In the 18th century, adventurers traveled by canoe on boundary waters between the United States and Canada. Today’s Voyageurs National Park, established in 1975, encompasses 56 miles of the trade route. To best experience this park, we went into the backcountry for 50 hours by foot and paddle.
Lake Superior is the northernmost of the Great Lakes. The largest freshwater lake in the world by area, it is more like an ocean or an inland sea, measuring 350 miles wide and 160 miles long. In its northwest corner lies Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior.
Ohio’s 85 mile long Cuyahoga River flows between Akron and Cleveland and into Lake Erie. By the 20th century, the Cuyahoga River became one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. The sad state of the river culminated when it caught on fire in 1969.
In 1604 French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed along today’s central Maine coast and noted an island that he called “Isle des Monts Deserts” because of the barren appearance of its mountains. Today, Mount Desert Island is the centerpiece of Acadia National Park.
Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park sits on the top of the Appalachian Mountains’ Blue Ridge Range. Skyline Drive runs for 105 miles through the park. We spent four days in the park being awe-inspired and humbled by the views while hiking several trails, with a focus on Shenandoah’s waterfalls.
One of the largest protected areas east of the Mississippi River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park lies in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. There about 900 miles of paths, including the famous Appalachian Trail. We spent a week hiking a variety of trails in the 522,000 acre park.
Congaree is one of America’s newest national parks, becoming the 58th such protected area in 2003. Comprised of 26,276 acres, Congaree protects the largest intact old-growth bottomless hardwood forest in the U.S. We spent two days in the park’s swampy floodplain forest exploring several trails and camping in a primitive campsite.
A high-speed catamaran voyage of 70 miles each way along the Gulf of Mexico, exploration of a massive brick fort, and snorkeling underwater? We did all of these things during our time in Dry Tortugas National Park, one of the most remote parks in the lower 48 United States.
Twenty-one miles east of the Everglades lies Biscayne National Park. It is the largest protected marine national park in the United States. With 95% of the park on the water, we booked a full-day sailing trip to set foot on one of its keys.
Everglades National Park protects the largest tropical wilderness in the United States. It is the only place in the world where the alligator and crocodiles both roam. We spent four days exploring the park, the third largest in the lower 48 states and covering the southwest tip of Florida.
With over 400 miles of surveyed passages, Mammoth Cave National Park is famous as the longest known cave system in the world. We not only ventured into the cave on two occasions while visiting, but also had the opportunity to complete hikes on both sides of the Green River.
Hot Springs National Park, in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, has the distinction of being America’s smallest national park at just 5,500 acres. Its protected status (in 1832) predates Yellowstone, commonly considered to be the world’s first national park.
