Jaunted

National Parks / Active Travel / Summer Travel / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: Great Basin National Park

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again?

Located just outside of Baker, Nevada is Great Basin National Park. Just like some of the other parks we've featured recently, the park is somewhat out of the way. The National Park Service even warns in bold to plan ahead due to limited services! That must be why fewer than 100,000 people visited last year.

more ›

National Parks / Active Travel / Summer Travel / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: Congaree National Park

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again? This week, we're bringing you some secret spots to enjoy.

Although small, Congaree National Park is the largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest left in North America. Sounds thrilling, right? It actually is: The park offers some of the tallest trees in the US and they create one of the highest natural canopies in the world.

Unlike some of the other spots we've featured this week, accessing Congaree is fairly straight forward. It's about a 20-minute ride outside Columbia, South Carolina and is easily accessible via I-77. You'll arrive at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center and then set out for hiking, camping, canoeing or just wandering around the acres of hardwood and pine forest.

more ›

National Parks / Active Travel / Summer Travel / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: Isle Royale National Park

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again? This week, we're bringing you some secret spots to enjoy.

No offense to fans of the Great Lakes State, but the first thing that comes to mind when we hear Michigan is not "national park." And that's what makes Isle Royale National Park somewhat of a secret. Located in the northwest corner of Lake Superior, the park gets its name from the Isle Royale greenstone that is found in abundance here.

The island keeps true to its wilderness roots by offering no roads in the backcountry and allowing no motorized vehicles on the island. You'll arrive by either ferry or seaplane. The Ranger III ferry is based in Houghton this season, and it can get you there.

more ›

National Parks / Active Travel / Summer Travel / Alaska Travel / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again? This week, we're bringing you some secret spots to enjoy.

It's a shame that this park would be mentioned as a secret. With about 60,000 visitors last year, Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve really needs some marketing behind it--maybe a mascot?

Wrangell is the country's largest national park, and it's about the size of six Yellowstones. That makes it about as big as Costa Rica.

To get there, fly into Anchorage and take either Highway 1 or Highway 4 to the park. Like the other spots we've covered, a chartered aircraft is also a good way to get there, if a little pricey.

more ›

American Samoa / National Parks / Beaches / Summer Travel / Islands / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: The National Park of American Samoa

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again? This week, we're bringing you some secret spots to enjoy.

If you're feeling a little homesick on your next journey to the South Pacific, then just swing by the US Territory of American Samoa--it's on the way! Here you'll find the second of our secret national parks, the National Park of American Samoa.

You'll likely reach the park by taking a flight into Pagu Pagu International Airport, which is served by two flights a week from Honolulu. If that doesn't jive with your schedule, you can fly into Upolo, Samoa. Either way, you'll still have to take some sort of plane to get to island of Tutulia--that's where the action is.

more ›

National Parks / Summer Travel / Active Travel / Alaska Travel / Secret-National-Parks-Map / → All Tags

Secret National Parks: Kobuk Valley

Nothing screams summer fun like a national park, but who wants to visit Yellowstone again? This week, we're bringing you some secret spots to enjoy.

To describe it, you'd say Kobuk Valley National Park is "outside" Fairbanks, Alaska, but it'd be more precise to say it's in the absolute middle of nowhere.

The park is only accessible by foot, chartered air, snowmobile or, of course, dog sled. There are no actual trails or roads in the park--or even leading to it--so you better whip out that compass or GPS and hope that you successfully stumble upon it.

more ›