America’s national parks are more popular than ever, drawing record numbers of visitors every year. This special issue is a celebration of these parks, representing the best of the geographic and biological diversity of the far-flung U.S. park system. Packed with extraordinary photographs (as well as intriguing data and detailed descriptions), these pages serve not only as a guide to the parks’ individual charms, but also as an appreciation of their unmatched—and fragile—natural splendor.
America’s National Parks
This Land Is Your Land • America’s national parks are something all citizens can agree on: They are an inarguable treasure, the happy result of the prescience of our predecessors
EASTERN NATIONAL PARKS • Compared with their big-shouldered cousins of the West, the parks along the Atlantic side of the U.S. are somewhat subtler in their magic and more varied in geology and biology. From the rockbound shores of Acadia to the exotic waters of the Everglades, these parks have something for everybody.
Acadia • MAINE
Hot Springs • ARKANSAS
Great Smoky Mountains • TENNESSEE, NORTH CAROLINA
Shenandoah • VIRGINIA
Mammoth Cave • KENTUCKY
Everglades • FLORIDA
Virgin Islands • UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS
Congaree • SOUTH CAROLINA
Natural Heroes: Two of a Kind • Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir combined politics and passion to exalt nature and expand the national parks
MIDWEST NATIONAL PARKS • Scattered through the midsection of America are a number of wildly varied national parks: some near cities, some far from anything; some well-trodden, some still hidden gems.
Wind Cave • SOUTH DAKOTA
Isle Royale • MICHIGAN
Voyageurs • MINNESOTA
Badlands • SOUTH DAKOTA
Theodore Roosevelt • NORTH DAKOTA
Cuyahoga Valley • OHIO
Gateway Arch • MISSOURI
Indiana Dunes • INDIANA
Loving the Parks to Death • Overcrowding is one of many factors damaging the parks, as well as invasive species and higher temperatures
WESTERN AND PACIFIC NATIONAL PARKS • Many of the nation’s most famous parks have been carved out of the Western landscape, much as the Colorado River has carved the Grand Canyon. But the American West does not end at the Pacific coastline; the park system reaches to Hawaii and American Samoa.
Yosemite • CALIFORNIA
Mesa Verde • COLORADO
Rocky Mountain • COLORADO
Grand Canyon • ARIZONA
Zion • UTAH
Bryce Canyon • UTAH
Carlsbad Caverns • NEW MEXICO
Big Bend • TEXAS
Haleakalā • HAWAII
Petrified Forest • ARIZONA
Arches • UTAH
Great Basin • NEVADA
American Samoa • AMERICAN SAMOA
The Original Americans and the Parks • Native tribes were the earliest keepers of the land that was claimed by the government and became the national parks. They are only now beginning to have their rights restored
NORTHWEST NATIONAL PARKS • The parks of the American Northwest feature some of the country’s most glorious terrain, from the grand peaks of Wyoming to the rain forests of Washington and finally to the vast beauty of Alaska.
Yellowstone • WYOMING, MONTANA, IDAHO
Mount Rainier • WASHINGTON
Crater Lake • OREGON
Glacier • MONTANA
Denali • ALASKA
Grand Teton • WYOMING
Olympic • WASHINGTON
Glacier Bay • ALASKA
Wrangell-St. Elias • ALASKA
LIFE Explores America's National Parks
PHOTO CREDITS
Still on the Job