Category: Places & Travel

The 56 National Parks

Update September 24, 2007: See America’s 58 National Parks.

State

Park

Year
Alaska Denali National Park 1980
Alaska Gates of the Arctic National Park 1980
Alaska Glacier Bay National Park 1980
Alaska Katmai National Park 1980
Alaska Kenai Fjords National Park 1980
Alaska Kobuk Valley National Park 1980
Alaska Lake Clark National Park 1980
Alaska Wrangell-St. Elias National Park 1980
American Samoa National Park of American Samoa 1988
Arizona Grand Canyon National Park 1919
Arizona Petrified Forest National Park 1962
Arizona Saguaro National Park 1994
Arkansas Hot Springs National Park 1921
California Channel Islands National Park 1980
California Death Valley National Park 1994
California Joshua Tree National Park 1994
California Kings Canyon National Park 1940
California Lassen Volcanic National Park 1916
California Redwood National Park 1968
California Sequoia National Park 1890
California Yosemite National Park 1890
Colorado Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park 1999
Colorado Mesa Verde National Park 1906
Colorado Rocky Mountain National Park 1915
Florida Biscayne National Park 1980
Florida Dry Tortugas National Park 1992
Florida Everglades National Park 1947
Hawaii Haleakala National Park 1916
Hawaii Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 1916
Kentucky Mammoth Cave National Park 1941
Maine Acadia National Park 1919
Michigan Isle Royale National Park 1931
Minnesota Voyageurs National Park 1975
Montana Glacier National Park 1910
Nevada Great Basin National Park 1986
New Mexico Carlsbad Caverns National Park 1930
North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt National Park 1978
Ohio Cuyahoga Valley National Park 2000
Oregon Crater Lake National Park 1902
South Dakota Badlands National Park 1978
South Dakota Wind Cave National Park 1903
Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains National Park 1930
Texas Big Bend National Park 1944
Texas Guadalupe Mountains National Park 1972
Utah Arches National Park 1971
Utah Bryce Canyon National Park 1928
Utah Canyonlands National Park 1964
Utah Capitol Reef National Park 1971
Utah Zion National Park 1919
Virgin Islands Virgin Islands National Park 1956
Virginia Shenandoah National Park 1935
Washington Mount Rainier National Park 1899
Washington North Cascades National Park 1968
Washington Olympic National Park 1938
Wyoming Grand Teton National Park 1929
Wyoming Yellowstone National Park 1872

The year indicates when the park was established or when an existing area was redesignated as a National Park.

Great Sand Dunes National Monument and National Preserve (Colorado) is designated to become a National Park once certain land acquisition has been completed.

National Park Service

  • 24 National Battlefields, National Battlefield Parks, National Military Parks, and National Battlefield Site
  • 120 National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, and International Historic Site
  • 4 National Lakeshores
  • 28 National Memorials
  • 76 National Monuments
  • 56 National Parks
  • 4 National Parkways
  • 19 National Preserves and National Reserves
  • 18 National Recreation Areas
  • 15 National Rivers and National Wild and Scenic Rivers and Riverways
  • 3 National Scenic Trails
  • 10 National Seashores
  • 11 Other (White House, National Mall, etc.)
  • 388 total National Park System units

Bear!

By NewMexiKen [1998]

As we crossed Logan Pass [in Glacier National Park] we noticed a bunch of hikers milling around at the trailhead for the Highline Trail. Why are they standing around, I wondered. We passed an outcropping at the top and started down the other side when Emily yelled, “A bear!”

It was early with no traffic so we backed up and stopped in the road. Sure enough down the slope to our right was a grizzly bear working his way up the hill. He was about 100-125 yards away. A couple more cars stopped. The hikers came around the outcropping to watch. In all, about 15-20 people were admiring the bear as he came closer and closer at a more rapid pace. Emily and I edged back toward the car and she took one more photo before we got in.

Just then we looked and behind the hikers 30 yards behind us was a bighorn ram — bear in front of them, ram behind. My best guess is that the resultant commotion caught the bear’s attention. He began to romp up the slope toward us as Emily put her window up. Before I know it Emily is yelling, “Go Daddy. Go Daddy.”

The bear had come up the slope directly toward our car seeking to cross the road. He was lower than us because of the slope, so had to look up and over the low stone retaining wall to see. What he saw was right into Emily’s eyes 6 feet away (behind the car window). At that moment I pulled ahead a few feet. The bear cut behind our car (in front of the others) and scrambled up the opposite slope. We got two photos as he ran. Emily was sure he had smiled at her.

San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes National Monument

The San Luis Valley is said to be the largest mountain valley in the world. It runs north-south for 125 miles between the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountain ranges in south central Colorado. Both of these ranges have numerous peaks above 14,000 feet (4300m).

Just south of Poncha Pass, the narrower northern end of the San Luis Valley is an extraordinarily picturesque landscape — even this week without snow on the mountains. Further south the distance between the ranges widens to 65 miles and the Valley becomes broad and flat — and less picturesque. The altitude of the Valley averages near 7,500 feet.

The Rio Grande del Norte rises in the San Juan Mountains and flows generally eastward into the San Luis Valley. East of Alamosa the “Great River of the North” bends south toward New Mexico. Through centuries the river deposited sand and silt from the San Juan Mountains along its meandering, changing course across the Valley. The prevailing wind blew these deposits eastward toward the Sangre de Cristos, where they were trapped at the foot of the mountains. Today the resulting sand pile is known as the Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve.

The dunes tower as high as 750 feet (230m) and cover nearly 40 square miles. They are the tallest dunes in North America. Sufficient rain and snow fall to keep the dunes stable, though the surface dries quickly and the winds sculpt and restructure the surface continuously. Here the expression “leave nothing but footprints” has little meaning as footprints will soon be gone.

Hiking in the dunes is encouraged (with the usual caveats about heat, water, lightning and not getting lost). Showers and changing rooms are provided near the parking lot — just as at a beach. Walking across the broad, sandy space between the parking lot and the first dunes and then up into the dunes I was surprised by the amount of sand stowing away in my socks and shoes. The sand makes walking more strenuous than on more solid surfaces. It also makes sliding and rolling appealing.

The Sangre de Cristos loom more than a mile above the dunes, curving around them from the north to the southeast. The Valley land to the west is being acquired by the National Park Service to prevent the mining of ground water from under the dunes. Once the acquisition is complete, the Monument will be come the 57th National Park. (See report on the legislation.)

The Arkansas River


The photo was taken about midway between Leadville and Buena Vista, Colorado. The river is the Arkansas. From 1819 until 1848, the southern bank of the Arkansas River was the boundary between the United States and Mexico from near present Dodge City, Kansas (100th Meridian), to the river’s source near Leadville. The photo was taken from the Mexican side looking across to the United States.

From the source of the Arkansas (in the mountains near Leadville) the boundary ran directly north to the 42nd Parallel (just north of today’s Interstate 80 in Wyoming); then west to the Pacific Ocean. Prior to the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, the United States claimed the Rio Grande as the southern border of the Louisiana Purchase. This was consistent with what the French believed they sold in 1803, but not practicable as the 1819 compromise confirmed.

At 1,460 miles, the Arkansas is the fourth longest river in the United States after the Missouri, Mississippi and Rio Grande. It passes through Tulsa and Little Rock and empties into the Mississippi between Memphis and Vicksburg.

New piano player at Tabor Opera House

NewMexiKen was the first visitor of the day at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, Tuesday morning (about 10:30). As such, he accompanied 4½-month-old Mia and her friendly and attractive mother as they turned on the lights in the auditorium and on stage. Mia’s mother was happy to have someone along and even happier to see that the piano used in Sunday’s production of “Baby Doe” had been removed. One previous time she told me, when her colleague was locking up, the colleague heard the piano playing on stage. Thinking she was about to lock some unsuspecting tourist in the building, the curator returned to the auditorium. As soon as she switched on the lights the playing stopped — and no one was there.

Evelyn Furman, who has owned and operated the Tabor Opera House since 1955 (that’s 48 years!), remains active. She wasn’t present Tuesday morning but she had been there over the weekend to celebrate her 90th birthday. To quote the previous posting about Ms. Furman, written in 1997, “This lady was delightful…. After I bought 50 cents worth of postcards she kept hustling me for other 25 cent items. When she said something about getting too old, I mentioned my grandmother living to 95 and she lit up and said she guessed she had time for lots more stuff then. What a pleasure to see anyone, of any age, so totally absorbed in loving life and what they were doing.”

Mia’s mother is from Costa Rica and has been in Colorado just three years where she met and married Mia’s father. She didn’t think much of Leadville’s winters — “too long.” And too many ghosts.

Leadville

By NewMexiKen [Written in 1997]

At 10,152 feet, Leadville, Colorado, bills itself as the highest city in the U.S. I know of no challengers. It’s a mining town that had a robust 30,000 people 100 years ago, but has fallen on hard times today with the mines closed and no real transition to tourism. The outskirts are the disheartening aftermath of bygone days, but the downtown itself is attractive with a stunning view of Mount Massive and Mount Elbert. We spent a couple of hours walking up one side, then down the other of the main street, visiting shops and the Tabor Opera House.


We talked to a shop owner who said that she and her husband had discovered Leadville in 1982 and worked to get back to live, finally settling in 1995. She said that first month, January, it snowed for seven straight days non-stop, then quit, then snowed again for nine more days non-stop. She wondered what they’d done. Leadville gets about 200-300 inches of snow a year, but hasn’t had a school closure for snow since 1939.

A lady running the bookstore told me she had been there 30 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else. Her father had heart problems though, and the doctor made him move to a lower altitude. He moved down to 8,500 feet.

The highlight was the Opera House. It was built in 1892 and was a main stop between Denver and Salt Lake City. Sousa played there. Houdini. Lilly Longtree. All the stars of the turn of the century. We took the tour and enjoyed its history but the best part was the 84-year old lady who owned the place. She’d come to Leadville at age 20, eventually inheriting the opera house from her mother who bought it in 1955 to keep it from destruction. This lady was delightful—the person at the door being the same person heard on the audio tape tour. After I bought 50 cents worth of postcards she kept hustling me for other 25 cent items. When she said something about getting too old, I mentioned my grandmother living to 95 and she lit up and said she guessed she had time for lots more stuff then. What a pleasure to see anyone, of any age, so totally absorbed in loving life and what they were doing. Maybe it’s in that high, thin air. If you’re in Leadville, don’t miss the Tabor Opera House and its present star.

Best Sports Cities

Sporting News announced its 2003 Best Sports Cities last week. Anaheim-Los Angeles was number one. Others of interest: Denver 10th, Baltimore-Washington 14th, Portland 39th, Tucson 66th, Albuquerque 105th. Albuquerque is asking for a recount — Las Cruces was 101st.

Road Trip!

Welcome to Road Trip USA

Detailed travel info for 11 road trips. Well done.

Besides, any web site that says this is OK with me: “Though it’s less than half the size of Phoenix, Tucson is at least twice as nice a place to visit. With a lively university community, and some of the most beautiful desert landscapes anywhere on earth, and more palpable history than anywhere in the Southwest outside New Mexico, Tucson is well worth taking the time to get to know.”