Thinking about discovering America? Your next perfect vacation spot just might be in one of the country’s countless National Parks! There are National Park locations in every state of the union. From the sedate and serene to the rugged and dangerous, there is a national park to fit every level of adventurer. So strap on your hiking boots, make sure your travel insurance is up to date, and hit the trail for some wholesome fun! Here is just a sample of what US national parks have to offer!

• Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
  Acadia National Park has been home to European settlers, Native Americans, scientists, conservationists, and many others.

• Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
  Arches National Park preserves more than two thousand naturally-forming Arches, such as the Delicate Arch. In many places, millions of years of Earth’s history have been exposed thanks to weathering, erosion, and other forces of nature.

• Badlands National Park, Interior, South Dakota
  Earth’s History is told here in the Badlands, which contain the world’s most extensive fossil beds, some as old as 37-28 million years!

• Big Bend National Park, Southwest Texas
  Big Bend contains mountain, desert, and river environments, earning it the nickname of being “three parks in one.”

• Biscayne National Park, Homestead, Florida
  Thousands of years of history exist in the confines of this park. See evidence of pirates, or pineapple farmers… all in one trip.

• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Montrose, Colorado
  The Black Canyon is known to contain some of the oldest examples of exposed rock on Earth. The Precambrian specimens are approximately two billion years old. With its sheer faces and rugged terrain, you may want the added security of a travel insurance policy – just in case.

• Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon Area, Utah
  Bryce Canyon is known for its natural splendor of rock formations including brick red spires, and amphitheatres that are horseshoe-shaped.

• Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico
  It is here in Carlsbad Caverns where the largest caves in North America exist, the product of sulfuric acid dissolving away the limestone rock beneath the surface of the desert.

• Congaree National Park, Hopkins, South Carolina
  Congaree exists as the continent’s largest example of old-growth floodplain forest.

• Crater Lake National Park, Crater Lake, Oregon
  Lying in a caldera in formed from the centuries-old collapse of Mount Mazama, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the seventh deepest in the world.

• Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Northeast Ohio
  This park, situated between the urban settings of Akron and Cleveland, serves as a refuge of sorts for some of nature’s most beautiful flora and fauna. The Cuyahoga River gets its name from Native Americans. It means, “the crooked river.”

• Death Valley National Park, California & Southwest Nevada
  What a site to behold – a blistering desert, sheer canyons, rushing waters… and snow-capped mountains! The contrasting sites in this national park make it almost seem like you are getting multiple vacations in one!

• Dry Tortugas National Park, Key West, Florida
  Located 70 miles off the Florida coast, the Dry Tortugas harbor provided a safe haven for military ships in the days leading up to the Spanish-American War.

• Everglades National Park, Florida
  The largest subtropical wilderness in the US, the Everglades is home to many rare and endangered species.

• Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, West Glacier, Alaska
  The land is rising at an alarming rate: The uplift rates at Glacier Bay are among the highest in the world, at more than an inch per year in some places.

• Grand Canyon National Park, Northwest Arizona
  Who wouldn’t feel like they are on top of the world at the Grand Canyon? Almost three hundreds miles long, nearly twenty miles wide and a mile deep, the Grand Canyon is a veritable testimony to our Earth’s history.

• Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming
  Pristine glacial lakes, extraordinary wildlife and the perfect beauty of snow-capped mountain peaks await you at this peaceful oasis in the wilderness.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina & Tennessee
  The Great Smoky Mountains, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, will celebrate its 75^th anniversary in 2009.

• Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Pine Springs, Texas
  Within the safe confines of Guadalupe Mountains are some of the world’s finest examples of fossilized reef. Unique plants and animals await you in West Texas’s only legally designated wilderness.

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawaii
  Hawaii Volcanoes is an exhibition of the results of volcanic activity, evolution and migration.

• Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas
  Thousands have flocked to the natural hot springs in this park for more than two centuries. The town which surrounds the area is a direct result of this migration.

• Isle Royale National Park, Houghton, Michigan
  Accessible only by sea plane or boat, Isle Royale is a rugged terrain which includes the largest freshwater lake in the world.

• Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms, California
  Joshua Tree National Park is a gem in the wilderness, with a landscape that has been shaped beautifully by the harshness of nature: unpredictable torrents of rain, fierce winds, and extremes in climate.

• Kobuk Valley National Park, Kotzebue, Alaska
  The only place in the world that Oxytropis kobukensis (Kobuk locoweed) can and does grow. Completely remote, with no road access.

• Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Port Alsworth/Anchorage, Alaska
  Lake Clark reaches a depth of 1056 feet deep and an area of 128 square miles. Thousands of years ago, it may have been a part of a salt water system before being closed off by glacial deposits.

• Mount Rainier National Park, Ashford, Washington
  Mount Ranier is the 5th oldest national park in the United States.

• North Cascades National Park, Sedro-Woolley, Washington
  The North Cascades were a prominent part of the economy of the Northwest Coast Indians. This makes this park a popular place for archaeological expeditions.

• Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, Washington
  Paradise Meadows in Olympic National Park was once home to a golf course and other recreations. However, restoration and preservation of subalpine meadows has become a top priority at Olympic National Park.

• Petrified Forest National Park, Holbrook, Arizona
  One of the world’s largest collections of petrified fossils lies here in the Painted Desert.

• Redwood National and State Parks, Crescent City, California
  In addition to gigantic Redwoods, this park is home to extraordinary examples of flora and fauna, including Roosevelt Elk, the endangered marbled murrelet, and the Chinook salmon.

• Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park/ Grand Lake, Colorado
  The Continental Divide splits the Rocky Mountain National Park into Eastern and Western halves.

• Sequoia National Park, Three Rivers, California
  Plants and animals have are well adapted to the natural occurrence of forest fires here. Interestingly enough, sequoias need fire to open their cones and release the seeds, and sprout and grow best on the layer of ash which coats the forest floor after one of these fires.

• Shenandoah National Park, Luray, Virginia
  Shenandoah National Park is home to more than five hundred miles of trails, which includes more than one hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail.

• Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana & Wyoming
  In addition to naturally hot springs and geysers, Yellowstone is also home to The Roosevelt Arch. The arch is situated at the northern entryway, and had its cornerstone laid by Theodore Roosevelt himself.

• Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, California
  Ninety-five percent of Yosemite is designated as wilderness.