They do them so well!

First of all, let me say, I know we have great National Parks back home and that they are free and open to the public and I know we too have wonderfully beautiful countryside. The US do things different – Most NPs have an entrance fee of $35 per car for a 7 day permit. Most people will probably visit for a day or 2 maybe, not great value you’d think. However! they do an annual pass for $80 so you can hit as many as you like for a whole year and this pass covers you. (They also give pensioners a lifetime pass for $20 and service personnel get in free or very very cheap). There is another alternative of course – get up early! National parks NEVER close – There are NO gates. Arrive early morning to avoid the queues and you’ll find nobody at the ticket booths. We only know this as we hit Yosemite early and we sailed in. We bought the $80 annual pass and managed 8 National Parks. These won’t get you in State Parks but they do cover a hell of a lot.

So what’s so great about the parks then? Well – Firstly, each one is unique yet equally spectacular. From the cavernous Grand Canyon to the monolithic Bryce Canyon, the drive down and through Zion and the granite humongousnous of Yosemite, the Giant Sequoias of Kings Canyon and Sequoia not to mention the trees and terrain of Joshua Tree and the deep deep blue of Crater Lake, even when it’s obscured by the smoke from forest fires 10 miles away!

Joshua Tree

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Grand Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Kings Canyon and Sequoia

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Then – There’s the accessibility! The Parking! There’s always plenty of it. Being America, everything is SOOOOO easy to get to. Shuttle buses ferry you around to the key sights. There’s always a wide range of trails from really short to major hikes, well maintained toilets, fresh water points and picnic/ rest stops. Campsites abound and they are always really well set out and relatively cheap considering where you’re camping, even cabins are affordable and comfortable. On top of all this, every one of the National Parks has a great program of ranger talks or activities for adults and kids. And they are always really well presented.

Whether you’re camping down inside the Grand Canyon or hoping to see bears in Sequoia or Yosemite, there’s always something to check out. We’ve learnt about black and grizzly bears, rattlesnakes, volcanoes, sequoias and the night sky constellations. Each one was well done and added that extra something to our hikes. We were that sold on US National Parks that when we accidentally missed one out on our trip up north through Oregon, we backtracked 4 hrs south to visit Crater Lake. It’s actually a caldera, and the crater is atop Wizard Island, a cinder dome which sits in the lake. The deepest lake in the states, it was created when Mount Mazama volcano collapsed in on itself 7700 years ago. The kids learned how this happened courtesy of a pile of sand, a balloon and a skewer at a ranger activity.

The only downside to all of this wonderfulness are the hordes of tourists (yes I know we’re tourists too) at high season. BUT…….. arrive early and you avoid the worst of it. You’re best doing this anyway if going at the height of summer as the best times to hike will be early morning or the end of the day. This was embedded in us from Grand Canyon National Park and paid off right to Yosemite as we returned downhill from the falls trail around 3pm passing the sweating masses as they headed uphill to the first viewpoint, possibly their endpoint too as venturing any further in the heat of the day would’ve been a real slog.

Yosemite

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Beyond the magnificence of the national parks you also have state parks and national forests. All worth a drive through and a picnic stop at the very least. Our teatime stop along the Avenue of the Giants was a favourite of ours.

So on that note, don’t just take my word for it. Go Hike Yourself!