Only 16 of the 138 U.S. National Monuments are found in National Forests, and many of those are jointly administered with the Bureau of Land Management (the BLM ones will be covered in a future Top 10 List). Moreover, ten of them are located in only two states (California and Colorado). However, that does not mean they are not worth checking out. We have visited 15 with the exception of Admiralty Island in Alaska (but did read Alone in the Fortress of the Bears by Bruce L. Nelson), so we have an educated opinion in our ranking. Click here to see all our Top 10 Lists, including our Top 10 National Monuments Managed by the National Park Service.
10. Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains (California)
A gondola ride up into Mt. San Jacinto State Park is the easiest way to access these mountains south of Palm Springs where the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs
9. Camp Hale–Continental Divide (Colorado)
During World War II, the 10th Mountain Division trained in this section of the Rocky Mountains
8. Browns Canyon (Colorado)
The only legal way to access these lands is on a whitewater rafting trip
…and finally our #1 National Monument in a National Forest
1. Giant Sequoia (California)
Not as busy as Sequoia National Park, there are some impressive giant sequoia trees found here (including the Boole Tree, one of our favorites)
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Honorable Mentions
Sand to Snow (California)
We are mostly familiar with the BLM part of this National Monument, but it stretches up into the San Gorgonio Wilderness of San Bernardino National Forest
In central Montana, 149 miles of the Upper Missouri River were designated as a National Wild and Scenic River in 1976, upstream from the reservoir in Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. This stretch of the river still looks much the way it did when the Lewis and Clark expedition first explored it in 1805 and their former campsites are marked by posts. The breaks are a topographic area where the Missouri River eroded sedimentary rock that formed as horizontal layers laid down at the bottom of an ancient sea. The National Monument comprises public land in a matrix with private ranches, with cattle making the water unfit for filtering. There are a couple places to drive to along the river, but the best way to experience it is by floating a canoe or kayak down the non-motorized sections
Fort Benton, Decision Point, Neat Coulee, Citadel Rock, Hole-in-the-Wall, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Must-Do Activity
In Fort Benton, start your visit at the free interpretive center run by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), then head downtown to learn more history by walking the riverfront of Fort Benton National Historic Landmark, including its many museums (admission fees charged) and sculptures of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea and her son Pompey, and Shep (a local dog famous for his faithfulness). To find out more about the Corps of Discovery, check out the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center upstream in Great Falls. The most scenic stretch to float lies in the 44 miles between Coal Banks Landing and Judith Landing where there are no rapids and the river current is so strong that paddling is mostly reserved for steering. A permit (fee) is required from the BLM, and we recommend you purchase a Boaters’ Guide and W.A.G. bags. Wildlife we spotted along the river included bighorn sheep, bald eagles, white pelicans, great blue herons, and beavers.
Best Trail
Only accessible by boat, the hike up the slot canyon at Neat Coulee from the Eagle Creek Developed Boat Camp is worth a stop. It is also possible to scramble up to the eight-foot-tall Hole-in-the-Wall arch that comes into view on the south side of the river just past Citadel Rock.
Photographic Opportunity
One of the few places with road access in Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, at Decision Point, Captains Lewis and Clark were not sure which was the main route: the Marias or Missouri River.
Peak Season
Summer
Fees
There is a small fee charged per person per day to be on the river, which helps pay for the maintenance of vault toilets along the route (other waste must be packed out in W.A.G. bags). An America the Beautiful pass covers the admission fee for the small museum at the BLM visitor center in Ft. Benton.
Road Conditions
Dirt roads doable by passenger vehicles lead to Coal Banks Landing and Judith Landing, while paved roads lead to put-ins at Chouteau County Fairgrounds in Ft. Benton and Kipp Recreation Area at the western edge of Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Camping
There are campgrounds at Chouteau County Fairgrounds, Coal Banks Landing, and Kipp Recreation Area. Throughout the National Monument developed riverside campgrounds can be accessed by boat, with dispersed camping allowed anywhere on public land (a good map is essential to avoid private land).
In our previous post, we promised to share the Introduction to the book, which is included in the post below.
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Introduction
While numerous guidebooks exist for the United States of America’s National Parks, this is the first ever volume dedicated to recreation in all 138 National Monuments. Altogether, they cover 18.4-million acres of public land across 33 states and territories, plus 759-million acres of ocean in the five expansive Marine National Monuments created since 2006. Only 40 National Monuments have an entry fee, while the others provide free opportunities to learn about history or enjoy the outdoors. The mission of this guidebook is to introduce readers to the diversity of National Monuments by providing information on what makes each of them worthy of protection and how to go about experiencing what they have to offer.
National Monuments feature internationally recognized icons like the Statue of Liberty, as well as overlooked places that even locals rarely visit. They protect fossil quarries, historic homes of important Americans, caves open for exploration, sites significant to the Civil Rights Movement, volcanic wonders, relics of indigenous cultures, old military forts, and whitewater rafting spots. Select National Monuments have visitor centers and guided tours, while others are undeveloped wildlands encompassing everything from deserts to glaciers, including wetlands, sand dunes, and coastlines that provide habitat for countless species of wildlife. Whatever you are interested in, there is a new adventure out there waiting.
Monumental America is a culmination of our extensive travels seeking out the most spectacular trees, wildlife, waterfalls, caves, rivers, arches, houses, ruins, forts, and civil rights sites in National Monuments. Less than 80 of the 138 National Monuments are managed exclusively by the National Park Service, while others fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Department of Defense, as well as some state agencies and tribal governments. The federal agencies provide a plethora of information on their websites, including maps, updated hours and entry fees, and current road conditions.
We focused on hiking in this book as a way to explore each National Monument without needing any special equipment or skills. America’s National Monuments offer a variety of other recreational opportunities to enjoy the outdoors: camping, backpacking, picnicking, wildlife watching, birding, photography, hunting, fishing, swimming, whitewater rafting, boating, kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding, horseback riding, mountain biking, road biking, rock climbing, caving, rockhounding, four-wheeling, scenic driving, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing, not to mention the more extreme sports like hang gliding and ice climbing. National Monuments have something for everyone.
History
Most National Monuments have been created unilaterally by the U.S. President under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906 without Congressional approval. The Antiquities Act states that the president may set aside “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest.” President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to utilize this power to protect small cultural sites like Gila Cliff Dwellings and vast wildernesses like the Grand Canyon. The legality of this executive action has been questioned and debated for over a century.
While Roosevelt was a Republican, the last member of that party to create a new National Monument in the western U.S. was President Herbert Hoover when in 1933 he set aside 10,288 acres of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. Smaller historic sites, like Kentucky’s Fort Nelson in 2018, have continued to be preserved by executives of both political parties. Many of our treasured 63 National Parks started as National Monuments, including all three in Arizona, five of nine in California, four of five in Utah, and, most recently, White Sands in New Mexico after nearly 90 years as a National Monument. On the other end of the spectrum, South Carolina’s Reconstruction Era National Historical Park (established in 2019) was a National Monument for only two years.
Less often, National Monuments are established through congressional bills that go through both the Senate and House of Representatives, such as George Washington Birthplace in Virginia, Hagerman Fossil Beds in Idaho, Grand Portage in Minnesota, Newberry Volcanic in Oregon, and Mill Springs Battlefield in Kentucky.
While Wyoming boasts the first National Monument ever established at Devils Tower, in 1950 it became the first state to block any future U.S. President from unilaterally designating new National Monuments larger than 5,000 acres after residents protested the creation of Jackson Hole National Monument (now part of Grand Teton National Park). Congress did use their authority to make 8,198-acre Fossil Butte National Monument in the state in 1972.
On December 1, 1978, President Jimmy Carter utilized the Antiquities Act to set aside 56-million acres within 17 National Monuments across Alaska. His actions led many Alaskans to protest and Fairbanks residents to burn the president in effigy. Two years later, with the congressional passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), most of the land was redesignated under different categories, mainly as National Parks and National Preserves. Later, Congress effectively created a 5,000-acre limit on presidential National Monument designations in Alaska, which has been respected in the decades since.
The court system has continually approved the U.S. President’s ability to use the Antiquities Act in this way, although it has not always been popular, especially with industries based on natural resource extraction. Recently, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monuments in Utah have been the subject of political ping-pong as their boundaries have been adjusted. There is a long history of abolishing and redesignating National Monuments, which we highlighted in the introduction for each state.
Monumental America is organized alphabetically by state and each of the 138 National Monuments features the same categories for ease of navigation, starting with the total acreage and the year each was officially designated.
When To Visit
These are the preferred seasons to visit for the best weather. Some places are snowed-in most of the year while others get unbearably hot in the summer, and a few are pleasant year-round. It is worthwhile to check online before making a trip since many of the historic sites are closed seasonally and only open certain days of the week.
How It Got Its Name
When we started writing this book, we were unsure of the pronunciation of some of the names of the National Monuments, so we enjoyed learning the history and etymology of why each of them got their specific moniker.
Why It Was Created
Some National Monuments were established to protect a small historic site, while others preserve thousands of acres of undeveloped public land. We provided some basic background information as to why each place was deemed worthy of its special designation, plus a basic history of the site.
What To See
Presented in list form, these are the places that we frequently came across in our research of a particular National Monument. They may not be the busiest spots, or include everyone’s personal favorite, but they do tend to be more developed for visitation.
How To Visit
National Monuments vary greatly in size and development for recreation, so we provided a basic introduction on how most visitors approach their first trip, although there is no wrong way to do it.
How Much Does It Cost
98 National Monuments have no entry fee! We noted this at the beginning of each chapter, although we still covered relevant costs for guided tours and ferries, if applicable. Most admission fees apply at sites managed by the National Park Service where it may save money to purchase an annual America the Beautiful Pass (and if you qualify for discounted senior, access, and military cards you also receive half-off on all tours and campsites).
Where To Hike
A few National Monuments have extensive trail networks, so we chose one hike that is reasonably easy and provides a good introduction to the area. Not every site has designated trails, though, and a hike may instead involve city sidewalks or cross-country exploration.
What To Photograph
In this book we used black-and-white photography in homage to Ansel Adams, who did so much with his stunning imagery to popularize Canyon de Chelly and other National Monuments that later became National Parks. We selected one original photograph for the 127 National Monuments we have personally visited (not including four Marine National Monuments, three fly-in sites in Alaska, two that are closed to public access in Arizona and Texas, and two new ones in Maine and Pennsylvania).
How Are The Roads
Not all roads in National Monuments are paved, so we explained which ones actually require a high-clearance vehicle and should be avoided by RVs, as well as covering seasonal road closures.
Where To Camp
Most National Monuments managed by the National Park Service do not allow camping and some of the undeveloped areas do not have any campgrounds. In these cases, we researched where to stay at nearby State Parks or private campgrounds with RV hookups. There are often dispersed primitive options for car camping on back roads managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Backpacking is a popular activity in some National Monuments, so we clarified if permits are required and where to get them.
We have posts on many National Monuments and other public lands with color photographs on our travel website (RavenAboutTheParks.com).
We hope that Monumental America provides inspiration for your own monumental explorations.
The mission of our guidebook is to introduce readers to the diversity of National Monuments by providing information on what makes each of them worthy of protection and how to go about experiencing what they have to offer. National Monuments cover a broad range of sites of historic and geologic interest from as small as 0.07 of an acre up to 2.2-million acres in size.
While numerous guidebooks exist for the United States of America’s National Parks, this is the first ever volume dedicated to recreation in all 138 National Monuments. Altogether, they cover 18.4-million acres of public land across 33 states and territories, plus 759-million acres of ocean in the five expansive Marine National Monuments created since 2006. Only 40 National Monuments have an entry fee, while the others provide free opportunities to learn about history or enjoy the outdoors.
National Monuments feature internationally recognized icons like the Statue of Liberty, as well as overlooked places that even locals rarely visit. They protect fossil quarries, historic homes of important Americans, caves open for exploration, sites significant to the Civil Rights Movement, volcanic wonders, relics of indigenous cultures, old military forts, and whitewater rafting spots. A select few National Monuments have visitor centers and guided tours, while others are undeveloped wildlands encompassing everything from deserts to glaciers, including wetlands, sand dunes, and coastlines that provide habitat for countless species of wildlife.
Whatever you are interested in, there is a new adventure out there waiting!
Please keep your eye out for our next post with the Introduction to our new guidebook. Check out our entire selection of U.S. travel guidebooks on our Amazon.com Author Page.
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After we published our guidebook 50 States of Great: Road Trip Guide to America in 2023, we decided to start a new type of blog post where we create a travel itinerary for all 50 states, in addition to our usual public land entries. After starting with Kansas, Georgia, Idaho, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Hawai’i, Arizona, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Indiana, we decided to head back west to Montana. There are so many great trails in the state’s National Forests that we had a difficult time narrowing it down. We made an ambitious seven-day plan starting in southeast Montana on Interstate 90, with enough options to easily extend the trip into three weeks or more.
The best time to visit the National Monument is around June 25, the anniversary of Custer’s Last Stand when a reenactment of the battle is held on private land bordering the National Park Service site.
Makoshika State Park
It is illegal to remove dinosaur fossils from these badlands, but there are many on display at the visitor center, in addition to nearby museums (plus reservations can be made to dig on private land). The few campsites are in high demand to spend the night in these colorful canyons where caprocks rise high above juniper trees.
Optional stop at Pompeys Pillar National Monument
A sandstone monolith on the Yellowstone River has been a place for humans to record their passing for 11,000 years. The most famous inscription was left by Captain William Clark on July 25, 1806, the sole on-site evidence of the Corps of Discovery’s three-year journey.
This underappreciated gem in the National Park Service system features gorgeous scenery and abundant wildlife, including bighorn sheep and wild horses. The highlight is across the state line in Wyoming where Devil Canyon Overlook sits atop cliffs that drop over 1,000 feet straight down to the level of the narrow reservoir.
Gallatin Petrified Forest is only accessible by trail, either from a short two-mile one-way jaunt or by backpacking the 27-mile Gallatin Divide-Devils Backbone Trail. Earthquake Lake Geologic Area stretches along Highway 287 to commemorate the events that occurred around midnight on August 17, 1959, when a deadly magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit West Yellowstone.
Some of the National Forest’s miles of hiking trails access the Crazy Mountains and Hellroaring Plateau. The two-mile Glacier Lake Trail steadily climbs 1,100 feet then drops into a bowl containing a stunning reservoir that straddles the Wyoming-Montana border.
Optional drive on Beartooth All-American Road
Custer National Forest is famous for its stretch of Highway 212 that climbs from the prairie around the town of Red Lodge up to 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass across the Wyoming border in Shoshone National Forest. The road follows the southern border of the giant 943,626-acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, which contains the highest point in Montana.
Located mostly in Wyoming and partly in Montana and Idaho, you could easily spend an entire summer in the world’s first National Park and not see all the thermal features, lakes, waterfalls, wildlife, and hiking trails.
Day 3
Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park
Once a U.S. National Monument, the state now runs a campground here and offers guided tours through a limestone show cave where bats live in the summer.
The free Potosi Campground is situated near the trailhead for Upper Potosi Hot Springs where a 0.8-mile trail leads past the uphill side of a clear 100°F pool with room for about six adults.
Optional stop at Chico Hot Springs
If you leave Yellowstone National Park north through Gardiner on Highway 89, consider stopping at this developed hot springs (fee) that offers live music poolside on some nights (especially if the park’s Boiling River was closed). In business since 1897, even Teddy Roosevelt stopped to rest here.
Day 4
Bannack State Park
East of Lemhi Pass on the Idaho border (which is also the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail through there), Bannack State Park preserves more than 50 buildings from a gold rush town that was the territorial capital in 1864.
The site of a surprise attack by the U.S. Army on the morning of August 9, 1877, where Nez Perce warriors forced the troops to retreat, capturing a Howitzer cannon and allowing women and children to escape toward the newly created Yellowstone National Park. Part of the widespread Nez Perce National Historical Park, a small visitor center here overlooks the battlefield and a paved road accesses trails through it.
Blodgett Creek Trail leads 12.6 miles one-way to Blodgett Lake, but you do not have to go that far to appreciate its incredible beauty.
Optional stop at Elkhorn Hot Springs
In the Pioneer Mountains, about ten miles north of Highway 278 is the privately owned Elkhorn Hot Springs (fee), a great place to relax after hiking. There is free dispersed camping to the north in Beaverhead National Forest.
Day 5
Travelers’ Rest State Park
Follow in the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition by driving the Lolo Trail (Highway 12), soaking at Lolo Hot Springs, or walking around Travelers’ Rest State Park (still a great place to camp).
Missoula
Do as the University of Montana students do and float tubes down the Clark Fork River through town. In the summer, look for webcam-famous Iris the Osprey in the parking lot near the football stadium. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula preserves buildings dating back to 1877, including an Alien Detention Center used during World War II.
Outside Missoula, there are many trails in Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Blue Mountain Recreation Area, plus the Aerial Fire Depot and Smokejumper Center, Ninemile Historic Remount Depot, and Savenac Historic Tree Nursery Area.
This working ranch commemorates the nineteenth-century lifestyle of cattle barons and cowboys. Free guided tours are offered inside the large ranch house, and a self-guided walking tour enters 15 buildings with displays on the history of barbwire, branding irons, and much more.
Day 6
National Bison Range
Established in 1908 under President Theodore Roosevelt and now run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Start at the visitor center, then take the 19-mile Red Sleep Mountain Drive to see mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorns, bighorn sheep, and the namesake bison.
Jewel Basin Hiking Area is famous among backpackers, and further south so is Holland Lake, which has several campgrounds. The steep Holland-Gordon Trail passes Holland Falls as it climbs 2,100 feet in 5.8 miles to Upper Holland Lake and continues into “the Bob” (Bob Marshall Wilderness). Flathead National Forest contains more than 2,800 miles of hiking trails, including 38 miles of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail and a stretch of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
Optional stop at Mission Mountains Wilderness
Located within Flathead National Forest, a popular trail accesses multiple mountain lakes; it is only 1.5 miles one-way to Glacier Lake, but we recommend continuing to Turquoise Lake. It borders the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness (permits required).
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park’s renowned Going-to-the-Sun Road was built to cross the park from east to west in the 1920s (reservations are required to drive it between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the summer). At its highest point at 6,646-foot Logan Pass, the road crosses the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
In the state’s northwest corner, incredible views await at Blue Mountain Trail, Skyline National Recreation Trail, Scenery Mountain Lookout Trail, Ross Creek Scenic Area of old-growth western redcedar trees, and Kootenai Falls (located in a county park on the side of Highway 2).
Meriwether Lewis named the Gates of the Mountains on July 19, 1805, and today a two-hour jet boat tour on the Missouri River provides history on the Corps of Discovery, American Indian pictographs, the Mann Gulch Fire, and the collapse of Hauser Dam. A trail through Refrigerator Canyon is less than ten feet wide at its narrowest point, where towering 200-foot limestone cliffs keep it cool and breezy throughout the summer.
Great Falls
North of Helena on Interstate 15 is the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (fee), which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service on the banks of the Missouri River.
This 375,000-acre National Monument preserves a stretch of the Missouri River that still looks much the way it did when Lewis and Clark explored it. Start your journey by paying for permits at the Bureau of Land Management interpretive center in historic Fort Benton, where you can launch your canoe or kayak to access 149 miles of the river. There are developed boat camps with vault toilets along the route, or you can pick your own spot near one of the Corps of Discovery campsite markers.
It includes portions of the Boulder Mountains, Flint Creek Range, and Elkhorn Mountains, as well as part of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Our favorite hike is Haystack Mountain National Recreation Trail off Interstate 15, where a climb of 2,000 feet ends at a mountaintop boulder field with panoramic views and the remnants of a fire lookout tower.
Backpacking is a major draw with trails in the Snowy Mountain Range and parts of the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness areas, which provide crucial habitat for grizzly bears. It encompasses one of the most famous formations along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the 15-mile long Chinese Wall (a 1,000-foot-tall cliff composed of five-million-year-old limestone).
Raven About The Parks 