National Parks poll

[TDAS04]

The list if from Ken Burns's "10 National Parks Every American Should See."

I vote for Yellowstone.

[Mr. Smith]

Denali or Glacier

Been to Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Yosemite, and Zion.

[Big Abraham]

Yellowstone or Yosemite

[S019]

Oops, misread as which was your favorite, Grand Canyon was beautiful


But out of those that I have not been to, would love to go to Yosemite or Yellowstone

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I voted for Denali. I’d love to drive all the way up there on the Al-Can Highway. I’d love to drive the Dempster Highway too, but that’s in Canada.


Glacier - beautiful landscape and I saw a moose there! Watertown Lakes NP is just across the Canadian border and is worth a day trip up from Glacier.

Grand Canyon - majestic, but ultimately a one trick pony. It’s a beautiful trick, but it’s only one.

Yellowstone - love the geothermal features, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and all of the animals; haven’t been since I was 7

Yosemite - my favorite National Park

Zion - the best of the 5 southern Utah parks. Like a drier, slightly lesser Yosemite.

Unsolicited takes on other National Parks I’ve been to:

Pinnacles - good if you like rock climbing. Kinda bitter that I didn’t see a condor

Lassen - Bumpass Hell is nice. It’s a bit high in elevation for me (I sometimes get altitude sickness), but there’s a lot of things I haven’t explored enough there.

Redwoods - amazingly tall trees; I think they’re more impressive than the Grand Canyon, but that’s just me

Channel Islands - they’re alright; I like the boat ride over; also bitter that I didn’t see their endemic scrub-jay

Kings Canyon and Sequoia - technically two parks, but administered as one. Again, some really tall trees. I’d like to spend more time in Kings Canyon. They’re too close to Fresno, so it’s hard to go without having to see my uncle.

Joshua Tree - I’ve heard there’s good climbing here. Really cool plant life, including the eponymous Joshua Trees.

Death Valley - it’s cool to be below sea level. There’s some cool things to see here

Petrified Forest - glad that I talked my friend into spending a few hours here instead of just a quick stop on/off the highway. The painted desert is beautiful and the petrified logs were really neat.

Great Basin - nice caves, another really high park; didn’t make it high enough to see the bristlecone pines

Bryce Canyon - got to see bristlecone pines (I think I had acclimated to the elevation by the time I got there after doing GB and Zion). The hoodoos are really cool too!

Capitol Reef - the one letdown of Southern Utah. I saw that there was a historical district and got excited. It’s really just about 5 farm buildings. Did a bit of a drive on the main road (which was nice, but not superb), but decided not to spend the night and instead move on to the next two parks.

Canyonlands - kinda cool to see the confluence; didn’t spend that much time here

Arches - I’m glad that my dad and I spent more of our time in Moab here than Canyonlands. There’s some really beautiful rock formations here.

Mesa Verde - really neat Native American cliff dwellings

Grand Tetons - as with Yellowstone, I was 7. I don’t remember much of the Tetons tbh

Mt Rainier - I found the best campsite I’ve ever had here. Only had a day to spend here (really the evening I got there and a few hours the next day), but I really wish I had at least a full day, if not two. Beautiful temperate rainforests and some nice waterfalls. The eponymous Mt Rainier is beautiful too.

Olympic - didn’t get to the area with the marmots. The temperate rainforest here was different (but still cool, maybe cooler) from Mt Rainier’s. Lots more moss hanging from the trees.

Crater Lake - I guess you could call it a one trick pony too, but I liked it a lot more than the Grand Canyon (maybe the GC was just too hyped for me). I still need to do the boat tour and hike on Wizard Island.

Apologies in advance for poor sentence structure; allergies are very bad today. Please feel free to PM me for more on my thoughts on any of the parks I listed (or national monuments that I didn’t discuss).

Honorable national monument mention goes to:

Lava Beds - not many people visit (no crowds), cool volcanic landscape, nice caves, and some recent, interesting history.

Still need to get to Devils Postpile National Monument.

[TDAS04]

I've been to Grand Canyon and Glacier.  I might have voted for Glacier if I hadn't been there (I also saw a moose in the park ).

[Lechasseur]

Denali

[Wazza [INACTIVE]]

Yellowstone

[Crumpets]

Yellowstone is one of my favorite places on Earth, but I've been there several times. Voted Denali.

[Donerail]

I’ve done Acadia, Everglades, Great Smoky Mountains and Yosemite. Out of the ones I’ve never been to, Glacier — feel there's a bit of time pressure on that one in the way that isn't as sharp for the others.

[Nutmeg]

Having been to each of these except Denali and Glacier, I voted Denali. That said, Shenandoah is a clear outlier among these; it's nice, but it really is a rung lower than any of the rest of these. I'm not sure why Burns would put it on the Top 10 list.

[John Dule]

Already visited the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Zion. Denali is probably my #1.

[RI]

Glacier. Denali looks great in theory, but I've heard it's almost always so cloudy that you can't even see the mountain.