After making it my quest to visit as all of the national parks in the West in the past couple of years, the natural question would be: which one is the best?
Actually, when people ask that question, they’re pretty smart about it. They don’t ask which one is the “best.” They ask which was my “favorite.”
This is appropriate because, like many things, it all depends on what you’re looking for.
Our national parks (and monuments, recreation areas, and forests, as well as state parks) offer a wide variety of options for many different kinds of recreation.
Pretty much all national parks offer a scenic drive, overlooks, and hiking as well as important cultural or scientific sites. Most also offer camping and wilderness adventures, and many have water recreation.
I’ve already written about some of my favorite hikes of 2022.
So, which park was my favorite? I’m evading the question because I can’t pick just one. But I can pick my favorites for different experiences on my visits to the West:
Most spectacular view: Crater Lake National Park (Oregon)
Going to Crater Lake felt kind of like cheating because you can drive right up to it. The pure blue water reflecting the adjacent cliffs on a calm morning may be the most spectacular sight I’ve ever seen. You can hike or boat, but you don’t have to. The splendor can be seen from the parking lot, if you can get the right spot. (Otherwise, it’s a short walk.) Even on a busy weekend, there were plenty of spots to sit and take in the view.
A very close runner-up is Diablo Lake in the North Cascades National Park complex.
Most iconic experience: Death Valley National Park (California)
Everyone has heard of Death Valley and it lives up to its reputation. Even on my mid-May visit, the temperature reached 100 by lunchtime. After starting my day with sunrise at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, I walked through the moon-like landscape at Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level, before it got too hot. After another quick hike, there were plenty of sights to enjoy from the vehicle and overlooks after it got hot. The air-conditioned museum explains that, contrary to the valley’s reputation, the Timbisha tribe has survived there for more than a thousand years.
Best hidden secret: Dinosaur National Monument (Colorado and Utah)
My June visit to Dinosaur was a wonderful surprise. I knew about its eponymous wall of fossils and its importance in dinosaur research. I didn’t know about the short but excellent hike to breathtaking views at Harper’s Corner! There are also numerous interesting petroglyphs in the park.
Best night in the desert: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (Arizona)
There are nearly 200 campsites in the campground here, but my visit was in the summer when everyone else stayed away. There was no one else in sight. It was, frankly, more than a little bit scary at first. But after I calmed the urge to decamp to a hotel, the quiet night in the Sonoran Desert was one of my best memories of the year.
Best drive-up campsite: Kings Canyon National Park (California)
Kings Canyon is home of one of my favorite hikes of 2022, and it’s also home of the favorite drive-in campsite I’ve stayed at in the West: site #8 in Crystal Springs Campground. It wins on location, location, location. The huge site is next to a meadow amid massive trees, on a quiet loop with few other campers in view. It’s not far from Grant Grove, home of the General Grant tree, as well as a food concession window that I visited several times. (Why cook in bear country if you don’t have to?) To the northeast is the interior of Kings Canyon National Park and to the south is Sequoia National Park. There’s even cellular data reception! I was only here for three nights but would’ve liked to have stayed a lot longer. I’m sure I’ll be back.
A close second is in Great Basin National Park: site #7 in the Upper Lehman Campground, which had a great tent pad separate from the picnic table with a trail loop around the brush.
Best near-off-road drive: Valley of the Gods (Bears Ears National Monument, Utah)
There are plenty of places out West where you can go on an off-road trek, if you have a suitable vehicle. But what if you only have a regular passenger vehicle? You can take an other-worldly drive through the buttes at Valley of the Gods and enjoy the view from the comfort of your air conditioning. The road is not paved but it is considered safe for passenger vehicles (though as I found, it can be a bit hard to figure out where to drive when you’re entering from the south). Nearby, I also enjoyed the Moki Dugway, an overlook into Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Natural Bridges National Monument on the same day. It may have been the best travel day of my life!
Best state for national parks: Utah
Southern Utah has five gems of national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, not to mention numerous national forests and massive monuments such as Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. Zion is also not far away from the Grand Canyon. And, even though it’s a bit north of all of these parks, I-70 through Utah may be the most spectacular interstate drive in the country. The whirlwind week I spent in this region, and a second quick drive through on my way to California, barely scratched the surface of things to do.
Best overall variety: Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho)
Yellowstone offers a huge variety of experiences from easy to difficult. It’s well-known for its geothermal features, but it’s also a smorgasbord of national park offerings including wildlife, mountains, lakes, a huge canyon, and miles of scenic drives. There’s hiking, fishing, boating, and wilderness adventures. You can stay for a day or for years. Your choice. If you’re travelling by car (in the summer), you don’t even need to bring food because restaurants and shops are well-placed around the park. Just be sure to make your plans far in advance because things book up almost as soon as reservations open. The park may also still be recovering from major flooding in 2022.
On the other end of the spectrum, what is the worst national park in the West? There was one that I found to be decidedly less spectacular than the others, but I wouldn’t want to take away from anyone else’s experiences by spoiling the surprise. You’ll just have to figure it out for yourself.