My name is Eric. I am 19 years old and have been to all of America's 63 National Parks. I have also earned Junior Ranger badges in all of these. For the last 8 years, I have traveled to these beautiful places, photographing everything I see. On this channel, I discuss my experiences in these national parks so you can learn about them! I recommend everybody visit these natural wonders, and feel free to ask me any questions you have about the parks.
I am fully aware it will now never happen, but one site that should have become a national park is Lake Tahoe, CA/NV. If any site deserved to be preserved, it is Lake Tahoe. Probably the last window to make Lake Tahoe a national park was in the Theodore Roosevelt administration. At that time the Lake Tahoe basin was still not extensively developed and lightly populated enough to make it feasible for the Federal government to obtain the land. Now, as is glaringly obvious to anyone who has visited the Lake Tahoe area, the lake area is way too developed.
I'm really looking foward to seeing the rest of the parks in the future. A little scuffed by the Smokys being so low, BUT that's probably just because of how much sentimental value I have in them from when I was a kid. I've never been to the western parks, but I'm planning a trip to Olympic next summer. Maybe my opinion on the Smokys will change a bit
And to follow up, I live only an hour from Cuyahoga and it is definitely a city park. Not entirely worth going to, unless you're already local. It's good for bikers and runners between Cleveland and Akron, and the ledges can be interesting, but definitely not "national park" level
I've only been to 20 of the parks. Yosemite, the two hawaii parks, grand teton, badlands, theordore roosevelt, acadia top my list. Haven't been to most of the "good" ones yet.
Bummed about the smokies rating, they are incredibly old mountains with a great history and eerie beauty. Not mention all the incredible critters you will see! One of the only rain forests on the east coast
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula is a top tier pick. So much variety in scenery and geology, from sand dunes to coves and cliffs, dozens of waterfalls and inland lakes, pine and birch forests, it has it all.
I too was surprised with your ranking of the Great Smokey mountains national park. Since I live in Georgia , I have visited this park many times in my life and have enjoyed each visit . I have also visited around 20 other parks more recently especially out west and have enjoyed your discussion . I believe you need to return to the Great smokies NP and visit Cades Cove there and take one of the many hiking trails and then re-evaluate
Lived across the river from St. Louis my whole life and I’ve only been to the arch like 3 times. They do have a good fireworks display for July 4th on the riverfront, but good luck parking any closer than like 3 miles away. St. Louis just isn’t a pretty enough city for the Arch to be anything special
Of the ones I have visited: 1- Yosemite S 2- Mt Rainier S 3- Grand Canyon A 4- Sequoia/King Canyon A 5- Badlands A 6- Redwoods A 7- North Cascades A 8- Carlsbad Caverns B 9- Olympic B 10- Rocky Mountains B 11- White Sands D Wow, I just realized that I've been to eleven.
I will never understand how anyone can enjoy big bed over any of the Utah parks or the Grand Canyon. The only real benefit is the lack of crowds but I thinks that for a reason. It objectively isnt as beautiful as the Utah/Arizona parks.
@@NationalParkWild to a certain extent yes, but there are also trends that can be analyzed to see what is objectively beautiful to the masses. While park attendance isn’t the best way to measure it, it certainly can give you a glimpse into what a large group thinks is beautiful. As someone who has lived in the west my entire life including only a few minutes away from Zion for 30 years, big bend is very bland compared to so much of the desert scenery we have in the southwest, though it is indeed beautiful.
@@NationalParkWild the funny thing is that I very much agree with almost all your rankings. I now live just a short drive from glacier NP and it’s my all time favorite just ahead of Zion. I’ve seen just about all of them out west save for the Alaska parks and my lists almost always align perfectly with yours. Big bend is really the only one that I just don’t get. Im happy you enjoy it and hopefully your videos convince other folks to go there and experience it and maybe fall in love with it like you did.
Grandfather Mountain State Park + Linville Gorge and that entire Blue Ridge Parkway section in NC is also stupid beautiful and deserves NP status if they wanted another Eastern US national park, but the question comes back to whether it is different enough from Smoky Mountains or Shenandoah National Parks.
I live on the east coast and I’ve never been to a national park before, hell I’ve actually never really left the east coast. I’m planning on flying out to one of the major national parks but haven’t decided which one. I’m looking to stay/lodge in or very close to the park itself if possible.
Indiana dunes has a larger variety of plants and animals than the entirety of Hawaii. “Little bit of wild life” “lacking in nature area” lol what are you on about
I was more referring to the fact that there is a great amount of developed area in comparison to many other national parks. For example, there’s a steel mill right next to a popular area of the park.
Thanks for watching! This is my first research-based video so I’m open to any additional information or constructive criticism. I aim to improve this format for future videos, but I hope this was a good, educational start.
Though I haven’t been to anywhere near as many parks, we largely agree about the ones I’ve been to. I hadn’t ever considered Big Bend NP, thanks for putting it on my radar!
