Favorite State and Federal Parks in the US

[Girlie]

The first not-so-obvious one that pops to mind is Petroglyph National Monument. It's not technically a park, so to speak, but it. is. awesome. Everywhere else I've ever been with petroglyphs, I've been stuck behind a rope or fence feet or even yards away. Here, you can just walk among them.
http://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm

[SeptGurl]

My favorites are along the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse are my two favorite locations to visit.

Do you know much about Isle Royale? An acquaintance mentioned it to me a while back. My dad was from Superior, and we spent many summers there when I was a kid. I'd never heard of Isle Royale before though.

I don't know much about it, but my dad and some of his friends went on a backpacking trip there and had a great time.  If you're into wilderness camping (pack everything in and out, purify your own water, etc) then it's definitely worth looking into.

Thanks. It looks very remote.

[wonderfullyanonymous]

Wisconsin and Illinois, both have beautiful state parks. These are a couple of my favorites...

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/wyalusing/ 

http://dnr.state.il.us/Lands/landmgt/parks/R1/ROCKCUT.HTM 

[Cz. Burrito]

The first not-so-obvious one that pops to mind is Petroglyph National Monument. It's not technically a park, so to speak, but it. is. awesome. Everywhere else I've ever been with petroglyphs, I've been stuck behind a rope or fence feet or even yards away. Here, you can just walk among them.
http://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm

That one made me really sad.  One of the downsides of being able to be so close to them is that there is a LOT of vandalism.   

[gramma dishes]

My personal favorites are Olympic National Part and Rainier National Park. 

But I've never ever been to ANY National or State Park I didn't absolutely love.

[Piratelvr1121]

My favorites are along the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse are my two favorite locations to visit.

I'd love to see Split Rock lighthouse.  I have a love of lighthouses as it is and a friend told me about visiting that one when she was younger.

Last time we went to Assateague we visited the lighthouse.  Very lovely!

DH and our oldest outside the lighthouse:

[Bethczar]

I love Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. The hiking trails are perfect for a relaxing walk, the views over the lake in the center are just stunning...

Devil's Lake is beautiful. A great place for hiking!

I recommend Glacier National Park in Montana. It has amazing views & you can see many animals.

[redsfan]

Bryce Canyon.  Not my picture (we'll see if it works), but it's beautiful.  Zion is really neat too.  I felt like these were much more interactive than Grand Canyon.

[whiterose]

Yellowstone! It was my first time seeing snow

[Mikayla]

Wow, this thread is making me appreciate my parents for how many of these we got to.  I grew up north of Chicago, so our quicker trips were all to WI, especially Devil's Lake and MN.  I also loved Mackinac Island the the whole UP of Michigan.

Rocky Mountain National Park was our first venture west, and then of course we had to see Yellowstone and the Tetons.

As an adult I vote for Shenandoah (pretty much anything in VA) and Gettysburg National Park.  We were lucky enough to do this one on a foggy day and you really *felt* what happened there.

[PastryGoddess]

Bryce Canyon.  Not my picture (we'll see if it works), but it's beautiful.  Zion is really neat too.  I felt like these were much more interactive than Grand Canyon.

I love Zion!  I think that it's more accesible than the Grand Canyon and with fewer people as well

[SeptGurl]

Bryce Canyon.  Not my picture (we'll see if it works), but it's beautiful.  Zion is really neat too.  I felt like these were much more interactive than Grand Canyon.

I love Zion!  I think that it's more accesible than the Grand Canyon and with fewer people as well

POD about Zion. Plus the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is so easy to get to from Zion and less traveled than the South Rim. I've made the Zion-North Rim trip twice and would do it again and again.

The last time we were at the North Rim, they had heavy fog. The ranger told us they hadn't seen fog like that in the canyon for 10 years. A lot of people complained that the fog was obscuring the view, but I thought it was so beautiful. The fog would roll in and then it would lift. It was just amazing to watch.