can hit these in the early spring or late fall, they're good. My favorite Parks were Yosemite, The Tetons, Arches and Bryce. Yosemite takes the most planning. You can't just show up and wing it or you'll be shit out of luck. Everything in Yosemite is by permit and it fills. But it shreds any park I've ever visited for natural beauty. Even when it's busy, you can hike dozens of lesser known trails with no one on them to a 1000 foot waterfall. Most tourists stick to the valley floor. The one trail that gets busy is the Mist Trail, but it's worth it no matter how busy. Mammoth Cave, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Pinnacles, Capitol Reef, Devils Postpile, Devil's Tower, Muir Woods, Natural Bridge and Yellowstone are all worth visiting. But fucking Yellowstone gets insanely busy, so try to go mid week in early June. And it's expensive as shit to stay near the park. It's also a ton of driving. Waiting in those giant summer traffic jams in Yellowstone is a letdown.
How the fuck is the Gateway Arch even a national park? I thought it was just a local think in the city.
>>2680498>Don't go to Joshua Tree, Death Valley, The Badlands, Grand Canyon or Zion in the summer. They all get hot as shit with zero trees for shade. And Zion is a fucking zoo in the summer. If you can hit these in the early spring or late fall, they're good.What about October?>But fucking Yellowstone gets insanely busy, so try to go mid week in early June. And it's expensive as shit to stay near the park. It's also a ton of driving. Waiting in those giant summer traffic jams in Yellowstone is a letdown.Outside of summer is it worth?
Lotta rules, lotta crowds, lotta expense and you can definitely be left feeling pretty meh about your experience even at the objectively stunning ones like Glacier or Yosemite. Still, aside from Gateway Arch and Cuyahoga Valley, none of them are memes per se. Even Warren Dunes, which are not even the best dunes on Lake Michigan, are pretty neat.Don’t blitz it or treat it as a gotta catch em all thing. You gotta really do your research and get to the bottom of them. I would not try and hit more than one or two a year.
>>2680498I went to Zion in June and the crowds were basically gone by 1:30pm. Everyone wants to get there early to beat the desert heat, but if you pack correctly, you can still have a pretty decent time in the summer
How is Black Canyon of the Gunnison? The canyon itself looks more impressive than the Grand Canyon because it's deep but much smaller and looks more foreboding
>>2680444It's hilarious that Indiana Dunes is a national park and Sleeping Bear in Michigan is not. There are at least seven dune complexes up the east coast of Lake Michigan that mog Indiana Dunes. Sleeping Bear destroys it.
>>2680527October is great for all of those places. Honestly, that's the time to go.
>>2680498>Mammoth CaveSeemed very cool until I looked and realized it's all tour based and the costs, and requirement to order well in advance during summer
>>2680324If you want to do a nature tour, the obvious answer is AZ and UT. >fly to SLC and hike up Ensign's Peak for easy and kino views of the entire valley (the overlook 4 mins in is good enough desu)>Drive to Moab for Arches>Canyonlands is literally right next to arches so you can hit that up the following day>Head towards Capitol Reef and completely ignore it, stay in Hanksville, UT instead and check out the Bentonite Hills by the Mars Research Station, Moonscape, Little Wild Horse Canyon, rent ATVs or minibikes and do Factory Butte tour>Keep driving down to Zion, optional stop and swim at Quail Creek and Sand Hollow>Check out Antelope Canyon on your way south, maybe spend a day exploring Lake Powell>Grand Canyon>pick your city to depart from AZ and fly homeYou cannot go wrong with this, and the bentonite hills/zion photos alone will make any foid suck your dick to join your next trip
>>2682604>Ensign Peakeh, not worth making a trip for. Just a hill overlooking SLC.Arches/Canyonland/Zion are all good. Great stargazing there. Grand Canyon is neat. This is all Utah, though. Some very cool stuff in other states as well.
I've been to all the ones in the west starting from Badlands in the lower 48, and no others. Would love to go to Alaska and Hawaii, no huge desire to visit any of the Eastern ones.As for the ones I've been to most are great, the ones in Utah are probably the highest concentration of top tier parks, all 5 are excellent. They are in the top 5 on every list but Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon have their reputation for a reason.The two I personally like more than the average joe does are Carlsbad and Redwoods.>>2680553it's impressive in a different way for sure but I can't say it's more impressive than the vastness of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon actually also has some spots that are taller and almost as narrow but they're far away from the main tourist areas, look up the Toroweap Overlook, also the parts of the river further upstream towards Lees Ferry that are mostly only seen by rafters. Beyond the overlooks there's also just so much more to do and see at Grand Canyon, just a massive and surprisingly diverse place, some of the best trails and camping, the best rafting of course, diverse wildlife, incredible waterfalls
>>2682923if you're in SLC it's worth checking out, go for sunset and stay for the night view for a while. >>2682604>Head towards Capitol Reef and completely ignore itrude, but the best parts of Capitol Reef are definitely off the beaten path. Some of the best parts of most parks are off the beaten path, but the most well known spots are often excellent as well which isn't really true for Capitol Reef I supposeAs for overrated parks, Rocky Mountain probably tops that list for me, the mountain vistas there are just not as good as other mountain national parks like Glacier or Grand Teton or others, frankly they're not even as scenic as other areas of Colorado. Wildlife is pretty good but not as good as Yellowstone or Glacier. Olympic is massive and diverse but it didn't stand out to me. The forests were better at Redwoods, the coasts were better in Oregon and the mountains were better further inland. And for some reason Crater Lake didn't really wow me as much as I thought it would.These parks are absolutely still excellent though. The only ones I really don't care for are Wind Cave, Guadalupe Mountains, and Pinnacles. White Sands is just ok also, it's cool for a minute.
I've been to all of these in the lower 48 except Isle Royale, and Yellowstone is the winner, in terms of stuff to do. They say Grand Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world, and, yes, you have to see it, maybe even hike down into it or riverboat along it once, but Yellowstone is just denser and more varied.Sequoia, Bryce, Mesa Verde, and Acadia are worth at least looking at because they have something unique to offer. But you do want to dedicate a bit more time to Yosemite and either Glacier or Grand Teton (depending on season,) because they give you an idea of what the Rockies are like (Banff in Canada also works in summer.)Frankly, Smokies, Everglades, and Mammoth Cave are kind of just representative portions of the region, and if you want to experience that kind of thing, it's better to find one of the state parks, usually along semi-major rivers.
>>2683432>They say Grand Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world, and, yes, you have to see itI've been there a while back and it felt like a tourist trap, however it is a massive canyon and is worth seeing. maybe it wouldve been better if I did a hike with a mule to the bottom of the canyon.
I found the Grand Canyon to be awesome in a very old sense of the word. I've been back since, and was still filled with awe.But, I've known people to say it's so big that they can't comprehend it and thus find it boring. So, to each their own.
>>2680324The only national park unit (unit not full on park) not worth visiting is Rushmore. The town is fucking garbage and the monument is a hideous mark on the otherwise gorgeous Black Hills. Jewel and Wind Cave nearby are really cool and so is Custer state park.
