Over the years, my family has visited many national parks. Below you’ll find a small list of my favorite parks (worst to best).

5) Arches National Park

I visited this park in the year 2021, during the summer. Arches is located in Utah, near the town of Moab. This national park is gorgeous and full of hikes that range in mileage and difficulty. I liked this park because the arches were huge in size–I’ve never seen arches that beautiful and colossal. Some other pros about this park are there are many scenic drives if you wish to not hike. One HUGE con to this park is that it gets insanely hot during the summer. One of my memories from this trip was hiking in 100 degree weather at sunset time. Despite the hot weather, you should make a visit to this gorgeous park. Though this national park is beautiful, there isn’t much to do besides hike to the arches. Moab, the surrounding town is nice but small, so plan your visit to be around 3 days.

My Hiking Recommendations:

• Delicate Arch (most popular and my favorite!)
• Double Arch
• Broken Arch

4) Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was one of the recent national parks that I traveled to. I believe I went to this park in June or July. Glacier is located in Montana and spreads to the border of Canada and the US. Since I visited this park in June (or July), there were MANY fires, so most of the lakes and mountains were too smokey to see. Glacier is known for its icy-blue lakes; I was able to see maybe one or two. But, because of the fires, the lakes appeared gray. Despite this, I enjoyed this national park when we saw a glimpse of the huge mountains. Also, I remember seeing black bears, grizzly bears, and other wildlife. Glacier has great hiking trails and scenic drives; one of the most popular things to do is to drive through the Road to the Sun–which goes through most of the park. Known as the Europe of the United States, Glacier is a beautiful park to visit.

Awesome Hikes/Things to do:

• Avalanche Lake
• Hidden Lake
• Highline Trail
• Road to the Sun

3) Olympic National Park

My third favorite park is Olympic National Park, located in Washington. This park is extra unique because it has three different: rainforest, forest, and the ocean. I enjoyed this park because there was a variety of places to visit. The fact that Olympic Park has different biomes was extremely interesting. Personally, the rainforest ecosystem was my favorite, because it was lush and had amazing trees. If you are looking for a unique park to visit, I would recommend Olympic. A perk to this area is that there are delicious cherries in the summer; you can’t go to Olympic without eating them!!

My Hiking Recommendations:

• Mount Storm King 
• Hurricane Hill 
• Hall of Mosses Trail 
• Hole-in-the-Wall 

2) Zion National Park

Coming in a close second is Zion National Park, also located in Utah. I’ve visited this park twice, once in the winter and once in the summer. There are so many good things to say about this park–I love it so much. In my opinion, Zion is the best park to drive through. When you enter the gates, you are greeted with cosmic mountains that are unlike any other mountains I’ve seen. Zion houses a myriad of hikes, each with its own treasure. One of the most popular (and dangerous) hikes is Angel’s Landing. Although my parents did not let me finish the hike, the end of Angels Landing provides a 360 view of Zion. However, this hike is extremely challenging (it is all uphill until the lookout), and at the end, there are drops on each side of the path. The narrowest part of Angel’s Landing measures 24 inches–keep in mind there is traffic from both sides. Even though I have visited this park twice, I would like to go again (and try Angels Landing).

My Hiking Recommendations:

• Angels Landing
• Scout Lookout
• The Narrows
• Weeping Rock

1) Grand Teton National Park

My all-time favorite national park is Grand Teton, found in Wyoming. I would say this is my favorite park because of the beautiful mountains, lakes, flowers, and wildlife. One of my memories of going to this park was seeing a mother grizzly bear with her three cubs. Besides the wildlife, this park has AMAZING hikes with waterfalls, huge trees, and great views. Known for its jagged (and snow-topped) mountain peaks, Grand Teton is filled with gorgeous sights to see. A memorable lake to visit is Jackson Lake, which reflects the mountains in the water. I went during the summer, and at Jackson Lake, I remember there were many wildflowers around the perimeter of the lake. That, along with the backdrop of the mountains and its reflections made this park my favorite of all time. Whenever you are looking for an adventurous place to go, I couldn’t recommend Grand Teton enough.

My recommendations:

• Jackson Lake
• Jenny Lake Trail
• Cascade Lake Hike
• TA Moulton Barn (you NEED to visit this landmark!!!)