Reader Participation Day: Tell Us Your "Dream" National Park Vacation

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on July 1, 2009 - 1:40am

Does your "dream" national park vacation include relaxing on a beach at Virgin Islands National Park? NPT file photo.

News this week was that a survey of Americans on their 2009 vacation plans showed that two-thirds consider a national park visit to be their "dream" vacation.

So tell us, what's your dream national park vacation?

Is it a climb to the top of Grand Teton National Park or perhaps to the top of Mount Rainier National Park? Would it revolve around a visit to Gettysburg National Military Park or Valley Forge National Historical Park?

Do you want to see Old Faithful erupt under a full moon at Yellowstone National Park, tour Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, or dive on the coral reefs in Virgin Islands National Park?

So many parks, so many options. Tell us, what would your dream park vacation?

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 1, 2009 - 6:40am.

To buy an R.V. and travel around the U.S. for a month or two stopping at as many parks as I could along the way!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 1, 2009 - 7:10am.

Any National Park in Alaska. I would love to see bears, calving glaciers, whales, and all the incredible beautiful scenery! However, Great Smoky Mountains and North Cascades are very high on my list as well.

Submitted by Marta G (not verified) on July 1, 2009 - 7:29am.

I'm on it right now. Sketching in 6 national parks in 2 weeks through Utah. Colorado, and Arizoma. Posting along the way via iPhone so friends can travel virtually with me.

Submitted by MRC (not verified) on July 1, 2009 - 9:09am.

I already had a number "dream vacations" in National Parks. Be it three weeks on the Colorado Plateau with all the diversity from hiking down to the Colorado in Grand Canyon and to the more remote spectacular arches in Arches NP to Native American culture from Basketmaker and Anasazi to Navajo and Hopi. Another memorable region was the Rocky Mountains, from the Wasatch Range to Yellowstone, from Glacier to the Canadian parks Banff and Jasper with a multi day hike on the tree line in Jasper. I've seen almost all landscapes of California (and most of Oregon) and spent some time in the Pacific northwest (including the Vancouver/Vancouver island area).

I'd love to explore the prairies, maybe three days on horseback in Badlands or Theodore Roosevelt NP plus canoeing on the Missouri River in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument (BLM, not NPS)? Alternatives are Alaska or the Everglades.

The total opposition to a nature oriented trip would be a vacation to learn about the prehistoric Native American cultures of the eastern US: From Poverty Point NM over the American bottom and Cahokia to "Hopewell land" in Ohio to the Effigy Mounds of Wisconsin and adjacent areas.

Or - just to get away from it all - five to ten days in the backcountry. Maybe in a Wilderness Area in Colorado.

Submitted by Will (not verified) on July 1, 2009 - 9:19am.

We took our dream national park vacation last year. Starting out from our home in Mt. Pleasant, SC, we drove to Carlsbad, NM for a day in Carlsbad Caverns. A truly out of this world experience. Then on to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. From Santa Fe to Flagstaff, AZ passing through Gallup, NM (the City of Murals) and the Painted Desert. We stayed in Flagstaff for several days using it as a base for trips to Sunset Crater, Canyon de Chelly, Walnut Canyon, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Wupatki National Forest, and the Grand Canyon.

From Flagstaff we set off for the California portion of our trip which included visits to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia National Forest, the Monterey Aquarium, cannery row, Big Sur, and Napa Valley. From San Fransisco we made the long drive to Jackson Hole, WY where we spent a week in the Grand Tetons, toured Yellowstone, went white water rafting and enjoyed the abundant wild life up close and personal. Although difficult to move on, we made the drive down to Moab, Utah, a true Mecca for "gear heads". Using Moab for a base we visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands.

By the time we arrived home at the end of our six week journey, we had driven 9,000 miles in our van, shot over 1,500 digital photos and used our "Senior" national park pass to enter 16 national parks--some several times. Ain't good health and retirement great!!

Submitted by Terry on July 1, 2009 - 1:31pm.

We just returned from our springtime road trip out west. We stayed at the North Rim, Zion, and Bryce. Visited Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase Escalante, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Arches. We were out 3 weeks and 5500 miles. Great hikes through amazing country. It was a great trip and the scenery was stunning and I would love to do it all over again, but I've got to tell you, we have reservations for a week at Cinnamon Bay campground for January in the Virgin Islands National Park (see above pic) and right now that is my 'dream' vacation. How can you beat having the beach as your front yard and the Carib as your swimming pool? I agree with Will. Ah, life is good.

Submitted by Frank_C on July 1, 2009 - 5:08pm.

But what about all the CO2 these RVs and cars produce?

I am going green and staying home this summer. I wouldn't want to kill any wildlife on my drive through a national park, not even a squirrel.

These dream vacations lead to global warming (according to the "consensus") and wildlife destruction.

You should stay home too.

That should be a law. To protect the planet. And wildlife.

Submitted by Beamis on July 1, 2009 - 5:20pm.

Frank's comments reminded me of the passage in my park service novelette where the environmental education outreach ranger tells her group of elementary school students that “the national parks are for all of us to avoid, so that they can be preserved for future generations of the hopefully unborn.”

Submitted by Ted Clayton on July 1, 2009 - 7:45pm.

Frank C, Beamis - c'mon, now!

The invitation is to dream-up your "dream" vacation.

Here's a brief example to set the tone.

Fly to the last airport. Drive to the end of the road. Put in at the furthest river and float for 3 days past the last sign of Man. Pick a nice medium-bank meadow by the river and build a 3-sided shelter. Line a pole bunk with balsam fir boughs.

Put a fish-trap in the river, and lash-up a drying rack. Erect a cache, and dig a cooler/cellar. Take medium game and cure the hides.

Once secure & comfy, begin taking radial outings to find other sojourners. Maybe a village. Mark the far corners of your homestead with rock cairns. Make them artistic/whimsical. Find out where the spring rendevous takes place.

When feeling at-ease and pacing at your natural rythm, but before boredom and nostalgia for the techno-world sets in, activate the Holodeck exit routine. Put on a fresh suit and return to your appointed place in mass-civilization.

See? That's not so hard, is it? We're talking "dream", right?

Well, my advice is, don't dream little. :-)

P.S. No, I didn't overlook the "Park" part. Are today's parks the same as yesteryears'? Are 'living' Parks inconceivable, or even unknown? In the great trans-Europe Park of tomorrow, will whole generations not live & pass in naturalistic lifestyles? Are Europeans that much smarter than we are? Is Nunavut a Province, or a Park?

Submitted by Ray Bane on July 2, 2009 - 4:47pm.

My dream trip would be to repeat the bicycle trip I did a few years ago across southern Utah taking in Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Escalante, and Capitol Reef. It would be nice to extend the route to include Arches, Moab and, possibly, Lake Mead. Love that red rock country.

Submitted by Bob (not verified) on July 2, 2009 - 7:07pm.

A dream vacation:
When I was much younger my family would take summer trips to Yellowstone NP. This was back in the days when feeding bears along the sides of the road was allowed. We have many family photos with bears pocking their heads through the window of the car to see what we had to offer. Now the bears have been moved away from people for both the bears and tourists betterment. I remember my first sight of the Old Faithful Lodge with that huge fireplace blazing away. The smell of the gift shop and that little black stuffed bear I got. That's my dream vacation with family.

The new Yellowstone has been turned over to foreign companies to run the park for a profit. Turning over the parks to vendors was the death of our first and greatest national park. I'm sorry to say that I will not be able to take my grand kids to my favorite national park because it is gone.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 3, 2009 - 11:33am.

National Park of American Samoa would be a cool trip...beaches, South Pacific coral reefs, Samoan hospitality....

Submitted by John Gray (not verified) on July 4, 2009 - 2:28pm.

Mine would be to take a driving journey through the Rocky Mountains & adjacent parks. I would begin at Mesa Verde (or one could start at Grand Canyon and include Monument Valley) then go through Canyonlands and Arches. Then I would go through Colorado National Monument then up to Dinosaur National Monument. From there I would travel US 40 to Colorado 14 and over Cameron Pass then down into Estes Park and into and through Rocky Mountain National Park. From the Western Side of Rocky Mountain, I would go up to Grand Teton through Dubois. After spending time also in Jackson WY, I would go up to Yellowstone (spending at least 5 days there) and then up to Glacier/Waterton. One could also continue north to the Baniff/Lake Louise area. To do this trip justice, it would require at least a month and you would usually need several days at most parks. However, you would see some of the most beautiful scenery and diversity (as well as a plethora of animals - raptors [Bald & Golden Eagles plus numerous Hawks & Owls), mammal preditors (Wolves, Grizzly and Black Bear, Coyotes, Fox, Badger, Marten among others) and ungulates (Mule and White Tail Deer, Elk, Pronghorn, Moose, Moutain Goat & Sheep and Bison) as well as many, many birds, and small animals) that the National Park System can provide in the Western US.