As of now, The United States has 61 national parks and each of them encompasses unique beauty that attracts crowds of tourists every year. National parks are one of the few most Instagrammable places to discover, but there are so many who haven’t even stepped foot into a national park to understand why they’re worth traveling to.
At one point last year, I became obsessed with going to national parks because I was hooked the first time I went and explored one. In fact, the first time I ever went to a national park was just last year of January 2018 on my birthday to see The Grand Canyon. As hard as it is to probably believe that… Fast forward to November 2018, I’ve gone to 7 different national parks within a year and visited The Grand Canyon 3 times within a year.
National parks are the biggest and the grandest parks you’ll ever find within my country (The United States). If you’re a travel lover and if you haven’t traveled to a national park yet, you should because they are a must-see in your travel adventures! If you appreciate nature and are curious about how the world formed HUGE mountains, canyons, lakes, and more, you should go visit these protected public lands called national parks!
1. Skip a luxury type of vacation, the true way to discover nature doesn’t have to cost that much like national parks.
National park visits make great trips for families, children, friends, and with your significant other. One of the things you don’t have to worry too much about are the expenses for yourself and everyone. To visit a national park and to witness its iconic views is affordable and usually only requires a vehicle permit that you must purchase (if you’re going to drive by with a car) or an entry fee. Most vehicle permits such as in Grand Canyon National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park is $30 per vehicle and lasts usually up to seven days. The National Park Service sometimes offer free entry days on certain days such as the beginning of National Park Week (4/20), National Park Service Birthday (8/25), and National Public Lands Day (9/28). The other expenses to spend on national parks would include buying foods and souvenirs by the visitor centers and if you’re staying by a nearby lodge in one of the parks, that is.
2. You don’t have to travel too far to find a national park.
A lot of the parks I’ve gone to were mostly traveled to through road trips. There are at least 27 states that have national parks, so there’s a good chance you do not need to fly over to a state to discover one. Depending where you’re located, a road trip to a national park can take a few hours to several hours. A lot of people opting to do an all-American or southwest road trip consider traveling to different national parks through their trip. They are also spread apart from different parts of the country bordering and centered by the west, midwest, south, and to the east side.
3. Education is thoroughly found and explained in national parks.
If you’re curious about how the nature found in national parks occurred, there’s a guarantee you’ll find it within the park itself. There’s history, geology, science, and conservation that will be taught to you and even a greater opportunity for children to learn. Some visitor centers have museums you can walk right into with a lot of information displayed along with collected artifacts. Plaques are placed nearly everywhere in a national park and those will help you understand what you’re looking at in an area and the history of what happened there. There are also tour guides available at your service, which you can find out more about as you walk into a visitor center.
4. These places are unlike any regular parks and are usually massive with lots of discoverable wonders.
As you know, national parks are heavily photographed by everyone around the country and the world. It’s hard not to see why with the natural wonders that you can discover. Whether you’re trying to look at snow-capped mountains, massive crystal clear lakes, architecture left behind by Native Americans, active volcanoes, giant sequoia trees, badlands, and more, you’ll be able to witness the most unusual formations and creations on Earth. As if these weren’t enough to get you excited to visit a national park!
5. So much good things to take in within a park’s environment and it will treat your health good!
Lots of national parks are amassed of green spaces, fresh air, sunshine, and plenty of life around you. With all these elements found in an environment, you’ll be sure to receive the necessary health benefits when you take a walk within forests or on the mountains. Being outdoors in nature will increase your happiness and creativity, improve your immune system, help you become active, and connect you to socialization. Not to mention, it’ll help you get off technology and not have to wonder about finding Wi-Fi because there’s a good chance you’ll lose service. Your mind will be clear without the interruptions that tech can bring like back-to-back text messages or DMs from friends or family or spam calls.
6. There are many outdoor activities to do in a national park!
This is what keeps families and friends keep coming back to a national park are the outdoors opportunities you can explore in one. These parks are so huge and are thrilling to be in that you can make the most of a day trip or a week trip at a national park by staying active. There are many trails and places for camping, hiking, biking, rafting, horseback riding, snorkeling, paddling, rock-climbing, and much more. I love national parks for the reason being it can be a real-time museum and a playground for nature.
7. National parks help with the economy.
With a lot of park rangers and other works providing service at national parks, you can see how they help people be employed. National parks have supported hundreds of thousands of people with jobs and the parks generate billions of dollars to help the economy. Thankfully, these tourist activities strive as tourism is the primary driver for business. When you visit a national park, you are supporting the nation’s protected public lands and the people who do duties to help protect them. You are also helping with the quality of life for both.
If you are now convinced that you should visit a national park, check out this detailed guide by LoveHolidays.com on “An Essential Guide to Enjoying National Parks Responsibly”. Stay safe out there and enjoy the wonderful once-in-a-lifetime things a national park has to offer you!
I live about 2 hours from a Canadian National park and I visit as often as possible. I’ve only been to one in America though.
That’s awesome you get to visit it often and that’s pretty close than most national parks I’m near! I have yet to visit the Canadian national parks.
Pingback: How to Create a Bucket List | From One Girl to One World
Pingback: How To Visit Zion National Park In One Day | From One Girl to One World