Tara's Ranking of the National Parks - Part 1

Here it is! Here's my ranking of National Parks (starting at the bottom) along with some of my favorite memories of each one. This will be in two parts. Part 1 is number 37 to number 16.

For Paul's rankings, see http://paulnationalparks.blogspot.com/2017/09/pauls-ranking-of-national-parks-updated.html

37. Congaree 

Don't forget the bug spray!

This may be why this park is at the bottom of my list... 

We only spent a couple of hours in Congaree, but I feel like we saw Congaree National Park. My favorite part was coming across this beautiful, giant spider web.

36. Saguaro 

Growing up in Idaho I did not see a lot of Saguaro cacti. These giants are beautiful! This park is just a bunch of cacti. 

This is the only park we have visited with Paul’s parents Scott and Deanne. We went to Arizona for a family reunion and arrived early. It was great to have some time with Scott and Deanne before everyone else arrived. We spent a day exploring Saguaro National Park and San Xavier Del Bac. At the time of our visit, Scott was receiving chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, and the future was uncertain. Miraculously after 6 months of chemotherapy, no lesions could be found.  I will always cherish this day we got to spend with Scott and Deanne and the many more to follow. 

35. Hot Springs 

I’m a sucker for historic buildings! I loved exploring these old bathhouses. As much as I loved these buildings, I think it's strange for this historic landmark to be designated a national park. 

We definitely had our most unique NPS experience at Hot Springs. I talked Paul into having a traditional bathing experience at the Buckstaff. Men and women are on separate floors, so Paul and I separated in the lobby. I rode up the elevator, and was assigned a locker and handed a white sheet in the dressing room. I undressed and an attendant help me tie my sheet so it would stay on. I was escorted to my large bathtub where my personal attendant was drawing my bath.  I soaked for about 15 minutes, and my attendant brought me ice cold water from the spring to sip on. After soaking, I was escorted to a table where I received a short massage and was covered in cold towels. After relaxing for about 20 minutes, I then sat in the vapor closet for a few minutes. This was followed by a sitz bath. Finally I finished with a rinse in the needles shower. My traditional bath was definitely something I’m glad I did, but will probably never do again. 

The water would be cooled from 140 degrees to around 100-105

 These photos are from the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Sitz bath and vapor closet

Needle Shower

34. Wind Cave .

Wind Cave is home to 95% of all the known boxwork (a unique cave formation) in the world. We took the ¾ of a mile Natural Entrance Tour. The highlight was the “Post Office”, a room with a large amount of boxwork. The first explores thought this unique formation reminded them of post office boxes. 

The Natural Entrance. Yes, it's tiny and yes, this was how the first cave tours entered the cave (back in the mid-1800s). Thankfully, we had another way in. 

Boxwork in the Post Office

This cave has narrow passageways and small rooms. The boxwork formation in the cave is underwhelming compared to the formations in the other national park caves.

33. Great Sand Dunes 
We went sand sledding, and let's just say I enjoyed it a lot more than Paul.  After we tired of sledding and hiking up the dunes, we waded in Medano Creek to cool off. By the time we were finished, I had sand everywhere and my legs ached from walking in the deep sand. 

 

32. Great Basin

We visited this park when the thought of visiting every National Park was just a fun idea. We took a tour of Lehman Cave; it was too early in the year to go up Wheeler Peak. Lehman Cave had so many great formations like Parachute Formation. This was the first cave I had been in that had distinct formations, and I was in awe!

We were babies

31. Canyonlands

We visited Island in the Sky for a few hours. We were tired from exploring Arches earlier in the day. The views from the top of the mesa were incredible! To really experience this park, you need to get off of the beaten path requiring more than an a casual day trip.

Mesa Arch

30. Guadalupe Mountains

McKittrick Canyon 

El Capitan

Devil's Hall

McKittrick Canyon was beautiful and I loved Devil’s Hall Trail. The desert is truly an enchanting place.  

General Grant Tree

29. Kings Canyon 

We only visited a small part of Kings Canyon NP, the part that contains the Grant Grove. General Grant tree has the widest tree in the world at its base. There is definitely more to this park than Grant Grove, and I can’t wait to explore it more.

28. North Cascade

One of the best entrance sings in the NPS. 

Stunning Diablo Lake

Hands down North Cascade Highway is a very stunning scenic drive. It’s full of incredible vistas with tons of overlooks.  We only had time for one hike short hike. We hiked Thunder Knob to overlooks of Diablo Lake. The trail itself was unremarkable, and the views were better at Diablo Lake Overlook with no hiking.  This park has some incredible trails, but most were too long or strenuous for us to tackle. 

27. Black Canyon of the Gunnison

This is the perfect park to spend a half to full day at. We spent the morning here, and we did almost everything there is to do on the South Rim without hiking to the bottom. This canyon is unlike anything else I have seen. The black rock with white marbling is incredible.

26. Mammoth Cave

This park is located in the Bible Belt. I loved hearing people enthusiastically praising Jesus and thanking the Lord for letting them be in such a beautiful place. I also overheard someone singing "I Need The Every Hour" in the bathroom. 

Frozen Niagra

 

25. Petrified Forest

I visited Petrified Forest with my family when I was 5. I remember chasing lizards with my brothers and being so excited to earn my Junior Ranger Badge (I still have it somewhere). Giant logs of petrified wood and the vibrant colors of the desert are amazing.  

1994

Painted Deseret

Petrified Forest will hold a special place in my heart, because it’s located in Holbrook, Az. My grandmother grew up outside of Holbrook on a ranch, and my dad spent his summers staying with his grandparents.  

24. Death Valley

This massive park is full of beautiful vistas and barren wastelands. 

Zabriskie Point

Badwater Basin: -282 ft below sea level

This is where we bought our first National Park Pass. The best $80 we’ve ever spent! Since we had the pass, we thought it would be cool to visit every national park. At the time I thought it was a fun, far-fetched idea. Here we are only four years later, and we have visited 37 of the 60 parks.

Joshua Trees

23. Joshua Tree

 Joshua Tree was HOT! I was not prepared for temperatures in the triple digits during November. No matter when you visit a desert park, be prepared for the scorching sun and the heat. The giant marbles felt other worldly.

Skull Rock among some marbles. 

22. Theodore Roosevelt

We visited Theordore Roosevelt National Park on our honeymoon to the Black Hills. We definitely did not spend enough time here! I LOVED all of the wild horses. The badlands giving way to grass and vegetation is beautiful! 

A few of the horses we saw. 

Sheriff Bear

After driving through the park, we went to the famous Medora Musical.  Performers tell the story of Medora and Theodore Roosevelt through contemporary country songs. Sheriff Bear was the best part of the show with his own song “Sheriff Bear Shake It For Me”. 

The Stage

21. Badlands

We visited as part of our honeymoon, and Badlands NP was the first park we visited as a married couple. The landscape is otherworldly! We felt like giants on Mars. At most national parks you are told not to touch or climb on formations, but not at Badlands. I overheard a ranger asking a young visitor if he had fun climbing on everything. 

20. Channel Islands

To be perfectly honest, the Prisoner Harbor was disappointing; due to weather we had to scrap our original plans.  However, the boat ride was INCREDIBLE! We saw sea lions, dolphins, and humpback whales. I had not seen dolphins in the wild before, and they played in our wake most of our way to Santa Cruz Island.  I’ve been whale watching before, and hardly saw anything. It was awesome to see whales so close to our boat. 

It was a magical day.

19. Capitol Reef

I have to admit, this lonely park surprised me. Paul and I first visited in February of 2015 on our way home from Bryce Canyon. We only spent 1-2 hours in the park, and I was not impressed. Fast forward to November 2017 when we decided to give this park a fair shot. We spent two full days at Capital Reef, and left wanting more. This park has everything without the crowds. We enjoyed red rock, canyons, mountains, badlands, arches, and historic farms and orchards. Capital Reef might be Utah’s best kept secret. 

18. Sequoia

John Steinbeck wrote, “No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.”

I don’t know if a truer statement has ever been made.  It’s impossible to stand in a grove of these giants and not feel humility, wonder, and peace.  

General Sherman is the largest tree in the world, by volume (it's not the tallest or widest). It's trunk is 52,513 cubic feet, and is about 2,300 - 2,700 years old

The views from Moro Rock were amazing!

17. Bryce Canyon

What do you do with unseasonably warm weather and a three day weekend? We took a spontaneous trip to Bryce Canyon for Presidents Day weekend. The contrast between the snow and red rocks was beautiful! We watched the sunrise at Sunrise Point then started our hike through Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop. This loop hike is one of my all-time favorite hikes. 

We started the wrong way, so we had to climb up the switchbacks. Dozens of hikers going the other way were kind enough to point it out to us as we huffed and puffed our way up.

I visited with my family in 1994. We had been waiting for the rest of family for a long time,
so we pretended we had fallen asleep waiting for them.

16. Crater Lake

Plaikni Falls

This blue lake is incredible! The park is more than just a lake. We enjoyed some pleasant hikes. I want to go back in the summer when we can swim in the lake and take a boat to Wizard Island.

This was the last trip we took before leaving Soda Springs. With new jobs we weren’t sure how much time we would be able to get off, so we wanted to take one last trip. This trip was filled with mixed emotions as we prepared to start a new life. 

Wizard Island

Stay tuned for my Top 15 in Part 2!