Rank US National Parks
 

Please Rank the following National Parks in terms of breathetaking scenary and natural beauty.

- Yellowstone
- Grand Teton
- Rocky Mountain
- Glacier
- Mount Ranier

Eh...are you just doing this out of curiousity?

My top 2 are Yellowstone & MR.

Glacier
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Mount Rainier
Grand TETON
Rocky mountain n.park
Paul

Never been to Paul, so I can't rank it in my top 6. The other 5 are all beautiful and offer different advantages and disadvantages.

Yosemite
Yellowstone
Grand Canyon

the above 3 are somewhat unique in the world.

The other 4 offer beautiful scenery but if you've travelled the Alps, Alaska, canada or other remote, high peaks areas they aren't as unique as the other 3.

Glacier
MR
GT
RMNP

They are all great. My sequence is:

- Grand Tetons
- Rocky Mountain
- Glacier, tie with Mt. Rainier
- Mount Rainier
- Yellowstone, last because I prefer mountains to thermal activity--curious as it may be.

Ranking parks like this is difficult but I've seen sikki's other post so I know there is a purpose to this question and this is not a random question.

Based only on sikki's qualifier of "breathtaking scenary and natural beauty", I'd have to say:

Glacier
Mt. Rainier
Yellowstone
Grand Teton

But listing in order of my favorites on sikki's list based on the total package including wildlife, hikes, scenery, activities, etc, I'd have to say:

Yellowstone
Mt. Rainier
Glacier
Grand Teton

Haven't been to RM so can't comment on that one. Yosemite wasn't on the original list but it is one of the best IMHO.

Actually am planning to visit the top 2-3 in early september.

For me the advantages are altitude/majestic peaks, trekking possibilities (trekking routes, huts and tours)etc and some cultural experience. How wud u rate the NPs with this criteria?? Thanks. Sikki

Breathtaking means Crater Lake, but it doesn't have the Depth of Experience the others do.
A very Unique place.
Sikki, rather than hit all National Parks, have you thought about doing a portion of the Pacific Coast Trail, for example?
There are Stunning spots in all the Western States that are US Forest, BLM Land, State Parks, all
aside from The NPS system.

Yeah-I agree with npurpleh2. Glacier is gorgeous, but I'm more of "all package" gal. Thus, Y and MR....

Thats the thing. I have no great experience as a traveler but I think the best, most breahtetaking places are usually not the best "complete package" places. Infact, the best places I have been to have always been raw, with very little or no sign of human intervention (houses, towns, well-managed roads and infrastructure). Pakistan has 2 of the worlds top 10 peaks. There are a lot of such completely isolated and grand places in Pakistan. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about them. I have to make sure there are 3-5 days lost in a place like that. Mt. Rainier and Glacier are begining to seem like must-do.

Is the point about the thermal activity true? I shud drop Yellowstone if the highlight is thermal activity.

I am now looking for info on Trails now. Thats a very interesting idea.

I really appreciate your help. It is really narrowing it down for me. Thankx people.

For instance:
Mt. Shasta-
http://www.bloomingrosepress.com/ima...t%20shasta.jpg

Now this might sound stupid but when i was a kid I watched First Blood(Rambo)like 30-40 times. I remember the scenary from the movie and later discovered that it was filmed in Oregon, US. Although fascination iwth rambo died away but always thought Id go to Oregon someday.

Now here is what I am thinking now (u may think I am drifting too much but. I'll go to Seattle, rent a car and go in a loop which can covers the Northwest-most 5 states of the US (Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon)and I want to catch some of Highway 101/West Coast on the way back up from Oregon into Washington.

What cud be that loop be? Also have to identify trails in the area. Will appreciate suggestions. Sikki.

sikki - Yellowstone incredible, including it's mountains too so I don't think you should rule it out. While the entire area is a caldera and signs of thermal activity are everywhere, there is a lot of backcountry area, gorgeous mountains, incredible diversity of the area, etc. It's a "must do" park. You'll see incredible wildlife and scenery within one park that isn't comparable to any other location I've been to.

Um- I wouldn't say the "highlight" is thermal activity at Yellowstone. But I like National parks, period. If you want "breathtaking" places to ramble- definitely Glacier and Mt R! The pacific trail is also a really good idea. There's plenty of "breathtaking" places in the west, that aren't necessarily part of the parks (like Crater). So- more places, shallower see though- or 2 parks, where you can ramble and really "feel" the place. If you make to MR, and like waterfalls- Snoqualmie falls is pretty cool.

Ok. So Yellowstone must be included in the loop. Suggest places in Idaho and Oregon for the turn around from Yellowstone towards Seattle?

Ahhh...Npurple, beat me to the yellowstone remark! But what she said:)

As for this-
"I'll go to Seattle, rent a car and go in a loop which can covers the Northwest-most 5 states of the US (Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon)and I want to catch some of Highway 101/West Coast on the way back up from Oregon into Washington."

Uhhh...that's A LOT of driving. Where are you from? If you take the suggested route- it's mostly 2 lane highway, sometimes not very good two lane. And those states are actually a lot bigger than they look on the map.

The parks themselves are huge! How much time do you have??

But if you do that (or at least attempt it) The Oregon scenery you saw on TV as a kid was probably W. OR, or the Columbia River Gorge. You can skip most of Idaho- the gorgeous parts are mostly in Northern Idaho- lakes, trees, etc. Roads and scenery get much worse in the south. West of the Cascades in Washington, you'll like most (Mountains, lush greenery).
Montana and WY are a lot of driving, not really sure what route to take there.

In WA, the Olympic pen is gorgeous.

In Oregon- if you do nothing else- stop at Cannon Beach and see Haystack Rock (up close and at the view point)

Hwy 101 is definitely can't miss- actually, that's separate vacation by itself.

Seriously, I'd stick with your original plan if this will be your first time in the NW. That way you'll really get to experience 2 of the NP's!

Either way, best of luck....

Oh- Idaho- anywhere in the far north. Couer d'lane lake (sure that's not correct sp.) is great.

Moosey, he's in Pakistan.

I now know that i will be arriving in chicago and the other extreme that I will visit in the first 15 days is Seattle. In these fifteen days I need to see Glacier and Mt. Raneir and maybe Yellostone + one 2-3 day trekk on the Pacific Crest Trail on the section between Mt. Ranair & Crator Lake.

Mapquest says i can be driving around 3000 miles or for 45 hours one-way if I go from Chicago to Seattle through Glacier NP and then do some WA travelling to Mt. Ranair and maybe look at some of the west cost. Maybe I should do a 2-3 day trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, drop off the car and pay drop-off charges in seattle and fly back to chicago.

Also need to know what i can do travelling from Illinois to Wyoming. Because thats a big stretch (600-700 miles)I have no activity or stop overs planned for. Whats in South Dakota?

Appreciate it. Sikki.

USVI National Park on St. John. The beaches are amazing.

-Bill

Sounds like a great plan! And unplanned stretches are the best times to see unexpected treasures....

Sikki, I only calculate 2000 miles from Chicago to Seattle. South Dakota is the home of Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills+ Deadwood.

Sikki

From Chicago, head north/west on I-90/94 to where they split off in Wisconsin. Then take I-90 west. There are things to do/see in Wisconsin/Minnesota, but nothing to compares to the national parks and mountains of the western U.S. When you hit South Dakota (which seems to take forever to cross), you'll have the option of visiting Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Wind Cave NP and Custer State Park, all of which are generally in the Rapid City area. A little ways into Wyoming is Devil's Tower National Monument.

sikki,

I don't know how to break this to you, but Rambo First Blood, was filmed in Hope, British Columbia...not Oregon.

http://www.airhighways.com/hope.htm

http://www.stormpages.com/firstblood/locations.html

http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regio...s/?townID=3360

Utahtea

Can you get a flight to start the journey further west than Chicago? Even starting in Montana would help cut out some driving time for you so you could focus on the areas you really want to get to.

Badlands NP in South Dakota is one of my favorite spots. It's fairly easy to get to off the highway too, if you are traveling. Definitely breathtaking to me- but not in a mountain-way necessarily. But VERY unique and vast. When I went there I just stood with my mouth open for a while. ;)

Very true. I should probably fly closer to Glacier or Yellowstone and then start on the road trip. Am looking into that.

Canada's Banff to Jasper area-my favorite though not in USA
Yosemite
Glacier
Grand Teton
Yellowstone

Sikki,

Can you possibly fly from Chicago to Seattle? The drive west from Chicago will be long ( as you know from Mapquest), and with the price of petrol, the cost of rental for the car, and lodging and meals, it may be cheaper (and much faster) to fly. The beautiful mountains you want to see---Mt. Rainier NP and Glacier NP are much closer to Seattle, and you could drive through another national park, North Cascades NP, "the Switzerland of America", on the way to or from Glacier and Yellowstone.

Unfortunately we do not have huts for hut-to-hut trekkng as they do in Austria and Switzerland. In the U.S., you either camp in a campground, or stay in a motel near the trails, and do day hikes from there, or you backpack, carrying everything on your back. In September, at least in Washington State (Rainier and the North Cascades), September is often the best weather, so the backpacking is great.

If you fly into Seattle, you could rent all the gear you need to either camp from your car, or backpack, from REI:
www.REI.com

That is, tent, sleeping bag, backpack, campstove, etc. There are very nice campgrounds in Mt. Rainier NP, the North Cascades, and in Glacier NP. This would be a better opportunity to meet people than stayingin motels.

Please take notice that there are grizzly bears in Glacier NP, and read and pay attention to the information that the park hands out about hiking in bear country. A person hiking alone is more vulnerable than people hiking in groups. This is not something you need to worry about in Rainier or the North Cascades, however.

There is a trail that goes all the way around Mr. Rainier, the Wonderland Trail. It takes about 2 weeks to hike the whole way, but there are many nice sections for a 3-day backpack trip.

I have read about the wonderland trail and thats a good opportunity.

Salt Lake City is perfect to fly into from chicago. Cheap flights and very accessible to the area i want to cover.

So now my route looks like;
- Fly from Chicago to SLC, UTAH
- Drive from SLC to Yellowstone/Grant Teton
- Yellowstone to Glacier
- Glacier to Seattle/Mt. Raneir (accomodate trekking)
- Seattle/Mt. Raneir to North Bend Oregon/West Cost
- Drive back across Oregon from North Bend/west coat to SLC (do crater lake on the way or whatever)

Thanks guys! in a matter of 2-3 days i have been able to narrow down from most of the western region of US to my current route. Sikki

You of the States are blessed with so many natural wonders. I cannot understand why you don't just enjoy what you have, instead of practicing the obcession with ranking things, .

Enjoy, and God bless America!

Utahtea! appreciate the info on first bloog. Now that you told me I do remember someone making that correction many years ago but my memory chose to discard this update. Memory is strange. Infact, i do remember the correction now but never really registered it. But the info wasnt discarded, only left at a non-active memory plane. Memory seems more like layers that we isolate ourselves in. :)

There seem to be a lot of people out there who "can't understand" anything.

In the last five minutes I've read that somebody can't understand (1) why anybody would want to rank anything and (2) why anybody would want to go to Las Vegas.

Are these people just too good for us, are they clueless, or what?

no, they just don't bother to read the whole thread, and it skewers things. Look at it this way, you didn't mention the US Virgin Islands, so you're to be commended.

Well just watched the travel channel and considering the Grand Teton was RATED #1 it would have to be the Grand Teton. And never heard of PAUL so have no clue about that one.

Paul National Park is the BEST!
It's the former homer of center square Paul Lynde,
But because the Federal Budget is in such sad shape from BushCo, it doesn't get enough Publicity.

Huh?

I thought this was about the best parks for Sikki, who will be traveling a long. . . way, to visit.