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List

Top 10 National Park Logos

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We have now created black-and-white designs for 50 National Parks, which are for sale on T-shirts and a variety of other products through Amazon and Café Press.  Each of the logos is special to us, but we wanted to share the ones we liked best (check out our other Top 10 Lists).  On our Café Press page, our original designs can be printed on mugs, pillows, stickers, and clothing.  With the holidays coming up, they might make the perfect gift for the National Park fan in your life.

10. Yosemite National Park (California) depicts the view of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

9. Big Bend National Park (Texas) depicts a javelina in front of Balanced Rock

8. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (Alaska) depicts mountains looming above Lamplugh Glacier

7. Sequoia National Park (California) depicts a sequoia tree grove in the Giant Forest

6. Great Basin National Park (Nevada) depicts a bristlecone pine tree snag in front of Wheeler Peak

5. Zion National Park (Utah) depicts the view of the Virgin River valley from atop Angels Landing

4. Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Texas) depicts a mountain lion lying on Guadalupe Peak overlooking El Capitan

3. Isle Royale National Park (Michigan) depicts Lake Superior near Scoville Point

2. Channel Islands National Park (California) depicts Inspiration Point on East Anacapa Island

…and finally the #1 logo we have designed for a National Park!

1. Glacier National Park (Montana) depicts an hoary marmot at Hidden Lake Overlook near Logan Pass

Honorable Mentions

Canyonlands National Park (Utah) depicts Chesler Park in the Needles District

Joshua Tree National Park (California) depicts a Joshua tree growing in Hidden Valley Campground

Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado) depicts Long House on Wetherill Mesa

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List

Top 10 National Parks

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Of the 430+ units in the National Park Service system, only 63 have earned the most prestigious title of National Park.  While not all of them are equal, each of these special places is full of history and wildlife, while protecting some of America’s most treasured natural landscapes.  Here we have ranked our favorite National Parks, unfortunately being forced to leave out some truly iconic ones. Click here to view all of our Top 10 lists.

Know someone who loves National Parks? Gift them our travel guidebook A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks. 

10. Wrangell-St. Elias (Alaska)

Drive to McCarthy and walk on a glacier                

9. Grand Canyon (Arizona)

You don’t know it until you’ve been to the bottom

8. Everglades (Florida)

Get in a boat to really experience the ’Glades

7. Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico)

Spectacular cave and bat flight program

6. Great Sand Dunes (Colorado)

America’s sandbox is tons of fun

5. Virgin Islands (U.S. Virgin Islands)

A variety of activities await in this tropical paradise

4. Sequoia (California)

Visit the big trees in the snow

3. Capitol Reef (Utah)

Drive the dirt roads for the best scenery

2. Death Valley (California)

A wide range of elevations and sights

…and finally, our #1 National Park!

1. Yellowstone (Wyoming)

The world’s first is still the best

Honorable Mentions

Great Basin (Nevada)

Explore the alpine region and tour the cave

Rocky Mountain (Colorado)

Everyone should drive Trail Ridge Road at least once

Know someone who loves National Parks? Gift them our travel guidebook A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks. 

List

Update from Raven About The Parks

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We are currently on a 12 day trip to Massachusetts and New York to visit some of the many National Park Service (NPS) sites jammed into those two states, especially around Boston and New York City.  This will bring our total number of NPS units visited to over 350 and provide information for many future blog posts.

We are also working hard to edit our first guidebook, which we will self-publish in October 2019.  It is entitled A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s National Parks and it focuses on helping the reader have special experiences in 50 of the busiest National Parks.  Scott has created original logos for each of the 50 parks, which can be printed on T-shirts, mugs, pillows, and a variety of products through Amazon and Café Press.

Thank you to our readers for continuing to inspire us to visit new NPS sites and share the wonders with you all.

Tiff and Scott at Statue of Liberty National Monument in September 2016
List

Top 10 Caves in National Parks  

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Some of our favorite units in the National Park Service system include caves, from lava tubes to highly decorated caverns. This is a list of our 10 favorites.  Check out our page dedicated to all of our Top 10 lists.

10. Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park (Hawai‘i)

Thurston Lava Tube is an electrically lighted half-mile walk through a high-ceilinged cave.

9. Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve (Oregon)

A marble cave surrounded by a beautiful old-growth forest.

8. El Malpais National Monument (New Mexico)

Short lava tubes are open to the public if you pick up your free cave permit at a visitor center.

7. Great Basin National Park (Nevada)

Lehman Caves is only 0.6 miles long, but it is full of beautiful formations, like Parachute Shield.

6. Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)

Boxwork is an uncommon cave formation and 95% of the world’s known quantity is right here (see photo at the top of page).

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5. Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)

The many tour options will keep you coming back to this wonderful park.

4. Timpanogos Cave National Monument (Utah)

Start by hiking switchbacks up 1,092 feet, then your ranger guide will show you the gravity-defying helictite crystals.

3. Jewel Cave National Monument (South Dakota)

The Wild Caving Tour here is reportedly the most difficult in the entire National Park Service System.

2. Lava Beds National Monument (California)

Pick up a guidebook and chart your own course through dozens of unlit lava tubes.

 

…and finally our #1 cave in a National Park!

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1. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico)

Visit this incomprehensibly huge cave during the summer to witness the Evening Bat Flight Program.

 

Honorable Mentions

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park (Kentucky)

Reservations are recommended for the ranger-guided two-hour tour of Gap Cave.

Sequoia National Park (California)

Crystal Cave was the first cave Scott ever entered in 1988.

Scott and his older brothers in 1988
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Top 10 National Historic Sites

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There are 77 National Historic Sites managed by the National Park Service and several others that are affiliated sites.  Similar to the list of our Top 10 National Historical Parks, these choices represent our experience and not the significance of a place in the annals of U.S. history.  In fact, most of these spots we never would have heard about when sitting next to each other in Mrs. Williams’ AP American History class back in high school.  Check out all of our Top 10 lists here.

10. Grant-Kohrs Ranch (Montana)

All things “cowboy” are remembered here

9. Golden Spike (Utah)

Colorfully reconstructed train engines daily evoke May 10, 1869

8. Little Rock Central High School (Arkansas)

Learn about integration kitty-corner from this architectural beauty

7. Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.)

Live theater is still performed at this infamous assassination site

6. Christiansted National Historic Site (Virgin Islands)

The yellow walls of this seaside fort are great for photographs

5. Bent’s Old Fort (Colorado)

Costumed reenactors take you back in time on the Santa Fe Trail

4. Minuteman Missile (South Dakota)

A great museum and guided tours recall the Cold War era

3. Tuskegee Airmen (Alabama)

Civil Rights pioneers are celebrated at this site created in 1998

2. Manzanar (California)

The U.S.A. is a great nation because it remembers the shameful parts of its past

…and finally our #1 National Historic Site!

1. Andersonville (Georgia)

Visiting the National Prisoner of War Museum is a powerful experience

Honorable Mentions

Weir Farm (Connecticut)

Now a National Historical Park, borrow art supplies to create your own memory of this artist colony

Brown v. Board of Education (Kansas)

Now a National Historical Park, find thought-provoking exhibits on segregation fill the classrooms of an old school in Topeka