10 USA National Parks not to be missed
The United States has 61 protected areas designated as National Parks, and we have only explored a small part of them. Some of them are so beautiful that they have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In our On the Road trip we tried to plan a route that touched the naturalistic sites that we considered the most interesting, and then drew up a list of our favorite parks, the unmissable ones on an On the Road trip along the endless American territories, and those for which it is worth organizing an ad hoc visit.
Certainly it is a matter of personal taste, but among our criteria for choosing the 10 most beautiful parks in America, there are certainly the uniqueness of the landscapes, the diversity compared to the panoramas we are used to in Europe and the contact with the fauna.
1. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
The first National Park in the United States and in the World, established in 1872. The park par excellence therefore, and how could it be otherwise, given the incredible variety of landscapes that characterize it, the presence of surreal natural formations, the abundance of animals and plants, and the vast surface area. Obviously it is a UNESCO heritage site and extends over three states, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Our favorite park, where the possibilities for photography enthusiasts like us are many, and at every turn you'll come across something you've certainly never seen before. From geysers huffing beside steaming rivers, to centuries-old limestone formations, from bison herds grazing just a few meters away, to sulphurous basins of unreal colors. A place that will amaze even the most experienced travellers.
2. GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
This other UNESCO jewel is located in Arizona. The national park by definition, a spectacular karstic bas-relief carved by the force of nature among the rocks over the centuries. The best known park, yet capable of leaving you breathless even after seeing it in the hundreds of photos and documentaries that narrate its exceptional beauty.
A scar in the heart of America, crossed by the Colorado River and hiking trails that challenge the trekkers with heat and inhospitality of the severe nature that inhabits the father of all canyons.
3. ZION NATIONAL PARK
We are in Utah, in the folds of a wild and imposing rock massif. Perhaps it is less impressive at first glance. It doesn't have the majesty of the Grand Canyon, or the rocky peculiarities of Bryce, or the wildlife of Yellowstone, but as you get into this sequence of gorges and deep canyons you start to love them.
An ideal place to drive, between roads that climb steep walls, or to walk up to the basin in the bed of rushing streams that continue to make their way through the rock.
4. BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK
Don't ask me why this park has not been included in the UNESCO heritage, because this is a mystery to me. It's in Utah, but it feels like we've landed on another planet. A jagged set of valleys covered by pine trees among which rocky pinnacles stand out against the sky. You walk among rocky spikes, like the teeth of a brush, made of limestone formations that have been turned by winds and atmospheric agents over the centuries, to form a unique natural park.
5. GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK
It is the park I loved the less, probably because its mountain landscapes are too alike to European ones. The high snow-capped mountains stand out from the prairies dotted with the wooden houses of the Mormon colonies, between rivers that run through the meadows that serve as pastures for wild animals, as befits a Wyoming park.
6. CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK
The first impact with the Canyonlands park in Utah was more subtle, probably because I was still impressed by the spectacular Grand Canyon, but it only took a few walks through its endless canyons to change my mind. Gentle, and less imposing individually, these canyons form a network so vast that they lose form in the horizon in a sequence of deserted valleys and plateaus made of red rock and sand.
7. ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
This unique park in Utah lives a delicate balance. It is characterized by limestone arches that have been carved out of the rock by the wind, and after centuries of proud resistance, are beginning to suffer the passage of time. A few years ago one of the most famous arches collapsed, and looking at these thin natural sculptures you can see what a privilege it is to be able to still admire them, before they too surrender to the weight of age.
8. BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK
One of the few parks in South Dakota, which we have distractedly crossed on the scenic route to Billings. It left us breathless, an endless expanse of polychrome rocky dunes, alternating with green plateaus, seamlessly up to the horizon.
9. SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK
Certainly the most unique among the parks, this other jewel of Arizona, hosts the largest population of saguaro cacti in the world. A forest of enormous succulent plants that reach heights of 14 meters, and cover an endless desert. Among the most peaceful landscapes that we happened to admire, in the warm territory of Tucson.
10. WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
This is not really a National Park, but a National Monument, another type of protected reserve in the United States. However, it deserves a place of honour among the reserves we have visited, given its peculiarity. A sheet of white chalk sand, which emerges in an immense desert in New Mexico. White dunes interrupted by a few sparse bushes, reflecting every ray of sunshine.
