Writer Wallace Stegner called the American National Park system the “best idea we ever had.” While there are hundreds of units in the system encompassing national seashores, historic sites, battlefields, monuments, wildlife refuges, preserves, and more, the 63 national parks are the crown jewels of the system, each of them chosen for its unique characteristics that shine a light on the American landscape. From sand dunes to arctic tundra, from the tropics to the alpine zones of our highest peaks, from grasslands to cliffs to forests to caves, out parks showcase the variety of ecosystems, geological wonders, and scenic vistas from places as diverse as American Samoa’s tropical forests and Alaska’s Denali, California’s Death Valley and Florida’s Everglades, Yellowstones geysers and Hawaii’s volcanoes — and many more.
Hiking America’s National Parks celebrates these 63 parks with essays describing what is unique and special about each landscape — just exactly why each was inscribed into a national park system that inspired parks all over the world.
It also describes hikes in each of the parks, ranging from easy dayhikes to multi-day backpacks, each one chosen because it helps visitors experience the parks up close and personal, to bring them closer to the geological wonders that often are hidden on trails that lead beyond the parking lots and pavement.
