With their mesmerizing natural beauty and abundant wildlife, America’s national parks aren’t exactly the dream destinations of architecture lovers. At least, that’s what they think. The truth is that you can find gorgeous and photogenic buildings in national parks all over the U.S.
Wiping the sweat off your forehead, you try to catch your breath as you gaze across a landscape dominated by red rocks and sandstone hills. Towering rock pillars and enormous domes fill the view, interspersed by wide valleys and, here and there, a hardy desert bush. Your chest still heaving up and down after a short but steep climb to the overlook, you sit down and take a well-deserved sip from your water bottle.
December’s well on its way and winter’s right around the corner. As temperatures drop across America and the days grow ever shorter, nature’s most challenging season draws out winter sports enthusiasts, who relish the opportunity to once again hit the slopes, trails and lakes.
Home to the world’s densest concentration of rock arches, Arches National Park is one of the most photogenic national parks in America. During my three-day visit, I, naturally, spend a good chunk of time playing with my camera. This post contains a selection of my personal favorite Arches National Park photos.
Although it’s the national parks that get all the spotlight, it’s often the state parks where families, friends and couples go for weekend outings. Whether it’s for a Saturday hike, a Sunday picnic or an overnight camping trip, the state parks in America might just be more closely interwoven with people’s everyday life than their national cousins.
From the calm waters of the Missouri River to the lush Pacific Northwest forests of the Cascade and Siskiyou ranges, national monuments in the West feature a wide variety of ecosystems, wildlife and landscapes. If you’re looking for new adventures in 2018, consider adding these beautiful public protected lands to your list.
They embody everything that’s great about nature in America, but national parks aren’t necessarily impossibly remote or difficult to get around in. Often, it’s the contrary, in fact. Although they are the epitome of natural beauty and wildness, most of them are surprisingly accessible.
Hiking in Zion National Park is the one and only way to explore this epic national park in Utah. And although there are a number of superb hiking trails in Zion, from easy walks on flat paved walkways to thigh-crunching climbs, there is one that stands out from the rest—the Observation Point Trail.
Home to five amazing national parks, all lined up wonderfully along scenic roads in the southern part of the state, Utah is one of the world’s best adventure travel destinations. In this post, I’d like to keep the number of words to a minimum. I think the landscapes of Utah’s national parks speak for themselves.
If you’re after inspiring canyon landscapes, great campgrounds, and a challenging hike or two, Utah’s Zion National Park has your name written all over it. There’s obviously a reason for the park’s popularity: its truly magnificent scenery and accessible yet epic Zion National Park hiking trails.
Nowhere else in the world will you find landscapes quite like those that characterize southern Utah, northern Arizona and southwestern Colorado. Here, in the middle of the Colorado Plateau—and incidentally also at the top of the plateau—scattered woods alternate with high desert scenery.
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