A Hat Tip to the NPS Centennial
Today marks the centennial of the National Park Service, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've looked forward to this day all year. As a rather big fan of the NPS, I've visited about 20 new sites this year, some big and many smaller ones. I learned or greatly enjoyed something at every single location. Since I have posted a few other lists here, I thought it might be interesting to do the same for the parks I've visited to date: Alphabetically by state, here goes...
That's 107 of the current 413 places in the NPS system (and 31 of the 59 National Parks). The most recent check-in was made this morning in honor of the Centennial, at the Martin Van Buren NHS which is about 80 minutes north of me. I've made a point of trying to visit as many of the fairly easily reachable ones as I can this year, and set this particular site aside early on, noting that I could go in the morning and then double back to the Dutchess County Fair in the afternoon.
No, I don't ever see myself hitting every one of them, nor even half of them. What I will do, though, is look more carefully at maps when planning trips. I've missed easy chances to visit a number of NPS sites simply from ignorance or poor planning. Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, Brices Cross Roads NBS in Mississippi and most recently White Sands NM in New Mexico stand out as places I wish I would have managed to see when traveling nearby. However, I have had the good fortune of making side excursions to a number of gems with a bit of good planning or on-the-fly rerouting.
Still, a simple scroll up and down this list and I know I'm rather fortunate to see what I have seen, and very much look forward to seeing more of our nicely preserved places in the future. In fact, there could be another 5-10 parks on this list before the end of the year.
Oh, and that National Park Passport I bought last year? Yeah, it's gotten a good workout!
Happy Centennial to the NPS!
| Denali NP | AK |
| Kenai Fjords NP | AK |
| Fort Smith NHS | AR |
| Hot Springs NP | AR |
| Pea Ridge NMP | AR |
| Grand Canyon NP | AZ |
| Lake Mead NRA | AZ |
| Petrified Forest NP | AZ |
| Death Valley NP | CA |
| Golden Gate NRA | CA |
| Lassen Volcanic NP | CA |
| Lava Beds NM | CA |
| Redwood Forest NP | CA |
| San Francisco Maritime NHP | CA |
| Whiskeytown NRP | CA |
| Yosemite NP | CA |
| Colorado NM | CO |
| Mesa Verde NP | CO |
| Rocky Mountain NP | CO |
| Weir Farm NHS | CT |
| Korean War Veterans Memorial | DC |
| Lincoln Memorial | DC |
| National Mall | DC |
| Thomas Jefferson Memorial | DC |
| Washington Monument | DC |
| Word War II Memorial | DC |
| World War I Memorial | DC |
| Canaveral NM | FL |
| Chickamauga and Chattanooga NMP | GA |
| Martin Luther King NHS | GA |
| WW II Valor in the Pacific NM | HI |
| Haleakala NP | HI |
| Hawaiian Volcanoes NP | HI |
| New Orleans Jazz NHP | LA |
| Antietam NB | MD |
| Acadia NP | ME |
| Jefferson Expansion NM | MO |
| Natchez Trace NST | MS |
| Tupelo NB | MS |
| Vicksburg NMP | MS |
| Glacier NP | MT |
| Little Bighorn Battlefield NM | MT |
| Blue Ridge Pwky | NC |
| Cape Hatteras NS | NC |
| Wright Brothers NM | NC |
| Great Basin NP | NV |
| Morristown (Washington HQ) NHP | NJ |
| Paterson Great Falls NHP | NJ |
| Thomas Editson NHS | NJ |
| Carlsbad Caverns NP | NM |
| Pecos NHP | NM |
| Petroglyph NM | NM |
| Clinton Castle NHS | NY |
| Eleanor Roosevelt NHS | NY |
| Fire Island NHS | NY |
| General Grant NM | NY |
| Hamilton Grange NM | NY |
| Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt NHS | NY |
| Martin Van Buren NHS | NY |
| Sagamore Hill NHS | NY |
| Saratoga NHS | NY |
| Statue of Liberty NM | NY |
| Theodore Roosevelt NHS | NY |
| Vanderbilt Mansion NHS | NY |
| Women's Right NHP | NY |
| Crater Lake NP | OR |
| Alleghany Portage NHS | PA |
| Gettysburg NMP | PA |
| Independence NHP | PA |
| Steamtown NHS | PA |
| Valley Forge NHS | PA |
| Fort Sumter NM | SC |
| Badlands NP | SD |
| Mount Rushmore NM | SD |
| Fort Donelson NB | TN |
| Great Smoky Mountains NP | TN |
| Shilo NMP | TN |
| Big Bend NP | TX |
| Fort Davis NHS | TX |
| Guadalope Mountains NP | TX |
| Lyndon B Johnson NHS | TX |
| San Antonio Missions NHS | TX |
| Waco Mammoth NM | TX |
| Arches NP | UT |
| Bryce Canyon NP | UT |
| Canyonlands NP | UT |
| Capitol Reef NP | UT |
| Cedar Breaks NM | UT |
| Glen Canyon NRA | UT |
| Natural Bridge NM | UT |
| Rainbow Bridge NM | UT |
| Zion NP | UT |
| Appomattox Court House NHP | VA |
| Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP | VA |
| George washington NMPkwy | VA |
| Manassas NBP | VA |
| Petersburg NBP | VA |
| Richmond NBP | VA |
| Shenandoah NP | VA |
| March-Billings-Rockefeller NHS | VT |
| North Cascades NP | WA |
| San Juan Islands NHP | WA |
| Harpers Ferry NHP | WV |
| New River Gorge NR | WV |
| Grand Tetons NP | WY |
| John D Rockerfeller MPkwy | WY |
| Yellowstone NP | WY |
That's 107 of the current 413 places in the NPS system (and 31 of the 59 National Parks). The most recent check-in was made this morning in honor of the Centennial, at the Martin Van Buren NHS which is about 80 minutes north of me. I've made a point of trying to visit as many of the fairly easily reachable ones as I can this year, and set this particular site aside early on, noting that I could go in the morning and then double back to the Dutchess County Fair in the afternoon.
No, I don't ever see myself hitting every one of them, nor even half of them. What I will do, though, is look more carefully at maps when planning trips. I've missed easy chances to visit a number of NPS sites simply from ignorance or poor planning. Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, Brices Cross Roads NBS in Mississippi and most recently White Sands NM in New Mexico stand out as places I wish I would have managed to see when traveling nearby. However, I have had the good fortune of making side excursions to a number of gems with a bit of good planning or on-the-fly rerouting.
Still, a simple scroll up and down this list and I know I'm rather fortunate to see what I have seen, and very much look forward to seeing more of our nicely preserved places in the future. In fact, there could be another 5-10 parks on this list before the end of the year.
Oh, and that National Park Passport I bought last year? Yeah, it's gotten a good workout!
Happy Centennial to the NPS!
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