p.s. I do remember a lot of pushing and line-cutting to get on the bus in the morning because the limited number of seats available filled up very quickly. An unpleasant memory of our trip to Denali.

The only National Park I've ever been to that was kind of "meh" was Congaree in SC.

Nice for a day hike, but certainly not something I'd go out of my way to see (though I doubt many people do.) I wouldn't say it's "overrated" because I don't think it's well known, but it didn't give me that "wow" feeling that other NPs do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of Denali, you can only see it from the bus ride offered by the Park Service. That's to protect the park and it's animals, but you can't see much from the road cooped up in the bus. I do think I saw a Grizzly way off in the distance, but that's about it. Also, limited number of seats per day so you need to get there early in the morning to gert a seat on the bus.

I totally disagree. I think Denali is amazing. We were just there this past summer and it was unforgettable. Yes, the bus ride is kind of cooped up feeling, but you can get on and off whenever you want and go hiking anywhere in the park. The feeling of expansion and freedom there is just incredible. Well worth the cost of the annual NP pass we bought when we were there.

o.k., I don't remember the bus driver telling us we could get off anywhere and hike anywhere in the park. Maybe this is new; in fact, that would have been impossible since there were only a couple of bus rides available during the day. I do agree it's an amazing plce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grand Canyon. So much driving, so crowded, and it’s the same view basically everywhere. Shenandoah is also a ton of driving but on slow narrow roads and truly underwhelming outside of fall

My favorites are Joshua tree, capitol reef, glacier and Yellowstone

For Grand Canyon, hike to the bottom and camp/lodge then hike back up is the only way to do it.

I think that isn’t feasable for many people. I can understand why those just viewing from the top and battling crowds to get there might be a bit underwhelmed.

I will chime in that Acadia is *not* overrated. Blue seas, pink granite, green trees, clear lakes and ponds, blueberries, sunshine and cool breezes... it's paradise.

Anonymous wrote:I thought Mammoth Cave was awesome but we were kind of frightened by the surrounding area.

How so? We were thinking about it for spring break.

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of Denali, you can only see it from the bus ride offered by the Park Service. That's to protect the park and it's animals, but you can't see much from the road cooped up in the bus. I do think I saw a Grizzly way off in the distance, but that's about it. Also, limited number of seats per day so you need to get there early in the morning to gert a seat on the bus.

I totally disagree. I think Denali is amazing. We were just there this past summer and it was unforgettable. Yes, the bus ride is kind of cooped up feeling, but you can get on and off whenever you want and go hiking anywhere in the park. The feeling of expansion and freedom there is just incredible. Well worth the cost of the annual NP pass we bought when we were there.

Anonymous wrote:Grand Canyon. So much driving, so crowded, and it’s the same view basically everywhere. Shenandoah is also a ton of driving but on slow narrow roads and truly underwhelming outside of fall

My favorites are Joshua tree, capitol reef, glacier and Yellowstone

For Grand Canyon, hike to the bottom and camp/lodge then hike back up is the only way to do it.

Petrified Forest in AZ. There's nothing near it, so it's a 2 hr boring drive each way. Since there was so much theft over the years of the petrified wood, it's probably less interesting than it used to be. It's cool to see the petrified wood hanging out there, but a gift shop/curio store has more interesting stuff to see. On that trip, we did a bunch of driving around the rest of AZ (north of Phoenix) and enjoyed everything else. Even the Grand Canyon.

Speaking of Denali, you can only see it from the bus ride offered by the Park Service. That's to protect the park and it's animals, but you can't see much from the road cooped up in the bus. I do think I saw a Grizzly way off in the distance, but that's about it. Also, limited number of seats per day so you need to get there early in the morning to gert a seat on the bus.

Anonymous wrote:Grand Canyon. So much driving, so crowded, and it’s the same view basically everywhere. Shenandoah is also a ton of driving but on slow narrow roads and truly underwhelming outside of fall

My favorites are Joshua tree, capitol reef, glacier and Yellowstone

OMG. You remind me of the air-head flight attendant who said aloud as we flew past Mt. McKinley (as passengers were ooh-ing and ahh-ing) "It looks just like any other mountain to me."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shenandoah actually. The leaves were beautiful, but just drive through any of the local VA towns and they're the same. The visitor's center wasn't good and everything was run down. I can't afford $70 for it and at $20 it was already expensive for a 4 hour trip.

That being said, I've been to hundreds of national parks. We plan our entire vacations around them. I love national parks!

there are only 58 National Parks.

Obviously I meant I've been to monuments, memorials, battlefields, president's homes and historic sites. I googled and it said there were 417 park sites. President's homes are my favorites btw.

Grand Canyon. So much driving, so crowded, and it’s the same view basically everywhere. Shenandoah is also a ton of driving but on slow narrow roads and truly underwhelming outside of fall

My favorites are Joshua tree, capitol reef, glacier and Yellowstone

Anonymous wrote:I've been to several and loved them all except for one -- Joshua Tree was kind of meh. It's charms ran out pretty quickly.

Yeah the desert is boring. I heard it's nice during wildflower season though.

Anonymous wrote:Shenandoah actually. The leaves were beautiful, but just drive through any of the local VA towns and they're the same. The visitor's center wasn't good and everything was run down. I can't afford $70 for it and at $20 it was already expensive for a 4 hour trip.

That being said, I've been to hundreds of national parks. We plan our entire vacations around them. I love national parks!

there are only 58 National Parks.