Pictured above: Diablo Lake, North Cascades National Park, Washington
Image Credit: Darpan
By Paul Wade
Famous around the world, Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon National Parks are ‘must-see’ destinations for millions of visitors every year. But across the USA there are numerous other National Parks and allied Monuments, Memorials and Historical Landmarks that call out to be discovered. Which of these ‘hidden gems’ you decide to explore depends largely on your travel plans and what particular activities most interest you.
Great Outdoor Adventures
Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
“Lake Superior talks to you all night,” is one backpacker’s memory of camping on this rugged island. Reached only by seaplane or a three-hour ferry ride from Minnesota or Michigan, this is one of the least-visited National Parks. Some 45 miles long and nine miles wide, it has four historic lighthouses, plus 170 miles of marked hiking trails that are rated easy to moderate. Rock Harbor Lodge offers canoe and boat rentals and also a grocery store. Sleep under the stars; see romantic sunsets; watch for moose; listen for the howls of wolves and the eerie calls of loons. nps.gov/isro
New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia
In 2021, the spectacular New River Gorge was upgraded into America’s latest National Park. There are thrills galore: rock climbing on the sandstone cliffs; rafting along 53 miles of white-water river, hiking and cycling on hundreds of miles of trails. Then there is the Bridge Walk. Harnessed for safety, you follow a guide along the catwalk amongst the steel beams of the soaring New River Gorge Bridge. At 851 feet above the swirling New River, this is a real test of nerves! And incidentally, the park is only a five-hour drive from Washington, DC. nps.gov/neri; bridgewalk.com
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The largest of Utah’s “Mighty 5” National Parks, Canyonlands is also the least visited of the group. Think of it as an open-air geology lesson: multi-coloured layers of sandstone, buttes, mesas, gorges and natural arches. To avoid extreme temperatures, visit in autumn or spring. Top sites for photos are the Island in the Sky (fabulous views from this 6,000-foot-high mesa), The Needles (classic canyon country with spires of white and orange sandstone) and The Maze, where driving a 4WD vehicle is a blast! For watery excitement, go rafting on the Green and Colorado Rivers, whose waters created these deep canyons. nps.gov/cany
North Cascades National Park, Washington
Located in the north-west of the state and sometimes referred to as ‘The American Alps’, this spectacular park encompasses more than 300 glaciers and a seemingly endless number of waterfalls. It’s also known for climbing terrain of various degrees of difficulty and for a scenic 140 mile highway. nps.gov/noca
Dramatic Diversions
A number of National Parks, Monuments and Recreation Areas have inspired or appeared in films and TV series … and even been linked with theatre productions. The one which instantly springs to mind is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1989 thriller North by Northwest in which Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint scramble down the carved US Presidential faces on Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Here are some other examples.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
One of cinema’s most famous scenes is of an alien-crewed spacecraft landing on Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming. Long sacred to the area’s Native Americans, the spectacular 867ft tall butte was designated in 1906 as America’s first official National Monument and although there are no aliens there today, there’s plenty to do and see. Learn about this geological oddity on ranger-led walks; hike the 1.3-mile Tower Trail to the summit for fabulous views; admire rock climbers taking on the challenge of the Tower’s fiendish vertical cracks. nps.gov/deto
Oppenheimer (2023)
To discover connections with the movie that won seven Oscars in 2024, check out the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Established in 2015, this consists of three important sites under one National Park umbrella. Known as the “Secret City”, Oak Ridge, Tennessee was created deep in farmland in the early 1940s as a planned community incorporating the project. Today, you can take a virtual tour of the X-10, the first full scale nuclear reactor in Oak Ridge’s National Laboratory and see where the Calutron Girls, local high school graduates, separated uranium-235 from uranium-238 (the enriched uranium used for atomic bombs).
In Hanford, Washington, you can view the facilities that produced plutonium for the US nuclear weapons stockpile. But the most famous site is Los Alamos, New Mexico, where you can visit the Oppenheimer House, Bathtub Row and the building where the world’s first atomic device was assembled. nps.gov/mapr
Westworld (2016)
Many of the scenes in this scary but hugely popular TV sci-fi/Western series about a theme park filled with human-like androids were filmed at Paramount Ranch, in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area near Los Angeles. Built a century ago, the Western Town buildings and surrounding ranch land were a location for movies during Hollywood’s Golden Age starring Bob Hope, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant . Sadly most of the set was destroyed by fire in 2018. But the wooden church from HBO’s Westworld survived – and the rebuilt Western Town opens in 2025. And there is always great hiking, biking and riding nearby. nps.gov/samo
Hamilton (2020)
The mega-hit musical bio of Revolutionary War era superstar Alexander Hamilton renewed interest in both the American politician and New York City’s Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Built in 1802 in upper Manhattan’s West Harlem neighbourhood, the furnishings from that era give a sense of Hamilton’s life. Imagine him in his study, gazing out on countryside and then visit the gardens and a lovely park. nps.gov/hagr
Into the Wild (2007)
The true story of Christopher McCandless’ journey “Into the Wild” was first told in a book by Jon Krakauer and later in director Sean Penn’s film adaptation. McCandless’ aim to escape the modern world led him to Alaska’s Denali National Park and the small town of Healy where he sheltered in the abandoned Magic Bus 142, a replica of which you can view today. As for the park, its two million acres are punctuated by the 20,310ft Denali, North America’s highest mountain (formerly Mt McKinley). Spot wildlife, such as caribou, Dall sheep and bears; hike on well-marked trails; learn about nature on ranger-led tours. This majestic wilderness has also provided locations for movie thrillers, such as The Edge (1997), Grizzly Man (2005) and The Fourth Kind (2009). nps.gov/dena
Water Wonderlands
Virgin Islands National Park, St John, US Virgin Islands
Both land and sea are protected in this National Park which offers dazzling white-sand beaches, miles of hiking trails through tropical rain forests and surrounding waters featuring coral reefs, sea turtles, rays and a kaleidoscope of brightly-coloured fish. It’s perfect for scuba divers and snorkellers who can follow a 650-foot-long Trunk Bay Underwater Trail featuring plaques identifying everything from parrotfish and squid to brain and elkhorn coral. nps.gov/viis
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Seven miles west of Key West, Fort Jefferson, one of the largest in America, dominates Garden Key, one of seven small islands in this unique National Park. Get there by boat or float plane; find out that it was built in the mid-19th century to protect shipping lanes between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean – and some of its unusual uses since; admire the dazzling blue surrounding waters, home to eagle rays, snapper, black tip and hammerhead sharks; and/or snorkel in the fort’s moat, home to squid, nurse sharks and hogfish. nps.gov/drto
Unique Experiences
Acadia National Park, Maine
If you hike up to the top of 1,530ft Cadillac Mountain near Bar Harbor just before dawn from October to March you’ll be among the first persons in America to see the sun’s rays from the highest point on the US eastern seaboard. nps.gov/acad
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawai‘i
Drive or hike around the crater of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes – its last eruption was June 3, 2024 –and peer down into the depths of its bubbling red lava, steam whooshing from vents, the air full of the smell of sulphur, to experience nature at its most powerful. nps.gov/havo
Big Bend National Park, Texas
Go to the remote far south-west corner of Texas to find the National Park attracting more bird species – 450 in all – than any other. If among them is the rare Colina Warbler you’ll be the envy of birdwatchers worldwide. Explore by car; hike into the back country; photograph mountains, desert and the Rio Grande river; and plan your trip carefully as you are a long way from any place else. For instance, it’s a 400-mile drive to San Antonio. nps.gov/bibe
Image Credit: James Lee
Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona
Familiar from films about the Wild West, the spiky saguaro cactus can stretch 50 feet toward the sky, and there are two million of them in this National Park! Between April and June, the fragrant white flowers open at night and close the next day. A good walk is the three-mile, two-hour Loma Verde loop in the park’s East District. nps.gov/sagu
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia
Want to stand in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia all at once? Then hike up the 1.2-mile Tri-State Peak Trail (aka Daniel Boone’s Trail). At the 1,990-foot summit, step onto lines marking the intersection of the three state borders. In autumn, the views of fall foliage are spectacular. nps.gov/cuga
History & Heritage
The Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York Harbor – Although the iconic bronze statue of Lady Liberty, gifted to America by the French in 1886, is one of the USA’s best-known attractions not many people may be aware that both it and neighbouring Ellis Island, site of the fascinating Museum of Immigration, are jointly designated as a National Monument and can be reached by ferry not only from southern Manhattan’s Battery but also from Jersey City’s Liberty State Park. nps.gov/stli
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Texas – New Spain’s legacy is lovingly preserved in four 300-year-old mission buildings in this San Antonio park. What is more, the Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan and Mission Espada are all still active Roman Catholic churches with regular services. nps.gov/saan
Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah – Encompassing parts of two states, this park includes Utah’s Quarry Exhibit Hall featuring 1,500 bones, from Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Diplodocus and Colorado’s Canyon Visitor Center, a hub for outdoor adventures, from river rafting to hiking. And don’t miss the carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs, a legacy of ancient tribes. nps.gov/dino
The African Burial Ground National Monument, New York City – While excavating for a new skyscraper close to the southern end of Manhattan’s famous Broadway workers found a huge burial ground for slaves which have now been re-interred under grassy mounds enhanced by a monument in the form of the prowl of a slave ship, in its midst a small stream running from a wall-surrounded pavement naming the African countries from which they were forcibly removed. nps.gov/afbg
Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia – Built to protect Savannah’s port, this fort was captured by Confederate forces early in the Civil War. But in 1862, the Union Army laid siege and, despite being 11 feet thick, the walls couldn’t withstand the new-fangled rifled guns. After two days of artillery fire, the white flag was raised. Today, you can still see the scars on the brick fortifications, historic weapons are fired on Saturdays and you can check the schedule for occasional living history re-enactments. nps.gov/fopu
Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Jackson, Mississippi – This simple, single-story structure stands in a residential area of the state capital. But a bullet hole in the kitchen wall is a tragic reminder of the racial violence that racked the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1963, Medgar Evers was shot dead in his own carport. His assassination, the first murder of a nationally significant American Civil Rights leader, was a catalyst for the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Jackson’s international airport is named for the Evers family. nps.gov/memy
Thaddeus Kościuszko National Memorial, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The smallest site in the National Park System honours the Polish hero who helped American colonists during the Revolutionary War. In an area the size of three tennis courts, the memorial commemorates the sweeping achievements of this near-forgotten genius, who was a general, a military engineer and even a composer. nps.gov/thko
TRAVELLER’S TIP: Particularly if you plan to visit several National Parks consider investing in an America the Beautiful National Parks Pass. (usparkpass.com). Valid for one year and costing £62, the Pass gives the holder and, if in a car, three other passengers, (kids go free) access to more than 2,000 National Park and other public places – and you also get a free Explorer Guide. Also make sure to make contact with the park rangers in the places you visit – they are both knowledgeable and helpful.
