6 national parks that belong on your radar

1. Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania

Bring your old history lessons about Valley Forge to life. The southeastern Pennsylvania park is the site of the Continental Army’s 1777-1778 winter encampment. While the park features monuments, structures, and memorials commemorating the Revolutionary War, it also includes 26 miles of biking and hiking trails. Gaze around the reconstructed log cabins, and keep an eye out for the 225 species of birds that call the park home.

2. Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Alabama

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This military park marks the site of the final battle of the Creek War, between Andrew Jackson’s militia and the Upper Creek Red Stick. Trek back through time on the 2.4-mile nature trail that winds around the battlefield and Creek Indian camp, and then canoe along the Tallapoosa River to view the dogwood tree-lined shore.

3. Sequoia Kings National Park, California

After exploring Sequoia Kings National Park in 1873, naturalist John Muir called it “a rival of the Yosemite,” perhaps due to the diverse scenery of sequoia groves, underground caves, and glacier-carved canyons. The California park is home to the world’s largest living organism: General Sherman is a giant sequoia that stands 275 feet tall and weighs an estimated 2.7 million pounds. While exploring underneath the canopies, look for the 267-foot tall General Grant Tree—dubbed the Nation’s Christmas Tree in 1926—which takes second place for the world’s second largest tree.

4. Lowell National Historical Park, Massachusetts

Not your ordinary park, Lowell National Historical Park is unique in that it’s a living museum, which explores how the textile industry kick-started the Industrial Revolution in Lowell during the mid-1800s. Instead of hiking along flower-dotted trails like at traditional parks, you can roam around the man-made structures that helped shape the industrial era. Take a guided tour of the Boots Cotton Mills Museum, and Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit, and then cruise along the canal to learn about the importance of the waterpower system.

5. New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia

You’ll know you’ve arrived at this West Virginian park when you catch sight of the New River Gorge Bridge, the longest steel span in the Western Hemisphere and the nation’s third largest bridge. Next to the bridge, the whitewater rapids and rock-climbing walls are perhaps the region’s most celebrated features. Also, the New River, which winds through the park, is one of the continent’s oldest rivers and runs along the Appalachian Mountain’s longest and deepest gorge.

6. Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

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Bandelier National Monument preserves the region that was inhabited by the Ancestral Pueblo people, between 1150 and 1550 CE. A hike through the flat mesas—created by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago—provides a glimpse into the past. Pueblo homes and ceremonial structures dot the land, and rock paintings and petroglyphs adorn the canyons. Climb ladders down into the cavates (man-made dwellings) at the archeological sites, and look out for quirky, native Abert’s squirrels with their tasseled ears.