USA National Parks
♦ Routes (free): Detailed travel itineraries in USA
♦ Routes (free): Detailed travel itineraries in USA
Yosemite is a large national park, covering an area of 1200 square miles, in the center of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the eastern part of California. The park has forests with huge trees, an alpine landscape and a charming valley with impressive waterfalls, cliffs and rocks of special shapes. It is one of the most famous natural sites in the world. It is considered the most popular scenic spot in California and attracts over four million visitors every year
The grand Canyon is the most famous canyon in the word.
The Colorado River, now winding through the bottom of
the canyon, is what created this incredible geological
wonder. The width of the canyon changes between 6.5
kilometres and 22 kilometres; its depth is 1600 metres
measured from the southern rim and 1900(!) metres from
the northern rim.
The park is located
in northern Arizona. To get to the south rim of Grand
Canyon National Park you have a number of choices:
Death Valley is two hours northwest of Las Vegas. It is a very unique and large national park, 100km long and 40km wide. The valley contains an incredible combination of dry desert views surrounded by snowy mountains 5000 tall. Some places of interest in the park visit have dark and gloomy names such as Hell’s Gate, Devil’s Golf Course and Dante’s View. The most extraordinary thing about this park is its great variety of landscapes of every hue and shape, all created by nature. At the centre of the park are enormous sand dunes which you can climb and roll or slide down. At the northern part of the park is Scotty’s Castle, a magnificent building built by a rich man from Chicago.
A trip to Lake Powell is one of the highlights of a
holiday to western USA. Glen dam created one of the
largest and most beautiful manmade reservoirs in the US
– Lake Powell. Its blue waters contrast boldly with the
reddish hues of the mountains surrounding it. The waters
of the lake have eroded the rocks around them into
marvellous shapes; the most famous of these is Rainbow
Bridge, the world’s largest natural bridge.
Page is
also an excellent starting point for a visit to Antelope
Canyon, an absolutely gorgeous slot canyon a few
kilometres southeast of the town, in a Navajo reserve.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon are two beautiful neighbouring
national parks, often visited together. Sequoia is the
southern of the two parks. The two of them together are
3416 square kilometres.
Sequoia is the second oldest
national park in the US, after Yellowstone. It was
declared a national park in 1890 in order to protect the
enormous sequoia trees growing in it, including General
Sherman Tree, the biggest tree in the world. Sequoia is
also home to the tallest mountains in the US.
Besides the forest of enormous trees the park has caves,
rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Over a million and a half
people visit the park every year.
This park is 600 square kilometres in size. It is full of impressive cliffs and canyons, rich plant life (over 800 kinds of plants) including hanging gardens and forests, and many wild animals. This park is home to the largest natural arch in the world: Kolob Arch, 95 metres wide. The lowest point of the park is 1128 metres above sea level, the highest at 2660 metres above sea level. The pioneers named it Zion as they thought its beauty was heavenly and holy. The recommended length for a visit to this park is one full day.
This park is the only large subtropical area in the US. It is made up of vast areas of sweet water, sea water and swamps. The park also has mangrove forests. Many animals live in the Everglades, including sea snakes, crocodiles, alligators, and manatees. It serves as a nesting ground for many different species of birds, especially colourful water birds, some of them endangered. This national park is a million and a half acres in size. The Everglades are actually a wide and shallow slow-flowing river. The best way to see this park is by foot on the wooden walkways, by boat and from overlooks.