I was inspired by Leau's post asking about Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, and thought, hey why not expand teh question. What is your favorite national or state park to visit and why?

I would have to say that Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. It is natuer front and center, with breathtaking views, animals out the yingyang, and plenty of space for hiking.

I remember my favorite trail, which was basically on the edge of a mountain. The Highway to the Sun is also gorgeous, because it winds through the mountains so you can see valleys, rivers, lakes, etc. I was glad I was not driving though!

One of our favorite family spots to go when I was growing up was White Sands, New Mexico.

White Sands is located at the northern end of the Chihuahuan [ pronounced chee-wah - wan] desert. It is comprised of almost 145,000 acres of glistening, high gypsum dunes, which are constantly shifting, due to high [very hot ] winds. You can spend time out with your rented boards [ which come with a block of wax, for a faster ride] and surf the dunes, all the way down to the bottom, which is unbelievable fun.

My dad supervised the design of the energy plant of a new hospital in El Paso, Texas when I was a teenager [ not far from White Sands]. So for one summer in particular, we spent a lot of time in that part of the country, often surfing on the weekend.

Of course, there is a down side to all this fun, starting with the tremendous heat.Temperatures can range from around 0 to 110 very dry degrees farenheit, winter to summer, respectively. Being westerners, we were used to obnoxious heat, but still! Everybody has their limits and generally an hour or two is all a normal human can stand in, say, July. As much fun as it is to surf at high speeds down the dunes, White Sands does tend to be sort of a 'one trick pony'. After you're sick of doing that, it gets old in a hurry, in this sort of heat. Not to mention the tedious climb back to the top of the dunes [ no ski -lifts here, folks!]

Best not to plan on more than an hour or two in the park, then head into Las Cruces to cool down in the nearest water you can find!

I've always loved Yellowstone. It's amazing. From the views to the animals to the fascinating geothermal activity and the wonders it creates; the only drawback Yellowstone has is tourists.

But I'm partial to a less well-known part of Wyoming. The Big Horn National Forest. Here's a map. You see the town of Sheridan? Follow I-90 north until just before the bend where it heads West to Ranchester. Imagine a little dot there, just West of the Interstate, right in the crook of that bend. That's where I was born. My family's farm for five generations.

While we moved to Nebraska when I was quite young, we still spent a great deal of time in Wyoming when I was growing up, and the Big Horns and their foothills were my playground. The area has well-known paleontological interests, the Big Horns are older than the Rockies, and there are some scenic vistas you wouldn't believe unless you were looking at them.

As you drive up US-14 (the Big Horn Scenic Byway) there's a lookout spot about three miles in. On the lookout side of the highway is a drop off that takes you all the way back down into the Sheridan valley. You can see all the little towns ranged below. It's breathtaking.

On the other side of the highway is a ruddy, shale cliff about 30 feet high that leads off into the forest. On this cliff I've spent many hours hunkered down in precarious positions, digging fossils out of the rock by the handfuls.

The highway-side and hills are covered with Indian's Paintbrush, the stark red blossoms nearly glowing against the deep green of the forest and the pale, shell pink shale.

Up further along US-14 is a road that takes you to Lake Sibley. It's not a large lake, but it's deep and it reflects the sky to an almost azure blue.

Another little way down US-14 and a small one-lane dirt road will bring you to one of my absolute favorite places. The bank of a gaping cut in the mountains, a turbulent river thundering through it. Tongue River Canyon. A short walk upriver and you can see the Mouth. Tongue River comes gushing out of the very rock, churning and roiling as it starts it's long journey down into the plains. You can take the path up and over the maw, to the other side of the river, and there you'll find Tongue River Cave. I've been deep in the cave. My uncle has mapped parts of it for the forest service. You can walk (or crawl) down to the river, cutting it's eons-long course through the bowels of the mountain, seeping in from snowmelt and rain, through cracks in the limestone, down into the dark, running and running until it gushes out again into sunlight in a glorious rainbow of spray. Like it keeps it's color, it's light all bottled up inside until the moment it breaks through the rock, and then it bursts.

The cave used to be called Crystal Cave. (Like so many other caves.) But the reason for the name is still evident. Some rooms have spiderwebs of crystals veining the rock. Some have little crystal birdsnests blossoming from the walls and ceilings, being crushed by echoing footfalls on the floor. It's magic.

Hello from Canada. I'm an Albertan, and as we have some of the most spectacular scenery in the world here, I really do have to cast a vote for our overcrowded, too touristy mountain parks. Even with all the drawbacks of too many people, too much emphasis on shopping (!), park fees that go up and up every year - they still are wonderful places. Visitors might want to give Banff and Jasper a pass sometime, though, and try Yoho, just to the south of Banff. It joins onto the Amereican Glacier Park, I believe, and is not visited as much as the other two, though equally beautiful.
There as a great little provincial park in southern Alberta, called Writing-on-Stone. You drive along the flat open shortgrass prairie, and then suddenly hit the Milk River valley. Miles upon miles of insane rock formations and hoodoos. This was a sacred place to the original inhabitants, and there are petroglyphs and rock paintings here dating back thousands of years. Access is somewhat restricted these days, due to yahoos feeling the need to add their own signatures to the old art, but you can still see quite a lot, and the place has a powerful magic.
The river is fast and fun just at the campground, and a favorite pastime is to get on your rubber raft at one end of camp, ride the river as it circles around the campground, and the run the short space back to where you started, and do it again.

I have to put in a plug for the Lake District in England, beautiful.

ktstew, I'm pleased to see that you liked White Sands; however, I'm surprised you'd travel to Las Cruces 50 miles away to cool off when you could have gone just 15 miles to Alamogordo (which is where I'm from - born and raised and still call home). Dune surfing is great fun, but the heat's not so bad when you get used to it. Besides, at least it's a "dry heat".

We just got back from a vacation where we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado located northwest of Denver (the capital city of Colorado). The road through the mountain tops out at 12,183 feet above sea level, which is the highest, continuous, paved road in the United States. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it all the way through to the other side because the top four miles were closed due to snow. As we were driving through, it was snowing on us at the higher elevations which thrilled the children because it's supposed to be summer! I also got a lot of nice pictures of elk, deer, and big horn sheep though. The scenery and mountains are just breathtaking.

ClaraSue, I join your group of fans of Rocky Mountain National Park. When I lived in Fort Collins, CO., we had a friend who was a summer employee and he helped clear the road to the peak. We always got one of the first trips to the top before the concession area was open to the public.
Their motto is "Open on Memorial Day" and they made sure that the road was clear by then.