As we travel around the United States, we have visited a lot of National Parks and Monuments. Here I highlight the western parks and monuments with a link to more pictures and narrative in my Blog. The above picture is from Zion National Park, although it's hard to tell because I am having a hard time getting it to fit in the space.
Arizona
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument ~~ Home of the Hohokam people from the 14th Century
Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim ~~ The most visited, the South Rim offers a hotel, rim overlooks, and a trailhead leading to the inner canyon.
Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim ~~ The North Rim rises 1,000 feet higher and offers overlooks and scenic drives.
Montezuma Castle National Monument ~~ Constructed around 700 A.D. by the Sinagua people, ancestors of the Hopi
Petrified Forest National Park ~~ Formed nearly 225 million years ago, there is petrified wood, part Route 66, as well as fossilized plants and animals
Pipe Spring National Monument ~~ Named by Mormon pioneers, ancestral Puebloan people and Kaibab Paiute Indians lived here for thousands of years
Saguaro National Park ~~ Saguaros can live up to 200 years and grow as tall as 50 feet.
Tuzigoot National Monument ~~ A 110-room pueblo built by the Sinagua people on a ridgeline 120 feet above the Verde River flood plain
California
Cabrillo National Monument ~~ In 1542 explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped ashore, making him the first European to land on the west coast
Joshua Tree National Park ~~ Distinctive yucca trees that can grow up to 50 feet tall.
Colorado
Great Sand Dunes National Park ~~ With 30 miles of dunes, some reaching 750 feet high, people hike and sled up and down the dunes
Mesa Verde National Park (Chapin Mesa) (Far View Community) (Wetherill Mesa) ~~ Famous cliff dwellings built by the Puebloan people about 550 A.D., who lived there for about 700 years
Rocky Mountain National Park ~~ Wooded forests, mountain tundra, glaciers, and 14ers.
Montana
Glacier National Park ~~ Famous for Going-to-the-Sun Road which takes you from one end to the other through forest, glaciers and waterfalls
New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns National Park ~~ One of the world's most famous caves; houses a natural limestone chamber 225 feet high, 625 feet wide, and 4,000 feet long
El Malpais National Monument ~~ Formed by volcanic activity, it is full of lava flows, cinder cones, and other black basalt features
El Morro National Monument ~~ A small pool sits at the base of a tall sandstone bluff, Anasazi left petroglyphs, and a Puebloan village
Petroglyph National Monument ~~ More than 20,000 petroglyphs date from between 1300 A.D. to 1600 A.D.
White Sands National Monument ~~ Features 275 square miles of sand dunes comprised of gypsum crystals
Pennsylvania
Fort Necessity National Battlefield ~~ The beginning of the French & Indian War and a young George Washington given the task of telling the French to leave
Gettysburg National Military Park ~~ Confederate and Union forces clash in one of the battles of the Civil War
South Dakota
Badlands National Park ~~ Prairie, buttes and fossils highlight the badlands.
Minuteman Missile Nat'l Historic Site ~~ Was once the site of more than 1,000 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) sites
Mount Rushmore National Memorial ~~ Massive sculpture of four U.S. Presidents
Texas
Big Bend National Park (Chisos Mountains & Boquillas Canyon) (Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive) ~~ Part of the Chihuahuan Desert (larger than the state of Rhode Island) is here and the wooded Chisos Mountains, as well as the Rio Grande River
Waco Mammoth National Monument ~~ This is a paleontological site and museum in Waco where fossils of 24 Columbian mammoths were found
Utah
Arches National Park ~~ There are more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, but we just saw a very small part of them. There are many other rock formations in this 76,000 acre park
Bryce Canyon National Park ~~ Mysterious, maze-like hoodoos and stones of red, orange and white rocks
Canyonlands National Park ~~ High-desert canyons, mesas, arches and buttes created by the Colorado and Green Rivers
Golden Spike Nat'l Historic Site ~~ Located at Promontory Summit near Great Salt Lake, it is the spot where railroads from the east and west were ceremonially joined on May 10, 1869
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ~~ We visited the Paria Mountains in southern Utah; colored mountains in a vast landscape
Natural Bridges National Monument ~~ Home to one of the largest natural bridges in the world, known as Sipapu
Zion National Park ~~ Multicolored formations of 240-million year old rock
Washington
North Cascades National Park ~~ Located on the northern border of Washington, it includes mountains, glaciers, ice fields, alpine lakes and waterfalls
Olympic National Park (Hurricane Ridge) ~~ Part of the park is along the western short, which we did not get to, but did drive to Hurricane Ridge, a high point of the park.
Wyoming
Devils Tower National Monument ~~ Famously the site of the alien spaceship landing in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" it is an 867-foot monolith
Grand Teton National Park ~~ Neighboring Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park, the Teton Range, hosting 13,775 foot Grand Teton
Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful) (North Rim Trail) ~~ America's first national park, it hosts Old Faithful and many other geysers and geothermal activity
Arizona
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument ~~ Home of the Hohokam people from the 14th Century
Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim ~~ The most visited, the South Rim offers a hotel, rim overlooks, and a trailhead leading to the inner canyon.
Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim ~~ The North Rim rises 1,000 feet higher and offers overlooks and scenic drives.
Montezuma Castle National Monument ~~ Constructed around 700 A.D. by the Sinagua people, ancestors of the Hopi
Petrified Forest National Park ~~ Formed nearly 225 million years ago, there is petrified wood, part Route 66, as well as fossilized plants and animals
Pipe Spring National Monument ~~ Named by Mormon pioneers, ancestral Puebloan people and Kaibab Paiute Indians lived here for thousands of years
Saguaro National Park ~~ Saguaros can live up to 200 years and grow as tall as 50 feet.
Tuzigoot National Monument ~~ A 110-room pueblo built by the Sinagua people on a ridgeline 120 feet above the Verde River flood plain
California
Cabrillo National Monument ~~ In 1542 explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped ashore, making him the first European to land on the west coast
Joshua Tree National Park ~~ Distinctive yucca trees that can grow up to 50 feet tall.
Colorado
Great Sand Dunes National Park ~~ With 30 miles of dunes, some reaching 750 feet high, people hike and sled up and down the dunes
Mesa Verde National Park (Chapin Mesa) (Far View Community) (Wetherill Mesa) ~~ Famous cliff dwellings built by the Puebloan people about 550 A.D., who lived there for about 700 years
Rocky Mountain National Park ~~ Wooded forests, mountain tundra, glaciers, and 14ers.
Montana
Glacier National Park ~~ Famous for Going-to-the-Sun Road which takes you from one end to the other through forest, glaciers and waterfalls
New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns National Park ~~ One of the world's most famous caves; houses a natural limestone chamber 225 feet high, 625 feet wide, and 4,000 feet long
El Malpais National Monument ~~ Formed by volcanic activity, it is full of lava flows, cinder cones, and other black basalt features
El Morro National Monument ~~ A small pool sits at the base of a tall sandstone bluff, Anasazi left petroglyphs, and a Puebloan village
Petroglyph National Monument ~~ More than 20,000 petroglyphs date from between 1300 A.D. to 1600 A.D.
White Sands National Monument ~~ Features 275 square miles of sand dunes comprised of gypsum crystals
Pennsylvania
Fort Necessity National Battlefield ~~ The beginning of the French & Indian War and a young George Washington given the task of telling the French to leave
Gettysburg National Military Park ~~ Confederate and Union forces clash in one of the battles of the Civil War
South Dakota
Badlands National Park ~~ Prairie, buttes and fossils highlight the badlands.
Minuteman Missile Nat'l Historic Site ~~ Was once the site of more than 1,000 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) sites
Mount Rushmore National Memorial ~~ Massive sculpture of four U.S. Presidents
Texas
Big Bend National Park (Chisos Mountains & Boquillas Canyon) (Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive) ~~ Part of the Chihuahuan Desert (larger than the state of Rhode Island) is here and the wooded Chisos Mountains, as well as the Rio Grande River
Waco Mammoth National Monument ~~ This is a paleontological site and museum in Waco where fossils of 24 Columbian mammoths were found
Utah
Arches National Park ~~ There are more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, but we just saw a very small part of them. There are many other rock formations in this 76,000 acre park
Bryce Canyon National Park ~~ Mysterious, maze-like hoodoos and stones of red, orange and white rocks
Canyonlands National Park ~~ High-desert canyons, mesas, arches and buttes created by the Colorado and Green Rivers
Golden Spike Nat'l Historic Site ~~ Located at Promontory Summit near Great Salt Lake, it is the spot where railroads from the east and west were ceremonially joined on May 10, 1869
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ~~ We visited the Paria Mountains in southern Utah; colored mountains in a vast landscape
Natural Bridges National Monument ~~ Home to one of the largest natural bridges in the world, known as Sipapu
Zion National Park ~~ Multicolored formations of 240-million year old rock
Washington
North Cascades National Park ~~ Located on the northern border of Washington, it includes mountains, glaciers, ice fields, alpine lakes and waterfalls
Olympic National Park (Hurricane Ridge) ~~ Part of the park is along the western short, which we did not get to, but did drive to Hurricane Ridge, a high point of the park.
Wyoming
Devils Tower National Monument ~~ Famously the site of the alien spaceship landing in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" it is an 867-foot monolith
Grand Teton National Park ~~ Neighboring Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park, the Teton Range, hosting 13,775 foot Grand Teton
Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful) (North Rim Trail) ~~ America's first national park, it hosts Old Faithful and many other geysers and geothermal activity