There are 63 National Parks in the US – which have you visited, would like to visit or can recommend to others as standout experiences? Would love to hear about some of the lesser known parks too. Share your stories, photos and links to inspire future travel adventures.
These country specific posts will be invaluable resources for owners and sitters planning places to visit and also make them easy to find and bookmark as the forum grows. If you’re researching a trip, want top tips on what to see, or have great advice to share, please do start your own topic. With our combined knowledge we’ll be able to create some unique travel resources and Q&As in this category!
Back when we became nomads we bought a big old RV and set off on a 6 month roadtrip across the southern most states of the US. We visited Guadeloupe Mountain, Texas; Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon, Arizona; and in Utah, Bryce, Zion and Arches.
Each park was unique and provided some of the most challenging and awesome hikes and sights we’ve experienced. We hiked rim to rim and back again across the Grand Canyon, camping down by the Colorado River; got a little freaked on the final ascent of Angel’s Landing in Zion; hiked Guadeloupe Mountain in Texas for sensational views; and were blown away by the unusual features of both Petrified Forest and Bryce.
There are many less strenuous activites to enjoy too if you aren’t partnered with an adrenaline junkie One of my favorite moments was just sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon watching the sunset.
We bought both State Park and National Park passes. Great value, providing special deals and free camping nights, with impressive services provided by the park rangers.
Looking forward to being inspired by your National Park adventures!
As an American I can honestly say they are all fabulous but, under full disclosure, I haven’t been to every one! On the western part of the country they are Zion Nationsl Park, The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and on the East, The Adirondacks - especially along Lake George & Lake Champlain region.
There is just so much diversity of landscape and often it’s SO big it takes your breath away. We were meant to be having a roadtrip last year up to the Canadian border after a sit in New York, I will add the Adirondacks to our list for when we make it back! Looks spectacular! Thanks for sharing
My pleasure! If you ever make it to Lake Champlain, take a ferry across to Burlington, Vermont. Then drive down south about 1/2 hour to Shelburne, Vermont and visit the fabulous Shelburne Museum. It won’t disappoint. Happy travels!
We travel full time on a quest to visit and document all parks and public lands in the US. Offering a diverse range of experiences, the National Parks are spectacular in natural beauty while also rich in history. We run a website and magazine covering park travel at NationalParkTraveling.com where we feature parks we have visited, other travel writer park stories from around the world, and podcast interviews with park rangers & more. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions or park suggestions.
Some of the national parks we have visited and definitely recommend:
Thanks for this @Lisa_and_Nancy - you have so much experience and a wealth of information on your website. There are some on that list I really hope we will get to visit one day. This is a great share and wonderful to have members of TrustedHousesitters with so much knowledge to impart to the community!
Grand Canyon (we spent almost 3 weeks in all in the RV at South & North rims), and Petrified Forest - please do share, would love to read your posts! Thanks you. How’s Joshua Tree today?
Ahh, we visited the Grand Canyon’s south rim about a month ago, and the north rim (my favorite) many years ago. Can’t wait to return! Joshua Tree is heating up - we went into the park on Friday. Good to do early morning and sunset hikes. Stars are awesome at night!
We were in Petrified Forest a couple of years ago - amazing. Here’s a little video we made: https://youtu.be/gIACMEIspfM
Thank you for joining in the conversation @Lisa_and_Nancy and bringing your wealth of knowledge and practical travel experience of so many of the incredible US National Parks. We love that you combine your travel lifestyle with pet and housesitting experiencing the best of both worlds, spending time with adorable pets and living like locals.
Your podcasts and interviews are a must listen for everyone wanting to know more about travel and much more … If you like lively talk, great guests and amazing hosts make a date with Lisa and Nancy for their Champagne Sunday chats, you will be so glad you did.
Thank you so much @Angela_L we love being able to continue our park tour along with our sits. There are a lo of national parks so close to a lot of the city sits…for example, Asheville and the Great Smoky Mountains, Palms Springs and Joshua Tree, etc. Maybe we should do an article on it. Thank you for sharing our Champagne Sundays show - we’ve had so much fun with you on our shows… like our recent Mother’s Day party Big Blend Radio Toast to Motherhood Party
Absolutely beautiful @Maryse …love that you experienced the park in winter…so many of us only think of national parks in summer, and winter is so magical. We did Yosemite in the snow and it was such an amazing experience!
All the parks in Utah are incredible with their rock formations.
Yosemite is incredible.
Grand Teton is one of my favorites with Jenny Lake and the hikes and so close to Jackson Hole.
Yellowstone is vast and has something for everyone but is often very crowded.
I’ve been to several more, but the bomb for me is Acadia National Park in Maine. It has everything.
Hi @Ctaylorgodwin … Welcome to our Community Forum it’s great that you’ve joined in our Parks conversation, hard to believe that Yellowstone could be crowded would love to see some pics of your favorites including Acadia also, when would be the best time to visit?
Hope we see and hear lots more from you on the forum, thank you for joining, for your contribution and enjoy connecting with other members from around the world.
I have never been disappointed with any of the US National parks, one of my most spiritual life moments was seeing the sunrise one Sept morning in 2016 at Dead Horse point near Moab…
The Olympic National Park in the state of Washington is lesser-known, and well worth a visit. We had a housesit there for almost three months and it wasn’t enough time! Like others have said we have never been disappointed by a national park.
Wow! This is a tough one. We have been to many of the National Parks and one day we hope to have visited them all.
Grand Canyon National Park is one of our favourites. We have visited on several occasions over the years but my most memorable trip was on my first occasion there and John suggested we do the helicopter trip with Papillon over the Grand Canyon which he had done previously and what can I say other than WOW!
This photo is taken from the Papillon helicopter just before the floor of trees below disappears to leave the view of the almighty and spectacular Grand Canyon.
The images taken above were taken at the Grand Canyon Skywalk also in October 2016 and is located at Eagle Point in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon.
We got lucky with the image shown above when we were on the South Rim, the weather had been heavy rain showers which obscured the canyon. As we arrived at the Desert View Watchtower the showers moved on to allow the sun to come out and produce this amazing rainbow!
One of my favorite moments was just sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon watching the sunset.
would love to see some pics of your favorites including Acadia also, when would be the best time to visit?
