# Best National Parks



## EatMoreChips (May 23, 2006)

I've hardly been out of Chicago for a year and could do with a big trip this summer. I've had enough of cities for a while though, so would you care to recommend your favorite national parks???


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## Yuwipi Woman (May 23, 2006)

How about Arches National Park near Moab, UT.  

http://www.nps.gov/arch/


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## Fledgling (May 24, 2006)

I've visited 2 parks (apart from San Francisco bay area). I'd recommend visiting Glacier National Park in Montana as you can do a one day tour on the red buses and they take you past the mountain that Paramount based their logo on. Also on the smaller scale is Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Badlands, hiking and a great canyon, it's overlooked up there.


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## Nlogax (May 24, 2006)

Head over to AZ.  Organ Pipe Cactus NP is what you're looking for.   It's seriously, seriously beautiful.   

http://www.nps.gov/orpi/


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## chilango (May 24, 2006)

Arches is by far my favorite.

Bryce Canyon, Zion and Canyonlands are all also awesome.

All in Utah.


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## EatMoreChips (May 25, 2006)

Yuwipi Woman said:
			
		

> How about Arches National Park near Moab, UT.
> 
> http://www.nps.gov/arch/



It was actually about the first place I considered - and I saw a picture of it on the side of a U-Haul truck this morning, so it must be an omen.


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## Tramsruoyknihtu (May 28, 2006)

i'll stick another vote in for Arches National Park - its also a good call because in that Four Corners area there are a whole clutch of NP's worth spending time at


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## Johnny Canuck3 (May 28, 2006)

Arches is excellent, and it's close to the Monument Valley in Arizona, sort of.

I like Yellowstone also, especially the drive east to Cody Wyoming. Saw my first grizzlies in a river there.

I've only driven through Yosemite, and I'd like to go back and check it out sometime.

There's an interesting park in N. Dakota called Theodore Roosevelt or something, also worth a visit.

If you like mountain wilderness, there's an international park, Canada/US, called Waterton Glacier International Park; it's in Montana and Alberta. Gorgeous mountains, blue lakes, etc. I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid.


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## Fledgling (May 29, 2006)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> There's an interesting park in N. Dakota called Theodore Roosevelt or something, also worth a visit.
> 
> .



It's a probably overlooked park on the road less travelled but makes a fantastic stopover break for those heading west from Minneapolis and Chicago towards Yellowstone or Glacier. Theodore Roosevelt NP has 2 sections, the southern being a bit more accessible and including the amazing Painted Canyon. Used to drive past it about 2-3 times a week on my way to Dickinson. You could just drive the loop road around the southern section in a day and even have time for a bit of light hiking in the badlands there. Definitely one of my best days in that region. But it's so dry and I suppose it would be hard for the park to accommodate a lot more visitors.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (May 29, 2006)

Fledgling said:
			
		

> It's a probably overlooked park on the road less travelled but makes a fantastic stopover break for those heading west from Minneapolis and Chicago towards Yellowstone or Glacier. Theodore Roosevelt NP has 2 sections, the southern being a bit more accessible and including the amazing Painted Canyon. Used to drive past it about 2-3 times a week on my way to Dickinson. You could just drive the loop road around the southern section in a day and even have time for a bit of light hiking in the badlands there. Definitely one of my best days in that region. But it's so dry and I suppose it would be hard for the park to accommodate a lot more visitors.



Did you see the prairie dog city?


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## HAL9000 (Jun 2, 2006)

yosemite?

http://www.yosemitefun.com/glacier_point.htm


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## ZUL (Jun 4, 2006)

Here is a list of all the US National Parks.  I think just about all of them should be beautiful and worthwhile but obviously some will be better than others.  

Alabama 
Little River Canyon

Alaska 
Bering Land Bridge
Denali
Gates of the Arctic 
Glacier Bay 
Katmai 
Kenai Fjords 
Kobuk Valley 
Lake Clark  
Noatak 
Wrangell-St. Elias 
Yukon-Charley Rivers

Arizona 
Saguaro 
Grand Canyon 
Petrified Forest

Arkansas 
Hot Springs

California 
Channel Islands 
Death Valley 
Joshua Tree 
Kings Canyon 
Lassen Volcanic 
Mojave 
Redwood 
Sequoia 
Yosemite

Colorado 
Black Canyon of the Gunnison 
Great Sand Dunes 
Mesa Verde 
Rocky Mountain

Florida 
Big Cypress  
Biscayne 
Dry Tortugas 
Everglades

Hawaii 
Haleakala 
Hawaii Volcanoes

Kentucky 
Mammoth Cave

Maine 
Acadia

Michigan 
Isle Royale

Minnesota 
Voyageurs

Montana 
Glacier

Nevada 
Great Basin

New Mexico 
Carlsbad Caverns

North Carolina 
Great Smoky Mountains

North Dakota 
Theodore Roosevelt

Ohio 
Cuyahoga Valley

Oregon 
Crater Lake

South Dakota 
Badlands 
Wind Cave

Tennessee 
Great Smoky Mountains

Texas 
Big Bend 
Big Thicket  
Guadalupe Mountains

Utah 
Arches 
Bryce Canyon 
Canyonlands 
Capitol Reef 
Zion

Virginia 
Prince William Forest 
Shenandoah

Washington 
Mount Rainier 
North Cascades 
Olympic

Wyoming 
Grand Teton 
Yellowstone

Virgin Islands 
Virgin Islands

American Samoa 
American Samoa



My short list would include:
	Grand Canyon
	Petrified Forest
	Joshua Tree
	Mojave
	Redwood
	Yosemite
	Rocky Mountains
	Glacier
	Crater Lake
	Zion
	Yellowstone


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## RaverDrew (Jun 4, 2006)

Yosemite is the most stunning place on Earth I've ever been to.  I'd well recommend it.


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## phildwyer (Jun 4, 2006)

My favorite is Shenandoah, you can drive through the Blue Ridge mountains just a bit further south as well.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 5, 2006)

ZUL said:
			
		

> Here is a list of all the US National Parks.  I think just about all of them should be beautiful and worthwhile but obviously some will be better than others.



Your list forgets Nebraska (as all lists do):

http://www.csc.edu/geoscience/toadstool/index.htm


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## Gavin Bl (Jun 7, 2006)

Yosemite is gorgeous and would be my fave to go back to, yellowstone is very interesting but I can only be sprayed with dilute sulphuric acid for so long...

The 'Red Rock' parks are fab too

Arches is great, Canyonlands is like being at the dawn of time - just a massive scale.

I absolutely loved Zion, a gorgeous river valley with precipitous desert cliffs and lush veg around the river. Bryce is great too, very odd looking. 

Sedona is very nice.

After a while you do tend to get a bit 'Red Rocked Out' though.

For sheer beauty, I would go to Yosemite as part of nice California trip. I'd do that tomorrow in fact.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 7, 2006)

Yuwipi Woman said:
			
		

> Your list forgets Nebraska (as all lists do):
> 
> http://www.csc.edu/geoscience/toadstool/index.htm



Shit: I missed that when I was there. But we slept in a rest stop in Wyoming, east of Cheyenne, that looked a lot like that.


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## Gavin Bl (Jun 8, 2006)

Whats that line in 'Unforgiven'

"I thought I was dead. Turns out I was just in Nebraska".


I drove through there from Denver up to South Dakota. It is a giant lawn really isn't it?


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## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 8, 2006)

Gavin Bl said:
			
		

> Whats that line in 'Unforgiven'
> 
> "I thought I was dead. Turns out I was just in Nebraska".
> 
> ...



The fact that no one else wants to live here is one of its perks.


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## xiannaix (Jun 28, 2006)

EatMoreChips said:
			
		

> I've hardly been out of Chicago for a year and could do with a big trip this summer. I've had enough of cities for a while though, so would you care to recommend your favorite national parks???




If your in Chicago - Devil's Lake - I think it's a Wisconsin State park rather than national but it is quite probably doable in a day.  (It's 190 miles away) It's a remarkable place - Indian burial mounds and great geoloy.  Basically it looks like a big hole drilled through rock with one side that fell out and a lake at the bottom - it is VERY deep and just as cold but amazingly clear.  No motor boats allowed last I checked.  

http://www.devilslakewisconsin.com/


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## xiannaix (Jun 28, 2006)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> Shit: I missed that when I was there. But we slept in a rest stop in Wyoming, east of Cheyenne, that looked a lot like that.




lol - I've stopped at (probably) that one a couple times on my way from Minneapolis to Sacamento.

Not a lot going on in Cheyenne.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 28, 2006)

xiannaix said:
			
		

> lol - I've stopped at (probably) that one a couple times on my way from Minneapolis to Sacamento.
> 
> Not a lot going on in Cheyenne.



We went through on a Saturday night. There were a couple of drunk guys up on the roof of the bar beside the 7-11. We just kept driving.


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## xiannaix (Jun 28, 2006)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

> We went through on a Saturday night. There were a couple of drunk guys up on the roof of the bar beside the 7-11. We just kept driving.





there's another spot in WY (I think WY) where I always stopped for gas - middle of the state - named Rock Springs? on I-80 and everytime - same girl working at the gas station which pretty much was the town as near as I could tell    I think she was hot for me and knew I was coming. 


Oh, Little America way west Wyopming - a must stop and get an ice cream cone place (I always stopped there to call family and let them know I hadn't been killed by vagabonds of the road)


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 28, 2006)

xiannaix said:
			
		

> there's another spot in WY (I think WY) where I always stopped for gas - middle of the state - named Rock Springs? on I-80 and everytime - same girl working at the gas station which pretty much was the town as near as I could tell    I think she was hot for me and knew I was coming.
> 
> 
> Oh, Little America way west Wyopming - a must stop and get an ice cream cone place (I always stopped there to call family and let them know I hadn't been killed by vagabonds of the road)



I felt the same way about a girl at a gas station in Fargo, on the south side of the interstate. I think she had the hots for me, but I also think that she was a crackhead.


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## EatMoreChips (Jul 3, 2006)

xiannaix said:
			
		

> If your in Chicago - Devil's Lake - I think it's a Wisconsin State park rather than national but it is quite probably doable in a day.  (It's 190 miles away) It's a remarkable place - Indian burial mounds and great geoloy.  Basically it looks like a big hole drilled through rock with one side that fell out and a lake at the bottom - it is VERY deep and just as cold but amazingly clear.  No motor boats allowed last I checked.
> 
> http://www.devilslakewisconsin.com/




We've been a couple of times... they host triathlons and yes, it's very cold. Nice though!


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