See the beauty of all 63 U.S. national parks, in photos 

When the U.S. Congress established Yellowstone as the first national park in 1872, it was “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Its founding marked the birth of the U.S. National Park System and eventually launched a worldwide movement to protect outdoor spaces and historical landmarks. Since 1904, some 15 billion visitors have explored the wild wonders of the U.S. parks.

Inspired by the National Park Service, photographer Jonathan Irish inspired by the visited every U.S. national park over 52 weeks.

“[National parks] are sacred and cherished places—our greatest personal and national treasures,” says Irish. “It’s a gift to spend a year adventuring and capturing incredible images and stories in some of the most beautiful places on Earth.”

Since Irish’s journey, the National Parks Service has designated four additional parks: the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan; White Sands in New Mexico; and New River Gorge in West Virginia. There are now 63 spaces to explore across the country.

Celebrate the grandeur of these priceless national treasures in images, from the crystalline waters of Dry Tortugas in Florida to the deep, dark recesses of Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave.

1. Zion National Park, Utah

 One of the most photographed views in Zion National Park is of Watchman Mountain from the Canyon Junction Bridge. Irish’s favorite spot is at the center of the bridge where the river leads the eye to the Watchman Spire in the background.

2. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho

America’s first national park, Yellowstone is home to wildlife from bears to bison and geological stunners such as hot springs and geysers. The Great Fountain Geyser, pictured here, erupts every 9 to 15 hours, shooting water up to 220 feet (67 meters) high.

3. Acadia National Park, Maine

Avoid the crowds at Cadillac Mountain and see the first sunrise in the country at Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, in the southwest portion of Acadia National Park. Bikers looking for the best trails in the park should consider these trails, once carriage roads.

4. Yosemite National Park, California

Irish says the best time to see a rainbow in Yosemite is at night during a full moon. To photograph these so-called moonbows, he recommends a wide-angle lens, a tripod, and a lens cloth (to continually wipe off the waterfall spray). Visitors may want to consider staying at these 10 places when visiting the park.

5. Sequoia National Park, California

Nestled in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, Sequoia National Park is nearly 97 percent wilderness. It holds over 2,000 giant sequoia trees, including General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest tree, measured by volume. 

6. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Wizard Island, named for its resemblance to a sorcerer’s hat, juts into Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. The lake, which measures 1,943 feet in some spots, lends the park its name. 

7. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

The Grand Canyon National Park is a sprawling gorge of layers in pink, red, and orange hues, revealing millions of years of geological history. 

8. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Fog lingers among the forested hills of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which spans the southern Appalachians along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. Water and hydrocarbons exuded by trees produce the filmy “smoke” that gives the mountains their name.

9. Death Valley National Park, Nevada

The largest national park south of Alaska, Death Valley National Park is known for extremes: It is North America’s driest and hottest spot (with fewer than two inches/five centimeters of rainfall annually and a record high of 134°F), and has the lowest elevation on the continent—282 feet below sea level.

10. Redwood National Park, California

When author John Steinbeck stood in the presence of redwood trees—the tallest living things on the planet—he described the sensation as a “cathedral hush.” Among the trees preserved in Redwood National Park are the oldest, largest, and tallest of coast redwoods. 

11. Olympic National Park, Washington

Olympic National Park’s 73 miles of park coastline feature soaring cliffs, sea stacks, sandy beaches, rocky shores, and teeming tide pools. 

12. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Schwabacher Landing and Snake River, made famous by Ansel Adams, draw photographers and nature lovers to Grand Teton National Park. The park’s jewel-like lakes, blue and white glaciers, and naked granite pinnacles enticed more than 3.5 million visitors in 2024. 

13. Everglades National Park, Florida

Sprawling between South Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and the Gulf of Mexico, the Everglades is one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands and the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states.

14. Big Bend National Park, Texas

Recently named the world’s largest International Dark Sky Reserve, Big Bend National Park’s hundred-mile views sweep across the hills, arroyos, and mesas of West Texas’ Chihuahuan Desert.

15. Joshua Tree National Park, California

At Joshua Tree National Park in California’s Mojave Desert, these tough, gnarled plants are threatened by climate change.  

16. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, in southern Utah, draws more than 2.7 million visitors a year, thanks to its stunning geology of red arches and phantom-like spires, called hoodoos.

17. Arches National Park, Utah 

With over 2,000 natural stone arches, Arches National Park is part of southern Utah’s extended canyon country, carved and shaped by weathering and erosion. 

18. Grand Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park, which contains the highest sand dunes in North America, provides stunning views in the shadow of the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

19. Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

Dry Tortugas National Park, located 70 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, houses the 19th-century Fort Jefferson, pictured here. The park is also home to the third-largest coral barrier reef in the world and the only tropical reef in the continental U.S.

20. Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

Hidden under hills and hollows in Kentucky, Mammoth Cave National Park contains more than 400 miles of caves, including 10 miles of passages for guided tours. 

21. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Walking along the park’s trails, visitors can see hills made of bluish clay and the largest concentration of brilliantly colored petrified wood in the U.S.

22. Biscayne National Park, Florida

Just five miles from the heart of downtown Miami, Biscayne National Park protects the northern end of the Florida Reef, the longest stretch of mangrove forest on Florida’s east coast, the southern part of Biscayne Bay, and 50 islands of the northern Florida Keys in the Atlantic Ocean. 

23. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

One of the world’s oldest national parks, Mount Rainier became part of the federal system in 1899, shortly after its last eruption. It remains one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. 

24. Virgin Islands National Park, St. John

This pristine tropical reserve—covering almost two-thirds of St. John, plus 5,650 acres underwater—features a coral reef, more than 800 subtropical plant species, and crystalline Caribbean waters. 

25. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Located between the Shenandoah Valley in the west and the Piedmont region in the east, the park is an expanse of wooden hollows and breezy summits, waterfalls and mountain streams, more than 500 miles of hiking trails, and nearly 80,000 acres of designated wilderness—all just 75 miles from Washington, D.C.

26. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

More than 119 caves are hidden beneath the surface of this national park in the Chihuahuan Desert. Cave scientists have explored at least 30 miles of passageways of the main cavern of Carlsbad, and the investigation continues. Visitors may tour three of these miles on a paved trail. 

27. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

North of Hale Farm is Cuyahoga Valley’s Everett Covered Bridge, a reconstruction of an 1870s structure that was destroyed in a 1975 flood. Irish says he enjoyed walking over the old bridge while imagining the hoof taps and footsteps that once echoed over the wooden planks.

28. Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Dramatically contoured canyons, sprawling desert scrub brush, and a profusion of wildlife and birds fill West Texas’ Guadalupe Mountains National Park. 

29. Congaree National Park, South Carolina

Congaree National Park contains the largest intact tract of old-growth bottomland forest in North America. Boardwalk hikes and canoe tours are popular activities among the towering trees.

(Avoid crowds at the 10 least-visited U.S. national parks)

30. Saguaro National Park, Arizona 

Saguaro National Park takes its name from the largest cacti in the United States. The park, which flanks Tucson, is home to millions of the cacti, which can grow up to 50 feet tall. 

31. Kings Canyon National Park, California

Hiking into Paradise Valley offers some of the best views in Kings Canyon National Park. Irish backpacked into the valley and spent the night along the river. He says it was one of the most peaceful and beautiful camping spots of his trip.

32. Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Great Basin National Park’s Wheeler Peak, at just over 13,000 feet high, is home to a large grove of bristlecone pine trees, some of the world’s oldest trees.

33. Isle Royale National Park, Michigan

Seasoned backpackers, kayakers, and canoeists often arrive (via hours-long ferry rides or seaplane) equipped to navigate the park’s roadless backcountry and inland lake paddling route, Chain of Lakes.

34. Glacier Bay National Park and Reserve, Alaska

A humpback whale breaches the waters of Icy Strait. The National Park Service has monitored whale populations in Glacier Bay since 1985. 

35. Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

Glaciers, earthquakes, and ocean storms have shaped Alaska’s Kenai Fjords for centuries, resulting in constantly changing terrain. 

36. Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Voyageurs National Park is a watery wonderland, with more than a third of its area composed of lakes—and with all of its 200-plus campsites accessible only by boat.

37. Denali National Park and Reserve, Alaska

Larger than the state of New Jersey, Denali National Park and Preserve is a vast wilderness that is mostly untouched by human hands. On a good day, the park’s famous—and often notorious—clouds will part to reveal the great massif of Denali, the tallest peak in North America at 20,310 feet high. 

38. Katmai National Park, Alaska

A brown bear (nicknamed “Uno” for her one ear) and her two cubs walk along a river in Katmai National Park and Preserve. Visitors to the park often come in July to watch some 2,000 brown bears grab sockeye salmon around the Brooks Camp waterfall.

39. Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

A ring of snow and debris, the remains of an avalanche, surrounds the 125-foot-long, six-mile-long Bagley Icefield in Wrangell St. Elias National Park. To capture its massive scale, Irish took photographs from an airplane.

40. Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

Hot Springs encompasses both creek-filled wilderness and the grand Bathhouse Row, where eight spa buildings erected between 1892 and 1923 remain.

41. Canyonlands National Park, Utah

The sun peeks through Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park. The largest and most undeveloped of Utah’s national parks, Canyonlands offers backcountry adventures, scenic landscapes, and two major rivers. 

42. Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska

Located in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska, Kobuk Valley National Park spans a migratory route for more than half a million caribou. 

43. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

A two-hour drive north of Denver, Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park’s unrivaled stretch of craggy, snow-capped peaks and 355 miles of hiking trails attract more than 4 million visitors annually. 

44. Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska

Situated entirely north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is the northernmost national park in the U.S. Planning ahead is essential: there are no roads, no trails, and no campsites. Cell phones won’t work.

45. Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Roughly 120 air miles southwest of Anchorage, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, is home to volcanoes, rugged mountains, and salmon-filled waters.

46. Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands National Park is made up of jagged and striped rock formations. Before it was seized by the U.S. government in the 1920s, the land was inhabited and seen as sacred by the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. 

47. Glacier National Park, Montana

A quick stop off of the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road brings visitors to one of the most popular stops in the park—the view of St. Mary Lake from Wild Goose Scenic Viewpoint. Together with Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, Glacier National Park makes up the world’s first international peace park. 

48. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado

Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s 2,250-foot-tall Painted Wall, Colorado’s tallest cliff, is a spectacle of pink granite bands slashing through dark metamorphic rock that are nearly two billion years old. 

49. Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai’i

Two active volcanoes are within the bounds of this national park, Kilauea being one of the world’s most active. In 2018, Mount Kīlauea’s continued eruptions destroyed approximately 600 homes, as well as roads, farms, and ranches, on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

50. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

The sun sets early on Cliff Palace, the largest of the ancient stone-and-mortar cliff houses tucked into the park’s canyon walls. The only way to experience the fine detail of the construction is on a ranger-guided tour.

51. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

The Cannonball Concretions, unusual stone formations in the North Unit of the park, can be seen a short drive from the Juniper Campground.

52. Haleakalā National Park, Hawai’i

Haleakalā, which means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian, is one of the world’s largest volcanic craters and is a United Nations International Biosphere Reserve. 

53. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Escape the crowds by fording the shallow Fremont River (high-clearance vehicles only) and head out on a 58-mile dirt road loop into desolate Cathedral Valley, an austere landscape dominated by two sandstone sentinels, Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon.

54. National Park of American Samoa, American Samoa

Often overlooked, National Park of American Samoa (on U.S. territory) comprises 10 volcanic islands (five inhabited), five distinct rainforest communities, and two coral atolls (one inhabited).

55. Channel Islands National Park, California

Santa Cruz Island (seen in the distance) is one of five isolated islands, along with 1,252 square nautical miles of surrounding sea, protected in this park. 

56. Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

From 1914 to early 1915, Lassen Peak spewed steam and ashes in more than 150 eruptions. Now, the quieted volcano serves as a scenic backdrop to the park’s jigsaw-puzzle landscape of forest, lava beds, and lakes. 

57. Pinnacles National Park, California

Known for its spectacular rock formations, beautiful spring wildflowers, and large groups of endangered condors, Pinnacles National Park is a mecca for rock climbing and day hiking. It offers 32 miles of trails that climb through winding talus caves and shaded creeks. 

58. Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

With 130 miles of explored passages, Wind Cave National Park is among the world’s longest cave systems and a popular spot for spelunking enthusiasts.

59. Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana

The park’s 15 miles of Lake Michigan beaches give way to impressive dunes, and blowouts, marshes, wetlands, and groves of black oak savanna and maple sugar trees. It became a national park in 2019.

60. Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

Gateway Arch National Park has been many things: a monument to Thomas Jefferson’s historic frontier, a commemoration of Lewis and Clark’s epic expedition—and, most recently, the U.S.’s 60th national park. 

61. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve spans more than 72,000 acres of wooded hills, deep ravines, and the Appalachian plateau. It was named the U.S.’s newest national park in 2020. 

62. White Sands National Park, New Mexico

White Sands National Park protects the largest gypsum dune on Earth, a remnant of bygone lakes and seas, a 275-square-mile basin that glitters white and stays cool to the touch. Visitors come to cruise the eight-mile Dunes Drive, hike one of the five established trails, or see the soft, translucent sand glow blue-white under a full moon. 

63. North Cascades National Park, Washington

Less than three hours by car from Seattle or Vancouver, North Cascades National Park is home to more than 300 glaciers and over 500 lakes and ponds. Scroll through to discover all the national parks in the United States.

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