Tuesday, February 11, 2014

National Parks I've Visited

After re-watching Ken Burns' marvelous PBS series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," I began counting up the parks I've visited.  The National Park Service administers over 400 properties, but only 62 have full national park status (as opposed to being a national seashore or lakeshore or scenic river or monument or battlefield or historic site, etc.)  I can't determine all my visits, but I have located verification for over 150 visits to 53 of our 62 national parks by referring to my photos and journals, and below are links to the parks with photos and info for each. (I am also including links to information I've compiled about the 9 parks I haven't yet visited.) Our national parks encompass 84 million acres of land, 4.5 million acres of water, 43,000 miles of shoreline, and 12,000 miles of trails.


Acadia National Park, Maine  (2005, 2009)

Arches National Park, Utah    (1985, 1990, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010)

Badlands National Park, South Dakota  (1959, 1982, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014)

Big Bend National Park, Texas   (2007)

Biscayne National Park, Florida   (2008, 2012)

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado   (1959, 1989, 1991, 2007, 2014)

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah   (1985, 1999, 2008, 2012)

Canyonlands National Park, Utah  (1985, 1990, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah  (1985, 1989, 2012)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico  (1985)

Channel Islands National Park, California  (2011)

Congaree National Park, South Carolina   (2011)

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon   (2011)


Death Valley National Park, California  (2012)

Denali National Park & Preserve, Alaska  (2004 - 3 separate visits)

Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida  (2012)

Everglades National Park, Florida  (2003, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)


Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska  (2004)

Glacier National Park, Montana  (1997)

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona  (1981, 1985, 1989, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010)

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming  (1982, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014)

Great Basin National Park, Nevada  (2012)

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado  (1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007)

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee & North Carolina  (1965, 1967, 1971,1995, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008)

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas  (1985, 2007)

Haleakala National Park, Hawai'i'  (2003)


Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas  (1968, 1985, 2006)

Isle Royale National Park, Michigan  (1993, 1995)

Joshua Tree National Park, California  (2011)


Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska  (2004)

Kings Canyon National Park, California  (2011)



Lassen Volcanic National Park, California  (2011)

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky  (1962, 2001)

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado  (1985, 1994, 1999)

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington  (2000, 2004)


North Cascades National Park, Washington  (2011)

Olympic National Park, Washington  (2000)

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona  (1989, 1999)


Redwood National Park, California  (1993)

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado  (1982, 1990, 2014)

Saguaro National Park, Arizona  (2012)

Sequoia National Park, California  (2011)

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia  (2012)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota  (2012)


Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota  (2013)

Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota  (1998)

Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska   (2004 — 2 separate visits)

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, & Idaho  (1982, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014)

Yosemite National Park, California  (1993, 2011)

Zion National Park, Utah  (1985, 1999, 2008, 2010)

4 comments:

  1. Good god man, you seriously remember that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, Drew, with help from well-organized photo albums and a few spare hours of time. I may have missed a few, but I found most of them!

    ReplyDelete