Travel blog

The strikingly beautiful Death Valley National Park in the heart of the Mojave Desert is a land of extremes. It is the lowest, driest and hottest place in the nation with scorching temperatures that can soar above 120 degrees.

This eerie desert landscape is as varied as it is beautiful. Dramatic mountains give way to expansive salt flats, sand dunes and unique hillside landscapes. There is much to do experience and see in this stunning stretch of desert.

Here are some of the top things to do in Death Valley National Park:

Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah is most famous for its unique rock formations known as hoodoos. The park is home to the world’s largest concentration of hoodoos, which rise high up into the air like totem poles in vivid red, orange, and amber. The park also boasts spectacular natural amphitheaters and bowls, pine forests, high plateaus, and deep valleys. Anywhere youlook in Bryce Canyon is uniquely beautiful, and you can look forward a new jaw-dropping vista at every turn. People often spend just a day or two in Bryce Canyon as part of a trip to multiple national parks, if you plan out your stay—that’s plenty.

Deep in South Dakota’s Black Hills, surrounded by endless miles of nature, four great American leaders are carved into the broad granite side of a sun-baked mountain.

The four presidents on the striking Mount Rushmore National Monument are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These massive, silent beacons are visited by over 2 million guests annually.

The monument took a team of over 400 workers more 14 years to build, and is considered “an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans.”

There is so much to do in Denali National Park. The Alaskan preserve offers beautiful scenery, fascinating wildlife, and unbeatable views. While Denali is known for being home to North America’s highest mountain peak, that’s not all there is to discover in the country’s northernmost state.

Observing wildlife in national parks is a magical experience. Seeing how animals act and interact with each other in their own territory is an experience you will remember forever. The advantage of visiting a National Park is that you don’t need fancy equipment or gear to find wildlife. There are plenty of paths and guided tours where animals roam freely throughout the year.

Whether you’re hiking Canadian Rockies or visiting the mountains stateside, you’ll want to be prepared for your trip. Packing can be one of the most stressful parts of preparing for any vacation. A trip to the Rocky Mountains between May and September is no different.

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, neighboring parks jointly administered by the NPS, are some of California’s finest. Located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, they have lush green meadows, thundering rivers, mighty mountains, a very healthy bear population, and sprawling groves of jaw-droppingly massive trees. They are home to two of the world’s largest living trees, the noble sequoia tree neighbors General Sherman and General Grant.

When 19th century French fur trappers came upon the trio of jagged peaks that jutted into the sky above Jackson Hole in Northwestern Wyoming, they cheekily described them as “Les Trois Tétons,” or the three breasts—the tallest of which they bawdily called the “Grand Teton,” or… you can probably fill in the blanks.

Despite the crude origins of its name, Grand Teton National Park is a place of stunning beauty and dramatic vistas. This remarkable park is a must for nature lovers and American history buffs.

Your travel bucket list is an opportunity for you to write down all the must-see places you want to visit in this lifetime. It inspires you to decide what you really want, to rank the places you’ve dreamt of seeing for years, since childhood, perhaps, and plan accordingly. Here are some of the magnificent destinations that show up most frequently on our guests’ bucket lists:

The United States National Parks System covers more than 84 million acres of rivers, mountains, plains and coastlines, attracting over 330 million visitors a year. Many of these visitors flock to the park system’s main attractions—the Grand Canyon lookouts, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, and the sandstone arches of Utah’s Arches National Park.

While these are all amazing sights, you also need to visit the following hidden gems. And despite some little known national parks being difficult to get to, these parks are easily accessible.