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Reader Participation Day: If Cost Were No Object, Which National Park Would You Visit?

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If cost weren't an issue, would you head to Crystal Lake in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve? Photo copyright QT Luoug, www.terragalleria.com/parks, used with permission.

We all harbor pipe dreams, ambitions that are so far out there they can best be described as dreams. With 392 units in the National Park System, it certainly can be considered a pipe dream to visit each one. But let's turn dreams to realities. If you could visit only one, which would it be?

That's right. If someone were willing to pay all your expenses, which unit of the National Park System would you choose to visit? I've long had a trip to Alaska on my to-do list, with a visit to either Wrangell-St. Elias or Lake Clark national parks. But then, visiting Hawaii Volcanoes would be nice, too, as would a canoe trip in Voyageurs National Park.

So, where would you head and why?

Comments

Decisions - Decisions. As much as I would like to say Hawaii, I think that Denali would be my choice. The splendor of seeing the mountain and it's wildlife are overpowering. Although a trip to Hawaii's Volcano National Park would give me a glimpse at what Mother Nature might be building, seeing what she all ready made seems more attractive.


It would be serious, in-depth tours of all of Alaska's parks. Maybe a month or two off and spend a solid week minimum in each major park and multiple days in the smaller ones.


Wow, so many parks; so little time to do them all justice. And each one with it's own intrinsic beauty and character. I intend to visit as many as I possibly can. So, with that in mind, I think I'd like to visit the Hawaii Volcanoes.


I've been to 99 different national park units (according to the PBS national park widget [g]), including some of the ones in Alaska. But my favorites are still Mt. Rainier (practically in my backyard) and Yellowstone (which I've been to eight times in the last 10 years).


Well I've done Hawai'i, and the Alaska parks are my first inclination but instead I'm going to say Dry Tortugas! Gotta mix it up a little bit.


I like your style, ranger!


I'll have to go with the majority here and throw my vote in for Gates of the Arctic. American Samoa would be my second choice, but the costs could be defrayed by the Home Stay program, which is to me the best reason for visiting. Third choice would be Theodore Roosevelt National Park, only because it's so far removed from anything else in the National Park system. If you go there, you definitely plan on going *there*.

However, after seeing the Ken Burns documentary, I'm *dying* to go rafting through Dinosaur National Monument. Can someone pay my way? Thanks. :-)

P.S. Off the subject, but just what the heck is Great Falls? Is it actually a new National Park, or simply a "Park" as it's listed on the NPS website? I don't know of anyplace else in the system that is just a "Park," as opposed to a National Park, National Historical Park and/or Site, etc. I'm confused.


I have been to every national park unit in Alaska and a lesser number in the Lower 48 and Hawaii. All have something special that makes them memorable. However, if I had to choose one it would be Katmai National Park and Preserve in southwestern Alaska. No other park equals it in terms of a dramatic combination of dramatic mega fauna, volcanism, spawning ground for billions of anadromous fish, pure wilderness and major cultural sites. It is not a convenient park to visit, but there is none other so rewarding of those who make the effort to see and experience it.


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