Many people visit the National Parks for vacation or just a short getaway. Listed here are some of the lesser known National Parks of America.
Biscayne National Park is mostly water, so this park found at Homestead, Florida is a great place to go for water sports and activities. Visitors can arrive by boat, or by vehicle on SW 328 Street. Kayaks and canoes can be rented here, and the park offers glass bottom boat tours and diving trips. The glass bottom boat tours are given daily and they last three hours, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Snorkeling trips over the living coral reefs are offered daily as well as scuba trips on weekends only. For inclusion in this trip, the visitor must be a certified diver.
Highway 191 in Utah near Moab is the entrance to Arches National Park. The thing that draws visitors to this park is the natural arches... sandstone and more than two thousand of them. The visitor center also serves as a museum and book store. The park has both short and longer hiking trails. Other activities include biking, camping, and climbing.
Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison offers magnificent views of the canyon itself, scenic drives, hiking, camping, horseback riding, cross country skiing, and fishing. Climbing the walls of the canyon is limited to expert climbers due to the condition of the rock and the challenge of the climb. The canyon walls are 2,000 feet and nearly vertical to the Gunnison River below. Be prepared for some sections of the park to be closed or have limited access during the winter months.
Southern California is the location for the Channel Islands National Park. The park is open year round, and half of its 250,000 acres are actually under water. The five islands of a chain of eight that make up this National Park are Santa Rosa, Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. The Channel Islands visitor center is located at the end of Spinnaker Drive in the Ventura Harbor. Many activities are available on the islands including swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, and scuba. Camping is also available. Be sure to plan enough time for visiting this National Park. Even the closest of the islands is ninety minutes away by boat.
For a spectacular view of steep cliffs and many birds and animals, try Anacapa. Diving is exceptional here. Santa Rosa offers canyons and great beaches, and the often foggy and windy San Miguel is the choice for experiencing the feel of a wilderness journey. Santa Barbara Island has miles of hiking trails, fishing, snorkeling, and other activities. There are no places on the islands to buy supplies, so if you are going to be camping here, be sure to have enough food and water as well as your camping equipment along with you.
Baker, Nevada is the location of Great Basin National Park. From here, Wheeler Peak rises to a majestic height of more than 13,000 feet. Campgrounds are available, and there are lakes and forests here. One of the draws to Great Basin remains the limestone caverns. Be sure to see Lehman Caves while visiting here. The Lehman Caves tours are offered daily except New Year's Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving.
Vehicles are prohibited at Isle Royale National Park near Houghton, Michigan. One reaches Isle Royale by parking in Houghton and riding a ferry to the National Park. Located on Lake Superior, this park houses wildlife including moose, foxes, and wolves. There are lovely trails to hike, three dozen campgrounds, boating, and fishing. For the history buff, the area offers a historic lighthouse, abandoned copper mines from pre-Columbian times, and stories of shipwrecks in the area. This archipelago has a length of 45 miles and a width of 9 miles and less. The scuba diving here is excellent, but check the requirements. Divers must have a diving permit. Such a permit is available at one of the visitor centers.
Port Angeles, Washington is the location for Olympic National Park. This scenic park offers forests, shoreline, and mountains that are glacier capped and have an elevation of 8,000 feet. Olympic National Park covers almost a million acres. Be sure to see Hurricane Ridge for views from the mountain and the Hoh Rain Forest. Visitors to the park can see mountain vistas and beautiful beaches here. If planning to climb these mountains, as with any climb, be sure to know the terrain and conditions at the time of your visit. Many activities are available at this huge park including hiking, skiing, whitewater rafting, and fishing.
