Happy birthday, National Parks! The US National Park Service (NPS) is celebrating its centennial today! To celebrate along with them, we’ve been working on a whole series on our National Parks. We started with the Top Ten National Parks to visit based on number of visitors, and now we’re pleased to share our favorite of the lesser known National Parks. We hope this inspires you to get outdoors and plan a trip to see a new park!
After hitting Miami, one of the highlights of our most recent trip was visiting two national parks in Florida! We went to Dry Tortguas National Park as a day trip from Key West, and it was easily our favorite excursion of the entire vacation. Then we also explored part of the Everglades, another amazing national park in Florida. Everglades is a vast park so we were already talking about our next visit via another entrance.
One of my favorite places to visit in the US is anywhere in the National Park System! There are 58 National Parks, 10 Seashores, 4 Parkways, 78 Monuments, 78 Historic Sites, 25 Battlefields, and 49 Historical Parks. In case you’re curious like I was, a national historical park differs from the rest because it is an area of historic and natural features with more than a single property or building. I’ve been to two such parks and highly recommend both of them!
After attending the amazing Balloon Fiesta, we took a day trip out to Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Albuquerque and is quite remote. Once you turn off the main highway, there is a 13 mile stretch of unpaved road that you drive on before arriving at the entrance to the park. We first learned about Chaco Culture from a family member who visited during a business trip to New Mexico, and we were amazed by his pictures. While researching more about the history of Chaco Culture, I kept finding it on lists of important ruins with the likes of Tikal, Petra, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and more! Done! We’re going there!
About the history…Chaco Canyon was home to Pueblo people from 850 to 1250 and was the center of Chacoan culture in the San Juan Basin. They constructed great stone houses using masonry with hundreds of rooms. It is an amazing site to see because of its architecture, planned construction, and community organization. It is thought that the canyon held a relatively small permanent population with most of its infrastructure in existence for people who came for special events (ceremonial, commerce, trading). Today many Southwest Native American people consider Chaco to be a sacred place.
During the drive to the site, we passed cattle grazing, old windmills, and abandoned structures. In certain times of the year there can be flooding, so it’s important to check weather conditions. We stopped by the Visitor’s Center to pay our entrance fee and get a park map. The nine-mile Canyon Loop drive takes you by the six major sites. The first one we stopped at was the unexcavated Hungo Pavi, followed by Pueblo Bonito, and last, Casa Rinconada. Each stop has self-guided trail brochures which contain a ton of great information so you understand the history of the sites. Some of the common architectural features include the circular kivas which were rooms used for religious ceremonies. Pueblo Bonito is absolutely not to be missed because it was the center of the complex, the largest great house, has been excavated, and is the most researched. The masonry of the site is so impressive! The Great Kiva at Casa Rinconada is much larger and deeper than the regular kivas and is pretty amazing to see.
The park is one of only 4 sites in the NPS with the Dark Sky distinction and I would love to go back to camp and stargaze!
If you’re planning a trip to the Big Island, on the way to or from Kona and Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, consider a stop at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. Another name for this historical park is City of Refuge because until 1819 defeated warriors during war times or Hawaiians who broke a taboo could flee death by coming to this place of refuge. Once inside the great walls of the refuge, no harm would come their way, and a priest would absolve the person in a purification ceremony. It was also the royal grounds of the chief of Kona. The complex contains archeological sites including temples and well preserved carved wooden images. The main site of Hale o Keawe, contains the bones of the chiefs that help make the site sacred and is surrounded by the largest concentration of wooden carvings in the site. You can also play a traditional game that’s like checkers/chess and watch various cultural demonstrations! One of the many reasons I love Hawaii is for its history and culture which come alive while visiting sites like this one. The area is also known for excellent diving and snorkeling if you’re looking for places to enjoy those activities. Fun fact: this site makes up the background in the Where in the World is Carmen San Diego game when in Hawaii.
Have you been to any national historical parks? Tell us about it in the comments below! Let us know about any other parks you’ve been to as well.
We’ve linked up with Weekend Wanderlust,
The Weekly Postcard, and Weekend Travel Inspiration!
As our dedicated readers have realized by now, I am quite enamored with the National Parks of the US. In fact I have a goal to visit them all! If you missed it, there was an earlier post on National Parks and Seashores of the East as well as Camping Out West. To celebrate the 99th birthday of the National Park Service (can’t wait for the 100th), I’m bringing you more inspiration about a couple of National Parks of the West. Our country is so beautiful so hopefully this post inspires you to add at least one more park to your list.
Joshua Tree National Park wasn’t really on my radar until last year when my husband and I were deciding where to travel on a long weekend trip. It’s only a two hour drive from LA and 45 minutes from Palm Springs, but you feel like you’re a world away from civilization once you get out in the desert. Joshua Trees are so named because they reminded early Mormon settlers of the prophet, with their branches raised heavenward. You’ll also see yuccas and ocotillos in this meeting place of the Mojave and Sonora deserts. We entered the park via the Southern entrance at Cottonwood Visitor Center and were instantly amazed by the vast desert scenes along the stretch we first drove. Our first stop at Cholla Cactus Garden introduced us to cholla, which look like you’d want to hug them, but don’t try!
Most of the scenic stops are concentrated on Park Boulevard and include Jumbo Rocks, Keys View, and the one-mile Hidden Valley loop trail. There’s plenty to do including hiking, biking, and rock climbing. Don’t miss the short Skull Rock Trail near Jumbo Rocks, where you’ll see the famous rock that looks like a skull, or the sunset, which is pretty spectacular in the desert. Make sure you plan your visit during the cooler period (October-May) and bring lots of water since it’s the desert, and cell phone signal is hard to come by.
My husband and I honeymooned in Hawaii in October 2013, and one of the main reasons I chose the Big Island over Kauai was a desire to go see a volcano! Because of the government shutdown, it was touch and go for a while as to whether the park would be open during our stay, so you can imagine my immense relief when it reopened! It absolutely did not disappoint. I loved seeing the fumes from the lava during the day, but the highlight was to see the lava glow from the vent within Halema’uma’u Crater at night from the Jaggar Museum. Driving Crater Rim and Chain of Craters roads through the park allows you to see all the different scenery available in the park- from the caldera to the desert and more.
My favorite activity was hiking the 4 mile Kīlauea Iki loop trail which takes you through a rain forest and then onto the crater floor where you find a lava lake, steam vents, cinder and spatter cones. Many people do the national park as a day trip from Kona, Hilo or elsewhere on the island but we really enjoyed our stay in the town of Volcano, and because of the weather (lots of rain), it afforded us the opportunity to enter the park multiple times.
Which of the two parks in today’s post sound most interesting to you? Any recommendations on which national park of the West I should visit next?
We were blown away by this photo of the Eureka Dunes in Death Valley by our seriously talented friend Aaron! Don’t you just love the contrast of the brilliant blue sky against the dunes? We can’t stop staring at this gorgeous scene! ©Aaron Perez
