Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the world’s longest cave system. With several choices for exploring both beneath and above the ground, it’s a great place to spend a day or more.
Majestic Mount Rainier National Park, located in Washington, is one of America’s finest. It makes a good day trip from Seattle, but I suggest sticking around for a few days.
With snow-capped mountains, pristine lakes, magical rain forest, and wild Pacific beaches, Olympic National Park is one of the nation’s best. This park in northwest Washington has almost a million acres of wilderness waiting to be explored.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a great desert getaway just a short drive from Las Vegas. If you’re looking to take a breather from all the bright lights on the Strip, this is a nice option for a full or half day.
Indiana Dunes State Park sits along the south shore of Lake Michigan just a few miles north of Chesterton, Indiana. It has incredible biodiversity for such a small park.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a remote park in West Texas known for its stunning natural beauty. It’s located about 100 miles east of El Paso and a half hour south of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located in northwest New Mexico, protects several Ancestral Puebloan great houses populated between 850 and 1250. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Mesa Verde National Park is dedicated to the protection of over 4,000 Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, in southwest Colorado.
Hovenweep National Monument, located in southeast Utah and southwest Colorado, protects six different groups of Ancestral Puebloan villages.