Favorite National Park?

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AgRyan04
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In reply to BSD • 9:54p, 6/6/26
BSD said:
AgRyan04 said:
THAT is the way to do it!


Yep. Lie down flat seats on the redeye back from…

National Park of American Samoa.

This is it! This is #63.









AWESOME!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
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Wicked Good Ag
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10:35p, 6/6/26
BSD all 63 WOW

5 best 5 worst in your opinion
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mpl35
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11:12p, 6/6/26
AG
All 63 - awesome!
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BSD
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In reply to Wicked Good Ag • 7:20p, 6/7/26
AG
Wicked Good Ag said:

5 best 5 worst in your opinion


Ooh. Top 5? That is difficult. My top 3 are easy like loving your own kids, but then it feels like I have pick a favorite niece/nephew from there.

Tie for 1 and 2- Yosemite and Yellowstone
These are the quintessential national parks. The vast size and unique characteristics of each will always impress me.
3. Katmai - such a unique place! bears and bears and bears. And bears on waterfalls catching fish. And the tour out to the volcano blast area is so interesting. Waterfalls going thru cliffs of ash…so cool. And I randomly met Mathguy on the plane down from Anchorage.
4. Zion - I go here once or twice a year for a reason. Beautiful country, great hiking. And great canyoneering.
5. Here's where it gets tough. Do I choose Bryce for geological uniqueness? Or Wrangell St Elias for all the stuff we did ina gorgeous setting (ice caves, ice climbing, and being dropped off by a bush plane miles and miles from McCarthy to camp)? Or Glacier (although I need to go back there since we were cut short on hikes due to illness)?

My bottom five

59. Congaree - I hate to make this one sound like I didn't like it. I did. It's just limited in things to do (outside of canoeing and the May fireflies).
60. Cuyahoga Valley - a few nice sites but not really interesting. It's also spread out between neighborhoods so you don't feel like you're getting away for an adventure.
61. Indiana Dunes - sitting on the beach with a power plant next to me isn't quite what I want out of a NP.
62. Hot Springs - in town, and not much different than other places I've been in Arkansas. Give me the Buffalo River any day of the week over Hot Springs.
63. Gateway Arch in St Louis - see previous page.

That said, I had fun on all of these trips. The experience was more about spending time with my son than anything else. And for that, I'm blessed.
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Wicked Good Ag
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6:08p, 6/8/26
Thank you.

I haven't ever been to Alaska in my life but hopefully that will change in near future.

For me and I haven't seen them all and so my top five are not counting a couple that probably are top 5

1. Yosemite
2. Zion
3. Glacier
4. Acadia
5. Bryce


I haven't been to Yellowstone since I was like four with my parents and don't remember it so I am sure tha would be up there. The ones I listed are from when I was late teen and adult.

My parents retired to Hot Springs Village. To me Hot Springs is the worst national park in America

At least Gateway Arch is quick and not time consuming. You keep searching in Hot Springs and keep coming up empty not matter what you find.

And I agree on Buffalo River also.

Hitting up some Florida ones in a month just wish the seaplane to Dry Tortugas wasn't so expensive looks like the ferry
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BSD
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8:35p, 6/8/26
AG
For Biscayne, definitely get out on one of the water tours. We did a snorkel tour and a shipwreck. I'd also take snorkel gear out to Dry Tortugas. And stop in the Middle Keys for some more good snorkeling (saw my first reef shark there).
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AgRyan04
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In reply to BSD • 8:31p, 6/9/26
We still have a handful more to go, but Ive been thinking about this for 2 days now

I think your bottom 5 are exactly in line with my family's picks

I'd say your top 3 are spot on....and then I'd lock in Glacier and then Rocky Mountain to round it out
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BSD
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In reply to AgRyan04 • 9:50p, 6/9/26
AG
Ask me the question again in mid-September and I bet I'd say Rocky Mountain makes my top 5. Houston destroys my soul at that time of year so a mountain sounds like Heaven to me. That's why I'm saying after my top 3 it gets difficult. It just depends on how I'm feeling that day. So many great ones get stacked up in that second tier.
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AgRyan04
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In reply to BSD • 9:52p, 6/9/26
Me sitting over here like....
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Mathguy64
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9:34p, 6/10/26
AG
I haven't come close to all the parks but GTNP/Yellowstone is a combo that's hard to beat for me. The diversity within that area plus the history of both the Lake Hotel and OF Inn is just classic Americana.

Katmai/Brooks Falls is the most amazing wildlife viewing in the US.

That's 1 and 1A for me.

I can say I sat on the veranda with a drink watching the sun set from the North Rim. So few got that chance. I hope others get it. It needs to be rebuilt.

In 5 weeks we head back to Wrangell, Kenai and Katmai. I'm going ice caving under a glacier and I'm going to fly fish in the river with the big boys. It will probably be our last time back and I'm going to check every box I can.
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AgRyan04
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In reply to Mathguy64 • 9:43p, 6/10/26
HAVE FUN! WE WANT PICTURES!
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BSD
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In reply to Mathguy64 • 3:22p, 6/11/26
AG
Mathguy64 said:
I'm going ice caving under a glacier


This was one of my favorite things that I did in Alaska. You'll love it. Take some pics! I'm sure your camera will do it much more justice than my crappy iPhone.
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NoHo Hank
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In reply to BSD • 11:44a, 6/17/26
AG
BSD said:
Wicked Good Ag said:

5 best 5 worst in your opinion



60. Cuyahoga Valley - a few nice sites but not really interesting. It's also spread out between neighborhoods so you don't feel like you're getting away for an adventure.

My favorite mountain bike trail in Cleveland, East Rim, is in the national park, and is pretty great. I love the town of Peninsula, the train is kind of cool running through the park, the towpath, which runs from Cleveland to Akron and even further south, is part of a 70 mile loop called the Emerald necklace that's pretty great, and there are some nice hikes. But all in all, it's not the same as some of the more impressive NPs. It is free though, so that's something.
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