The National Parks of the United States and Canada

Some of our greatest national parks and tips on how to make the most of them with the park pass, by booking historic inns, and the lowdown on camping on federal lands

Sunset at Glacier National Park in Montana.

The National Parks Pass - Our country's single best travel value.

Road Trip: Southern Utah - In which I attempt to visit five major national parks—Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef—in just four days.

Cheap Federal Sleeps - How to camp for free on federal lands and sleep (sometimes) inexpensively in our parks' historic inns.

National Parks FREE!
About a half-dozen times a year, the National Parks Service has FREE ADMISSION DAYS so that everyone can celebrate the glory and beauty of our National Parks.

For 2012, those dates are:

• Jan 14–16
• Apr 21–29
• June 9
• Sept 29
• Nov 10–12

On these days, all 394 national parks, preserves, monuments, memorials, historic sites, etc. will be open FREE OF CHARGE to everyone.

Of course, many already are free, but 146 do charge admission, anywhere from $3 to $25. Heck, You could save $119 in Utah alone.

Learn more at www.nps.gov.America's Most Underrated National Parks - A roundup of 10 little-known but fantastic national parks I recently wrote for TravelandLeisure.com, including Biscayne, Congaree, Isle Royale, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Theodore Roosevelt, Capitol Reef, Great Basin, North Cascades, Channel Islands, and Wrangell-St. Elias. (Note: these links take you off-site.)

Seven alternatives to the Grand Canyon - Ditching the Big Ditch as part of the 'Boycott Arizona' movement? Here's a baker's half-dozen nearly-as-grand canyons to help fill the void this summer.

Tracking the Winter Wolves of Yellowstone - You have to get up before dawn to track the Druid Peak pack of wolves through the wintery landscape of Yellowstone's Lamar Valley—a cradle of wildlife often called "the Little Serengeti of the Americas."

Treasures of the Olympic Peninsula - Natural hot tubs and temperate rain forests in Washington State's Olympic National Park.

On the Rocks - Hiking a Pennsylvania stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

Leaving Las Vegas...on Two Wheels - Various biking adventures around Sin City, including through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Endangering Our National Parks - An award-winning editorial essay on how changes to various federal laws, statutes, and policies in the early 2000s continue to threaten our national parks.

The road less traveled - A paean to America's Byways, the federal program that singles out scenic drives and historic routes across the USA...

The Unsung Parks of Western Canada - Adventures in some of the lesser-known parks of BC and Alberta: Biking Mt. Revelstoke National Park, hiking in Yoho National Park, driving right through Glacier National Park unawares, and clambering over the Continental Divide somewhere in the Canadian Rockies.

This article was by Reid Bramblett and last updated in January 2012.
All information was accurate at the time.

about | contact | faq

Copyright © 1998–2013 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett.