NATIONAL PARKS

a. General Information

There are 62 parks in the United States, even though there are 421 sites on the National Park System website. They bring in 327 million visitors a year. Can you name the largest one? If you guessed Yellowstone, you’d be wrong. It is Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska at 13.2 million acres.

The most significant area does not bring in the biggest crowds. That honor goes to the Great Smoky Mountains capturing 12.5 million visitors annually. If you guessed Yellowstone, you’d be wrong again. Yellowstone saw 4 million visitors in 2019 behind Grand Canyon, Rock Mountain, Zion, and Yosemite.

But Yellowstone is the granddaddy becoming the first National Park in 1872 when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the National Parks law. There is only one Park that resides in three states. Yellowstone takes that honor as well. It is primarily in Wyoming but has parts within the borders of Idaho and Montana.

California has the most at 9, followed by Alaska with eight and then Utah with 5. Almost half the states (24) have no National Park. Two territories, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, each have 1.

b. Names and Links to Each Park

National Park Name	State
Acadia	Maine
Arches	Utah
Badlands	South Dakota
Big Bend	Texas
Biscayne	Florida
Black Canyon of the Gunnison	Colorado
Bryce Canyon	Utah
Canyonlands	Utah
Capitol Reef	Utah
Carlsbad Caverns	New Mexico
Channel Islands	California
Congaree	South Carolina
Crater Lake	Oregon
Cuyahoga Valley	Ohio
Death Valley	California
Denali	Alaska
Dry Tortugas	Florida
Everglades	Florida
Gates of the Arctic	Alaska
Gateway Arch	Missouri
Glacier Bay	Alaska
Glacier	Montana
Grand Canyon	Arizona
Grand Teton	Wyoming
Great Basin	Nevada
Great Sand Dunes	Colorado
Great Smoky	North Carolina
Guadalupe	Texas
Haleakalā	Hawaii
Hawai’i Volcanoes	Hawaii
Hot Springs	Arkansas
Indiana Dunes	Indiana
Isle Royale	Michigan
Joshua Tree	California
Katmai	Alaska
Kenai Fjords	Alaska
Kings Canyon	California
Kobuk Valley	Alaska
Lake Clark	Alaska
Lassen Volcanic	California
Mammoth Cave	Kentucky
Mesa Verde	Colorado
Mount Rainier	Washington
American Samoa	American Samoa
North Cascades	Washington
Olympic	Washington
Petrified Forest	Arizona
Pinnacles	California
Redwood	California
Rocky Mountain	Colorado
Saguaro	Arizona
Sequoia	California
Shenandoah	Virginia
Theodore Roosevelt	North Dakota
Virgin Islands	Virgin Islands
Voyageurs	Minnesota
White Sands	New Mexico
Wind Cave	South Dakota
Wrangell-St. Elias	Alaska
Yellowstone	Wyoming
Yosemite	California
Zion	Utah

c. Guided Tours

There are private guided tours that are available for most of the Parks. Affordable Tours.com discusses a few tours ranging in costs from $1,000 to $15,000 and durations from 5 to 24 days.

Quorvita does not vouch for or recommend any particular guided tour. A few operators include:

and many others.

d. Medical Facilities

There are medical facilities or medical care in or around many parks. The National Park Service outlines medicine and hospitals associated with the national parks. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine provides information in this area. The US Department of Interior published a Survey Report in 1996 on Emergency Medical services for the National Park Service. Those traveling with supplemental oxygen are addressed in the Oxygen Concentrator Store.

e. Plants & Animals at National Parks

The National Park Service provides information on the Plants and Animals at the various parks. Some of these website links show pictures and discuss the different animals and plants at the parks.

f. Safety

In a city, it is dangerous to cross the street when the light is green. Driving 50 mph over the speed limit or not stopping at a stop sign spells high risk. Obvious to humans, these things are hidden from animals. When we travel into the animal kingdom, the roles are reversed.

Some animals are cute and friendly, crying for a photo shoot, but can be extremely dangerous. The Moose is a prime example. Never turn your back to a wolf or bear and run.

Backing to the cliff edge to take a selfie is foolhardy, feeding the wild animals or getting between a mother and its cub. When camping in a tent, it is advisable not to keep your food inside the tent. Don’t pitch your sleeping bag over a nest of ants; snacking on strange berries and mushrooms may have nasty consequences.

Please don’t start a fire when it is prohibited, outside a fire pit, when it is windy, or when you do not have ample water available to put it out or allow the fire to burn when you retire for the night. Don’t get lost is always good advice. Don’t use friends as bear bait; because you can run faster than your friend, that is not a solution.

The National Park Service has many great tips on how to stay safe when inside the park. The National Geographic organization has many tips, and The Parks Expert provides valuable hints for bear safety.

g. National Parks Connection to Healing Fear

Can you guess which fears this Joy can help cure? Here are a few suggestions:

The immense size and dimensions leave most visitors in awe. This suggests that it might help those who fear wide open spaces (agoraphobia).
It requires navigation skills to find your way to and within the parks. This means that the fear of becoming lost is reduced.

Can you name any other fears that visits to the National Parks may calm?

Fear of insects?
Fear of dogs?
Fear of Birds?