Your favorite US Park, and why...
 

Hello all,

Contemplating a US Park vacation next summer. My friend is a photographer and he wants to photograph more of the US and asked me to accompany him. We haven't picked a place yet - this would likely be in mid-June for two weeks or so.

Just starting the search now. Denali looks beautiful, Yellowstone looks great, Rocky Mountain National Park does too, but I am sure there are many many others out west that would be wonderful.

any favorites? Especially in mid-late June - I think that leaves out anything too far south - no way could I handle Arizona heat in the summertime for instance (I'll leave Sedona etc for winter time!)

State parks feedback would be great too, they don't have to be federal parks.

any thoughts appreciated. thank you!

Yosemite!! I loved the dramatic cliffs and the falls. I haven't been to Denali, but our relatives in AK tell us that Mt. McKinley is usually hidden by a cloud. I haven't been to Rocky Mountain National Park, but I have been to Yellowstone. I have nothing negative to say about Yellowstone, it's a terrific park also. But I thought Yosemite was the prettiest scenery I've seen in the US.

Are you the back-country types? My concerns about Yellowstone, and probably many other popular parks, would be the crowds in mid to late June.

If you'd consider getting off the beaten path, I'd recommend Yosemite. My husband and I were there this last June. Yosemite Valley was packed during the day, but really thinned out in the mornings and evenings. We backpacked for a couple days and encountered almost no one on the trails - but still got all of the amazing views! Great opportunities for a photographer. (But don't make the same mistake we did - we were always hiking into the sun which makes it quite difficult to take great pictures!)

We have visited the major parks in the US and beside the fact that they're all nice I would go for Yosemite and Glacier nat. park.We always traveled in Sept/October. Also the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce are wonderful. In that region you would have 3 parks all close together.Paul

With two weeks to spend, you can certainly cover more than one park.
Yellowstone, the Grand Teton and Glacier would be a great choice that can be covered in that period.

Yosemite was actually one of the places he mentioned! I'll look into that too.

any recos on places to stay while there? I told him I'm not reallllly all that interested in camping, a day or two here and there maybe but not the whole time. gotta have showers and a soft bed. and no wee beasties in the middle of the night - bug bites are not my idea of fun.

thanks again - I'll look into those as well.

Yosemite had my vote for most beautiful national park until I visited Glacier. Now that's #1. We went back for a week in Aug. and it's hard to beat for stunning scenery and great hiking. You won't go wrong with Yosemite, though. So many great choices...

Grand Tetons is another. Beautiful scenery.

Yosemite is just so awe inspiring. There are so many gorgeous areas nearby. Lake Tahoe, the foothills of California, the redwoods. Even the California coast isn't that far away.

My vote would go to Wrangell-St Elias Natl Park in southcentral Alaska. It is spectacular and has the added benefit that almost all of the surrounding areas are world-class photo opportunities.

Of the 48 national parks I've been to in the U.S. and Canada, my three favorites are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. All three have marvelous opportunities for photography. I once said that Yosemite Valley is one place where it's impossible to take a bad phot, and that's not far from the truth.

All three will have crowds at that time, and the Canyon might be a bit warm. But as already noted (and I'm sure you're aware) walking for ten minutes will take you away from crowds at just about any natural wonder.

As also noted, two weeks for Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier will give you more scenery than you could handle. That'd be my recommendation.

Denali's wonder ISN'T the mountain (it's obscured by clouds two days out of three), it's the easy access to wilderness and truly wild animals. If spectacular scenery is main your goal, I can't recommend Denali over other places.

My vote goes to Rocky Mountain NP with Glacier as the second choice. I've been to Yosemite, and it is lovely; but the gorgeous, continuing beauty of RMNP causes me practically to swoon.

depends on the type of pics your friend wants to get. the contrast of blue skies and sandstone of the utah parks make some pretty spectacular photos. you don't see scenery like it in too many places in the world.

for wildlife tho, it would probably be either yellowstone or denali.

denali in the summer could be full of mosquitos though. hard to stand still and take a picture!

Mid june for some of the high country parks, may still have a lot of snow off the beaten path and you may not be able to hike to something you want to see. I was unable to get to some places in yosemite at that time of year, but the valley was fine.

same would be for glacier although IMHO the scenery there is drop dead gorgeous compared to yosemite or yellowstone or rockymountain.

You should do some google searches to get a feel for the type of place you want to go.

photogenic parks (IMHO): arches national park, glacier national park, yellowstone (because of it's variety)

honerable mention: yosemite, denali (good wildlife but everything is so big the pics don't do the rest justice!) craterlake, olympic, grand canyon (if it's clear).

..Just returned and vote for Glacier National Park @ Montana...the "Going to the Sun Road" was amazing..you can go from warm areas with falls to 3 feet of snow at Loagn Point over 6000 feet in just a short time.

If you are planning on visiting more than a couple of national parks during your visit, it may be cheaper for you to purchase a National Park Pass ($50) good for a calendar year. Is is good at any park that charges an entrance fee. Can purchase it at your first park. You can get information including entrance fees on any park by logging onto www.nps.gov and clicking on parks and recreation.
If you decide on visiting Yellowstone you might want to check out Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge www.r6fws.gov/redrocks/. Good area to see trumpter swans and moose.

We've been to most of the major parks, tough decision which one is best. Yellowstone/ Tetons are my favorites, then Yosemite. Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain and Glacier are both outstanding but not as much to see and do.