7 National Parks Better Than Glacier National Park

The activity-rich Glacier National Park is excessive on the bucket lists of many vacationers. And for good motive. This serene and luxurious stretch of Montana’s Rocky Mountains consists of attractive mountain peaks, pristine lakes, and among the most stunning views anyplace within the nation. Along with the adjoining Waterton Lakes Nationwide Park simply throughout the Canadian border, Glacier Nationwide Park varieties a part of the bigger Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserving distinctive pure sources for all of the world to get pleasure from.

However regardless of its plain magnificence, Glacier Nationwide Park does have a number of drawbacks. As one of many extra widespread nationwide parks in america, Glacier can typically see bigger crowds on its widespread trails and roads, particularly throughout peak vacationer seasons. Moreover, Glacier’s latest implementation of a timed-entry reservation system for a lot of of its hottest areas can create a giant headache for guests. These components could trigger some vacationers to hunt out various parks as a substitute of a Glacier journey.

Thankfully, the Nationwide Park System of america has no scarcity of wonderful parks that provide the identical unimaginable views and experiences as Glacier with out most of the drawbacks. Mountains, lakes, breathtaking mountaineering trails, and adventurous outside actions are all accessible in lesser-known parks, most of which don’t include the timed reservation necessities or massive crowds that Glacier suffers from. These different nationwide parks specifically are wonderful alternate options to Glacier, offering the identical (and even higher) surroundings with out massive crowds or ticketing hassles.

Associated

7 State Parks Better Than Zion National Park

Zion Nationwide Park is attractive. It is also crowded, secluded, and dominated by exhausting hikes. These state parks could also be even higher than Zion.

7 Grand Teton Nationwide Park

Wyoming

In comparison with the a million+ acres of the expansive Glacier Nationwide Park mountain vary, Grand Teton National Park’s roughly 300,000 acres appear quite small. However what Grand Teton lacks in relative measurement it greater than makes up for in surroundings. Vacationers looking for probably the most breathtaking mountain views within the Northern Rocky Mountains are unlikely to seek out surroundings that surpasses Grand Teton’s – together with in Glacier Nationwide Park!

Grand Teton preserves the small however magnificent Teton Vary of Western Wyoming. Whereas any part of the bigger Rocky Mountains can have wonderful views, the Tetons appear nearly particularly engineered to take one’s breath away. These stark, symmetrical rocky peaks rise dramatically from the comparatively flat grasslands of Jackson Gap Valley, making a stark picture that might not be extra excellent for a postcard – or, in additional trendy phrases, a social media reel.

Regardless of being a few third of the scale, Grand Teton Nationwide Park offers alternatives for outside actions that simply rival these of Glacier. Guests of various expertise ranges can attempt their hand at mountaineering on one of the park’s many climbing routes.

Alternatively, guests who do not wish to exert that a lot effort can get pleasure from a scenic drive on one among many Grand Teton scenic driving routes. In contrast to Glacier, Grand Teton does not currently require vehicle reservations for timed entry. So, vacationers can plan a extra spontaneous journey to the mountains with out having to fret about coordinating their schedules or making it to the park at a particular time.

6 Large Bend Nationwide Park

Texas

The gorgeous however underrated Big Bend National Park is just about what you’d get for those who transported the scenic mountains and gorges of Glacier Nationwide Park into the warmth of the West Texas desert. Large Bend additionally options scenic mountains, deep river canyons, and ample alternatives for mountaineering, tenting, and mountaineering. Nevertheless, Large Bend sees far fewer guests annually in comparison with Glacier, so a Large Bend journey is far much less more likely to endure from bigger crowds or closely trafficked roads.

Large Bend can also be an incredible nationwide park vacation spot for anybody touring within the winter months. Whereas heavy winter snows can usually shut off entry to many widespread areas in Glacier, Large Bend’s Chihuahua Desert local weather actually doesn’t have that downside! (Although extreme warmth within the summertime could also be one thing to look out for).

Large Bend Nationwide Park takes its identify from the “large bend” of the Rio Grande because it cuts by way of the Chihuahua Desert alongside the Texas-Mexico border. The mixture of the river valley, the desert, and the encompassing Chisos Mountains creates one of the crucial distinctive and memorable desert scenes anyplace within the nation. The park’s magnificent Santa Elena Canyon offers picturesque canyon partitions and deep cliffside views that rival even these discovered on the extra well-known Grand Canyon.

Plus, this space of the Chihuahua Desert can also be notable for considerable paleontological and archeological treasures. The park’s Fossil Discovery Exhibit provides only a glimpse of the numerous historic fossils uncovered. Likewise, the park’s rocks and cliffs nonetheless bear historic pictographs and different archeological artifacts representing thousands of years of human inhabitation, a lot of which remains to be seen to guests right now.

Associated

10 Best Hiking Trails In Texas’ Big Bend National Park

Expertise the most effective of Texas’ largest nationwide park by mountaineering one (or extra!) of those epic trails at Large Bend in Far West Texas.

5 Nice Basin Nationwide Park

Nevada

Nevada’s Great Basin National Park is without doubt one of the least-visited nationwide parks within the decrease 48 states, with only 143,265 visitors making the journey in all of 2023. However this considerably ignominious distinction is much from deserved. The comparatively small variety of vacationers who do make the worthwhile journey out to the Nice Basin will discover a almost excellent pattern of the most effective pure options of all the American Nationwide Park System!

Like Glacier, Nice Basin options quite a few scenic mountains, together with the 13,065-foot Wheeler Peak. However Nice Basin additionally consists of a number of distinctive pure options, lots of which do not seem to be they’d go collectively in a single nationwide park!

Along with snowy mountain peaks, guests to Nice Basin can even discover lakes, desert areas, deep caves, and even glaciers! (In truth, Nice Basin’s glaciers are among the many southernmost glaciers in all the U.S.). Guests can even tour the park’s famous bristlecone pine trees, that are among the many oldest dwelling organisms on Earth!

Nice Basin Nationwide Park takes its identify from the larger Great Basin region, which occupies a lot of the state of Nevada. Although the Nice Basin is usually dismissed as a “flyover” area between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, in actuality, this underrated part of the Southwest offers among the nation’s most gorgeous surroundings.

Mountain mountaineering trails, scenic drives, and considerable alternatives for climbing make it a wonderful various to extra widespread parks like Glacier. Plus, Nice Basin is a very enticing vacation spot for vacationers watching their price range. In comparison with the $35 entrance payment at Glacier Nationwide Park, entrance to Nice Basin is totally free.

4 Sequoia/Kings Canyon Nationwide Parks

California

California’s Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have at the least one particular benefit over Glacier; in contrast to Glacier’s single park unit, this joint nationwide park system offers two unimaginable nationwide parks for the value of 1!

These two adjoining nationwide parks sit in one of many nation’s most stunning areas, the place the gorgeous mountain peaks and valleys of the Sierra Nevada meet California’s attractive forests of famed Giant Sequoia trees. Guests to the parks can discover each mountain landscapes and one of many world’s biggest forests with a single entrance payment.

Essentially the most well-known attraction within the Sequoia/Kings Canyon park system is its iconic Sequoia forests. Each parks comprise among the most well-known particular person timber on the planet, together with the towering Common Sherman and Common Grant timber. Outdoors of the forest areas, the parks additionally show among the most breathtaking sights anyplace within the Sierra Nevada.

Kings Canyon specifically is a powerful valley carved into the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Just like the panorama at Glacier, Kings Canyon owes its existence to glacial exercise over hundreds of years. However this specific legacy of previous ice ages is even grander in scale than something present in Glacier Nationwide Park!

Moro Rock, a towering granite dome monolith, rivals even the well-known Half Dome monolith in Yosemite Nationwide Park. However much more skilled mountaineering followers are possible drawn to the parks for a distinct motive. Mount Whitney, the best mountain within the contiguous United States and one of many nation’s hottest climbing routes, sits partially on the borders of Sequoia Nationwide Park.

Associated

Kings Canyon Scenic Byway: A Day Trip Through California’s Stunning Sierra Nevada Mountains

Kings Canyon Scenic Byway in California satisfies you with its breathtaking landscapes, towering granite cliffs, and gorgeous views alongside the route.

3 North Cascades Nationwide Park

Washington

America’s Nationwide Park System has loads of underrated nationwide parks. However no single park holds the title of “underappreciated” fairly just like the superior however tragically ignored North Cascades National Park.

With only around 40,351 visitors in 2023, North Cascades was solely one among three nationwide parks within the decrease 48 states (together with Michigan’s Isle Royale and Florida’s Dry Tortugas) that did not crack at the least 100,000 guests yearly. However that is all the higher for anybody who acknowledges this gorgeous park for its treasure.

Situated within the Cascade Vary of Northern Washington, North Cascades could also be, pound-for-pound, probably the most wonderful mountain panorama anyplace within the nation, together with the scenic peaks of Glacier Nationwide Park! North Cascades is a very nice various to Glacier for true outside aficionados preferring to discover a pristine mountain vary in a way more rugged backcountry atmosphere.

Whereas North Cascades Nationwide Park does have accessible trails and customer facilities, a lot of it at present exists as an underdeveloped backcountry ultimate for distant hikes and mountaineering adventures. In truth, a few of North Cascades’ hardest hikes are in its backcountry areas. Nonetheless, even within the park’s least developed areas, guests will definitely don’t have any scarcity of pure magnificence.

North Cascades preserves all of the extravagant grandeur that the Cascade Vary as a complete is legendary for, together with snowy peaks, attractive alpine meadows, and picture-perfect lakes. Lots of the park’s lakes are wonderful locations for scenic boating journeys, and the towering Cascade mountains present considerable climbing alternatives that rival any discovered at Glacier!

2 Lake Clark Nationwide Park & Protect

Alaska

Any of Alaska’s eight national parks would make a wonderful various to Glacier. In any case, Alaska’s monumental mountains dwarf even the most important peaks in Montana, and Alaskan forests are massive sufficient to suit total states inside – with room to spare. However for guests who need all of Glacier Nationwide Park’s most wonderful surroundings on a a lot grander scale, the most effective Alaskan vacation spot is undoubtedly the spectacular Lake Clark National Park & Preserve.

In lots of respects, Lake Clark preserves the perfect illustration of what one footage when considering of “Alaska.” The park’s quite a few lakes (together with its namesake Lake Clark) sit nestled in the breathtaking Chigmit and Neacolas Mountains. Right here, snowy peaks intersect with deep boreal forests and pristine Alaskan shoreline to create the closest factor to “heaven on earth” that almost all guests will ever expertise. Glaciers, marshlands, and even active volcanoes all mix within the Lake Clark wilderness, making a one-of-a-kind expertise that exceeds even the most effective of a park like Glacier!

Lake Clark guests have greater than sufficient outside actions at their arms to occupy journeys of any size. The park’s huge forests are excellent for rugged, backcountry mountaineering, whereas Lake Clark and the park’s different our bodies of water are excellent locations for boating, kayaking, and fishing. The 2 mountain ranges that intersect within the park’s borders present considerable backcountry climbing routes much more adventurous than the routes in Glacier. And like Glacier, Lake Clark can also be house to iconic North American wildlife, together with large grizzly bears!

Associated

8 Alaska Hikes Where You Need Bear Spray

These Alaskan trails are the definition of “bear nation,” and hikers ought to plan accordingly, carrying bear spray always.

1 Wrangell-St. Elias Nationwide Park & Protect

Alaska

The truth that the 13,175-799-acre Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve is the largest single national park in the entire country must be sufficient to determine it as an incredible various to well-known however crowded parks like Glacier. However one have a look at any nook of Wrangell-St. Elias’s huge panorama will showcase simply how unimaginable this place actually is.

Situated in Southern Alaska close to the border with Canada’s Yukon Territory, Wrangell-St. Elias primarily protects the 2 majestic mountain ranges that give it its identify. The St. Elias Mountains function a monumental array of Pacific Coastal Mountains that embody among the highest peaks in each america and Canada (together with the transboundary Mount St. Elias, the second-highest mountain in each nations). The Wrangell Mountains, then again, are primarily volcanic in origin and embody a number of energetic volcanoes (together with its namesake Mount Wrangell, an enormous and energetic defend volcano).

Due to its measurement and panorama, Wrangell-St. Elias is a perfect vacation spot for mountaineering, backcountry mountaineering, kayaking, and wildlife viewing. The huge boreal forests across the park’s mountains are house to each black and brown bears, in addition to wolves, lynx, mountain goats, caribou, and even American bison!

Regardless of its distant and wild nature, the park does have many accessible mountaineering trails for guests to get pleasure from, although extra adventurous sorts can even discover loads of difficult backcountry treks as effectively. The park additionally provides guests ranger-guided tours that present deep perception into each the pure and human histories of this wonderful panorama.