With my other measures of my travel (countries and UNESCO World Heritage sites) I realized that even though I have been to almost all the US states (I think North Dakota and Hawaii are the only ones I have never been in) there are other great measures of my travel — US National Parks. So here is a list of all the parks along with when I was there (many are estimates).
- Acadia, Maine
- American Samoa
- Arches, Utah in 1988
- Badlands, South Dakota in 1996
- Big Bend, Texas
- Biscayne, Florida
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado
- Bryce Canyon, Utah in 1988
- Canyonlands, Utah in 1999
- Capitol Reef, Utah
- Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
- Channel Islands, California
- Congaree, South Carolina
- Crater Lake, Oregon
- Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio
- Death Valley, California/Nevada
- Denali, Alaska in 1994, 2015
- Dry Tortugas, Florida
- Everglades, Florida
- Gates of the Arctic, Alaska
- Glacier, Montana in 1996
- Glacier Bay, Alaska
- Grand Canyon, Arizona in 1988, 1998, 2008
- Grand Teton, Wyoming in 1988, 1998, 2016
- Great Basin, Nevada
- Great Sand Dunes, Colorado
- Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, North Carolina
- Guadalupe Mountains, Texas
- Haleakalā, Hawaii
- Hawaii Volcanoes, Hawaii
- Hot Springs, Arkansas
- Isle Royale, Michigan
- Joshua Tree, California in 2004, 2011
- Katmai, Alaska
- Kenai Fjords, Alaska in 1994
- Kings Canyon, California
- Kobuk Valley, Alaska
- Lake Clark, Alaska
- Lassen Volcanic, California
- Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
- Mesa Verde, Colorado
- Mount Ranier, Washington in 1994, 2017
- North Cascades, Washington in 2017
- Olympic, Washington in 2017
- Petrified Forest, Arizona 1988
- Pinnacles, California
- Redwood, California in 1998
- Rocky Mountain, Colorado in 2006
- Saguaro, Arizona
- Sequoia, California
- Shenandoah, Virginia
- Theodore Roosevelt, North Dakota
- Virgin Islands
- Yoyageurs, Minnesota
- Wind Cave, South Dakota
- Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska in 1994
- Yellowstone, Wyoming, in 1988, 1998, 2017
- Yosemite, California
- Zion, Utah in 1988
That’s 17 out of the 62, just over a quarter of the nation’s National Parks. New goal: add at least one new park each summer we’re back. Looks like Florida and California should be in our plans!