Becky Lomax - Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks

TOUR ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLINGS IN MESA VERDE

Ancestral Pueblo people built houses, spiritual kivas, and storage rooms under overhanging cliffs. See these wondrous villages on ranger-led tours ().

GATHER FOR FIREFLIES IN GREAT SMOKY

For two short weeks in late spring, synchronous fireflies gather here, flashing their bioluminescent lights in unison ().

Alaska contains some of the most rugged and wildest parks. In Denali, bus tours carry visitors deep into the park to see wolves, bears, moose, and the tallest peak in North America. Flightseeing gets visitors even closer to Denali mountain. See tidewater glaciers in Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords, or fly above the Arctic Circle to Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley. Watch brown bears fishing in Katmai, go fishing in Lake Clark, and hike to glaciers in Wrangell-St. Elias.

The California parks span unique extremes: the marine environment of the Channel Islands, the desert badlands of Death Valley, and the bubbling mud pots of Lassen Volcanic. Two deserts collide in Joshua Tree, rocky spires shoot skyward in Pinnacles, and giant redwoods and sequoias pack into Redwood and Sequoia-Kings Canyon. The crowning park, Yosemite, shows off waterfalls in Yosemite Valley, far-reaching views from Glacier Point, and a cabled climb up the steep Half Dome.

Every one of the Pacific Northwest parks centers on mountainsfrom the volcano holding Crater Lake to high Mount Rainier spilling with glaciers to the icy peaks dominating the North Cascades. In Olympic National Park, you can drive into the alpine at Hurricane Ridge or go west to plunge into the lush Hoh Rain Forest and stroll rugged Ruby Beach.

The parks of the Southwest show off natures sculpture in the cliffs, fantastical hoodoos, and arches of Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. Belowground, the artistry continues with stalactites in Carlsbad Caverns. Even vegetation contains a rare beauty, with stately cacti in Saguaro and ancient bristlecones in Great Basin. Colors run rampant in the Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest, cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, the giant sand dunes of Great Sand Dunes, the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend, and the desert peaks of Guadalupe Mountains. Two parks stand out as Southwest royalty. Zion features the Narrows, Zion Canyon, and the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Grand Canyon has overlooks of the gaping chasm along Hermit Road and at Desert View Watchtower, while the inner canyon lures hikers and boaters.

In the Rocky Mountains, the large, famous parks often overshadow the smaller ones. But these modest parks enchant in their own rightthe narrow slot of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, colorful erosion of Badlands, boxwork of Wind Cave, and beloved badlands of Theodore Roosevelt.