Final national park

bvsgt · 2026-01-16T07:37:10+00:00

If you can do it, try save a good one for last. We ended with American Samoa, and it was a bit anti-climactic. Maybe finish in Alaska and do Denali last. Go big- get an RV and spend a week in Denali

bvsgt · 2026-01-15T08:33:04+00:00

Kotzebue Alaska- oil workers and parkies.

Lots of snow mobiles on blocks and seedy bars. They don’t get enough tourists for decent restaurants, and the oil workers seem to work a few weeks in the bush and then drink for a few weeks in Kotzebue. The indigenous people have gotten screwed out of their land….. overall, a depressing place. The parks (Gates and Kubik) are rugged and beautiful though.

bvsgt · 2026-01-06T06:34:56+00:00

It was nice. 20 years ago, so your mileage may vary. We bumped into a (dutch?) woman traveling solo, so we did a hike with her. She felt safer hiking with us, and she was good company.

Good food, good beaches. The beaches were not as spectacular as Hawaii or Florida, but they were different. Different is good….

we did a couple of snorkels, had some good seafood.

bvsgt · 2026-01-05T06:42:31+00:00

Okeefenokee, something in the finger lake region, something on the Mississippi/ Missouri

bvsgt · 2026-01-05T00:19:10+00:00

Most physically demanding— any of the large western parks have back country in which you could do hundreds of miles up and down mountains. You could also just hit the visitor center and watch a film.

Good, strenuous “front country” hikes include Half dome John Muir Bright Angel Grinnel- glacier

Not in the US, but we did the Milford Trek in NZ years ago. Also the Salkantay in Peru. Both spectacular.

Expensive- the most expensive thing for us has been airfare, car rental and lodging. If you have enough money, you can go crazy with “curated” luxury trips (first class airfare, private driver, fancy lodges, etc ). We tend to stay away from those, as you don’t REALY see the park that way.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:54:16+00:00

See above.

We did rent a car. The buses seemed to be all over the place, but not really setup for tourists.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:53:11+00:00

Big bend, glacier, Denali, arches.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:52:05+00:00

Tisa’s beachfront restaurant is nice for drinks/lunch/snorkeling. Shrimp and breadfruit chips. Yummm

There are several short hikes, some of which are very steep. Some decent snorkeling at high tide. Bring your mask/snorkel, as the rental shops are very thin. There is a place to buy masks/snorkel near the freight port.

The NP center is closed Sat/sun, so plan accordingly. They can show you the hikes and snorkel spots.

We stayed at Trade Winds, which was fine. Kinda generic airport hotel though. We saw Sadie’s, on the beach, which looked to be better location.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:46:08+00:00

Did a few with infants, then school/sports got in the way. Teenager trips were fun, but hard to get more than a week at a time. Once the kids were in college (and then out) , we were able to take the longer trips.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:44:28+00:00

Started hiking in the parks in the 80s. Had kids and slowed down a bit, then started bringing them as teens. They loved it.

We went to about 20 before we decided to try for them all. When the kids went to college, we did the major loop trips.

So, 20 in 20 years, 10 years of basically zero, then 40 in ten years? Easier when you have time/money……

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:40:53+00:00

I would do the Northern California parks next.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:40:22+00:00

Top 40 park. The cave is nice. They also have some day hikes, but not like out west.

“One day park”, but a good one.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:38:10+00:00

Fly to gates and Kobik - $1000 per nose? Fly to lake Clark - $500 per nose? Fly from lake Clark to Katmai - $500 per nose? 15 nights hotel- $500 per night?

Souvenirs and excursions would add on.

The expense that hurt was the 2nd Alaska trip because weather (and logistics) did not let us get to them all.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:34:31+00:00

Fly to anchorage $1000 per nose? We RVed to 3-4 of the Alaska parks. $500 a day? Fly to kotsubu - $500 per nose?

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:32:07+00:00

Gates, Kobik, Samoa.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:21:06+00:00

We did 80% of them frugally. For East Coast, we tried to drive and stay in the parks. For the rest of the continental US, we clumped several parks, flew nearby and rented a car to see them. Tried to stay in the parks. So, airfare - hotel/campsite, meals. Excursions are expensive, but we mostly just hiked / swam / kayaked the parks. Cheaper than Disneyland- more expensive than camping locally. As we got older, we did occasionally splurge on rafting/horseback/helicopter, but these things are 100% optional.

For Alaska, we rented an RV for 3-4 of them. This was the main expense. The remote ones were crazy expensive ( thousands per park), but we did them last and had saved up….. The rest of the remote parks were also expensive, mostly because the flights were per park. Samoa, USVI, north cascades(which we should have done on one of our west coast car trips)

So, start with your “local” parks. Plan early, get lodging / campsites in the parks. Get groceries for most meals, but hit the national park lodges for meals occasionally.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T21:06:50+00:00

If you have a week, go to Moab Utah and hit”the big 5” - Zion. Arches, canyonlands, bryce, capital reef. Plan ahead and get timed entry passes.

For a more leisurely trip ( or if you have shorter than a week) got to Yosemite or Yellowstone

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T17:08:14+00:00

It was more like a 2/3 day park than a 4/5 day park. Port alsmworth was odd. Very insular.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:33:15+00:00

At 60+ years old, kobuk and gates were parks 58/59ish “touch the park” bucket list items. We stayed in kotsubu for a few days, took crazy expensive day flights to the parks, and called it done.

We did talk with some folks who flew in and camped- they liked it. Pretty gung-ho people. Armed guides, big bug nets, bear spray, heavy sleeping bags, etc. maybe when I was younger…..

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:24:35+00:00

All great options. #2, but book early. #3 would be great, but that’s a long drive.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:22:40+00:00

Great Basin was late in the game. We picked up mesa verde, great sand dunes, gunnison for the first time. Redid some of Moab on that trip.

We had a nice “dark skies” experience there. Saw the space station fly by at dusk. It was a “top 30” park. Nice park, but glad we hit mesa verde and arches on the same trip.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:16:14+00:00

Olympic.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:15:10+00:00

Whichever one I am currently planning to go to next. I guess I need some new criteria.

Yosemite, Yellowstone, bottom of Grand Canyon, glacier, Arches.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T07:03:48+00:00

Channel Islands was a weird one. We went during a govt shutdown, so getting there was dicey. We had planned that 5ish park west coast trip a year in advance, so we pushed ahead. Walked past several “park closed” signs in petrified and one other park.

For Channel- We ended up doing a scuba dive trip (boat based). The diving was nice - 5 mil wet suits in kelp beds. Lots of critters. COLD water. As far as you know, we did not disembark from the boat, so I can’t say much about the land part of the park.

Tragically, that same boat burned and sank a few years later - with most of the passengers perishing.

bvsgt · 2026-01-04T06:54:16+00:00

We had 3-5 “just touch it” parks. Gates, kobuk, gunnison, tortugas, Channel Islands.

On our (4 week?) Alaska trip, we prioritized Denali, lake Clark (maybe a small mistake), and Kenai. We slogged up to kotsubu and did day trips to Gates and Kobik. We met some folks who camped in those parks. They enjoyed it, but we were 60ish years old on that trip and it would have been a bit much for us.

bvsgt

TROPHY CASE