Acadia National Park, USA

Acadia National Park, Maine which comprises 47,000 acres of land on Mount Desert Island, Isle au Haut and the Schoodic Peninsula is the only national park in Maine. Looking for things to do in Acadia National Park? You can see all of the state's quintessential natural features in one place, including its rocky coastline, mountains, forests, ponds, marshlands and fields. You can also see the diversity of the state's native species, ranging from mollusks and mammals to raptors and reptiles. You and your family can watch for whales, seals, moose, foxes, peregrine falcons, herons, salamanders and toads as you explore the park.

Comprised of a cluster of islands on the rugged Maine coast, Acadia National Park has a variety of landscapes including granite-domed mountains, woodlands, lakes, ponds, and ocean shoreline. Steep slopes rise above the rocky shore, including Cadillac Mountain, which at 1,530 feet is the highest point on the U.S. Atlantic coast. Such diverse habitats create striking scenery and make the park a haven for wildlife and plants. There are nature centers where Acadia visitors can learn about the wildlife inhabiting the park, including over 2,500 species of plants and animals.

Mount Desert Island home to Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Seal Cove and Northeast Harbor contains the largest share of the park’s acreage. You can follow the park's famous carriage paths, commissioned by John D. Rockefeller in 1915, to explore the island. Whether you travel by foot, bicycle or horseback, you can explore the park's interior free from cars and crowds along these roads. Once you have completed your outdoor adventure, you can find shopping, dining and lodging options in Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor or Northeast Harbor.

Top Sites

Sand Beach

A cozy beach only 290 yards wide snuggles between the mountains and draws sunbathers, sand castle makers, and swimmers willing to brave ocean temperatures rarely warmer than 55°. The curious come at night to marvel at the phosphorescent sand and surrounding cliff faces.

Cadillac Mountain

Drive or bike 3.5 miles to the summit at 1,530 feet to enjoy spectacular 360-degree views of Bar Harbor, Frenchman Bay, and the Cranberry Islands. Or take in the unusual vegetation and the hawk activity as you hike up one of four trails: North Ridge, Gorge, West Face, or South Ridge.

The Precipice

On the eastern face of Champlain Mountain, you'll discover the most challenging of the park's hiking trails. With an exposed 1000-foot surface that's practically vertical, the climb is strenuous, recommended for experienced, fit, and fearless adventurers. The Precipice is also home to a good number of endangered peregrine falcons.

Jordan Pond House

Stop in for fresh, warm popovers with strawberry jam, homemade ice cream, and delectable lobster stew. Or, as in the late 1800s when it first opened, relax with afternoon tea.

Sieur de Monts Spring

George B. Dorr, the first superintendent of Acadia National Park, built a charming octagonal gazebo with a tiled roof over the spring in 1909 and inscribed the words The Sweet Waters of Acadia on a nearby rock. Located at the south end of Great Meadow, the lovely spot features walking trails, the Nature Center, and the Wild Gardens of Acadia, which identifies and labels 300 native plant species.

Thunder Hole

Visit just before high tide when the surf races into the naturally carved inlet and explodes as high as 40 feet with a thunderous roar. As you watch and listen, enjoy views north to Sand Beach and south to Otter Cliff.

Arches National Park, USA

Arches National Park is a United States National Park that is in Utah's Canyon Country near the town of Moab. It is home to the world's greatest concentration of natural arches, including the famous Delicate Arch that was seen all over the world during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Positioned in a “high desert” with elevations ranging from 4,085 to 5,653 feet above sea level in southeast Utah, Arches National Park contains the greatest density of natural sandstone arches in the world. Throughout the park, rock layers reveal millions of years of deposition, erosion and other geologic events.

Arches National Park supports many activities such as backpacking, biking, camping, rock climbing, and hiking . Hikers can take advantage of a wide variety of trails. Some hikes in Arches take only a couple hours to complete, while others are longer half-day hikes for the intermediate and advanced hiker. For those who prefer to tour by car, there are many scenic driving routes for viewing some of the park’s largest arches.

Main Spots

The Windows Section

After Courthouse Towers, the park road crosses an open, undulating landscape of petrified sand dunes and eroded pinnacles for 5 miles, before a turn-off to the east leads to the Windows Section, the first major concentration of arches and spires, that bear self-explanatory names such as Double Arch, Cove of Caves and Balanced Rock. Everything of interest in this area can be seen either from the road or by short walks, so all visitors go at least this far. Near the junction, the Garden of Eden is a particularly beautiful area of whitish slickrock, green bushes and red columns, soon after which the road ends at a loop with several large parking lots. Two popular trails begin here, one (0.4 miles) to Double Arch, the other a 1.2 mile circuit that passes three arches - North Window, South Window and Turret.

Courthouse Towers

Firstly, the road reaches Park Avenue and Courthouse Towers - monolithic spires and ridges of rock standing isolated in largely flat terrain, which have been featured in several cinema films, most famously Thelma and Louise in 1991. A one mile trail runs along the Avenue, starting and ending at trailheads along the road, and it is easy to take short cross-country walks towards other sites of interest; named features include Sheep Rock, the Three Gossips, the Organ and Tower of Babel. There are no major arches hereabouts except Ring Arch, reachable by a 1.5 mile off-trail hike along Courthouse Wash.

The Fiery Furnace

The next major feature is the Fiery Furnace - not arches, but an intricate maze of eroded red and cream-colored ridges with narrow gullies between them. Many people used to become lost walking through this area, and now it may only be explored as part of a ranger guided tour. There is a good viewpoint close to the road, of both the Furnace and Salt Valley, a long depression running through the center of the park (see QTVR). As its name suggests, the valley and all the underlying rock is made of unstable salt deposits, and it was the shifting and bucking of these layers that caused the heavier sandstone rocks on top to become distorted, creating the uneven landscape of fins and ravines found in many places within the park.

Delicate Arch

2.5 miles further along the main road, another turning leads to Wolfe Ranch, an old log cabin built next to a seasonal creek by early settlers in 1888. From the ranch a 1.5 mile foot trail crosses the creek via a small, swaying suspension bridge and leads across smooth exposed slickrock to the especially scenic Delicate Arch; perched precariously on the edge of a small canyon, this is the most famous arch in the park and has been adopted as the state symbol, appearing on Utah Centennial vehicle registration plates. As well as the arch, the end of the trail offers magnificent views of the rocky, multicolored land that characterizes the park, and across to the snow-covered La Sal mountains near the Colorado border. The road ends one mile beyond the ranch at Delicate Arch Viewpoint, though the arch is difficult to see from the road itself. A steep trail climbs 200 feet to the edge of a canyon and offers much better views.

Klondike Bluffs

Because of deep sand and occasional steep grades, a 4WD vehicle is required to visit most backcountry areas of Arches National Park, which include Klondike Buffs, a scenic concentration of arches and fins towards the northwest corner. This can also be accessed by the Salt Valley Road starting from US 191 outside the park, and is the only region suitable for backpacking.

Devils Garden

Past the Fiery Furnace, the road continues past several other large arches including Sand Dune, Broken and Skyline, and terminates at Devils Garden from where a 6 mile loop trail leads to seven major arches including 290 foot wide Landscape Arch, the longest in the world. The park campground is located nearby, offering 52 sites, quite well separated, in a very scenic setting. Drinking water is available.

Wildlife

At first glance, Arches National Park wildlife may seem scarce, but upon further examination, you will discover that wildlife is abundant here. Birds, lizards, and some rodents are the most frequently seen wildlife at Arches. The weather and seasons play a big role in determining what animals are active. Desert animals have a variety of adaptations for dealing with the climate. Most animals are nocturnal, only coming out at night. These include kangaroo rats, foxes, mountain lions, bats and owls. Other animals are most active at dawn or dusk since these times are cooler than mid-day. These animals include mule deer, coyotes, and black-tailed jackrabbits. A few animals are primarily active during the day, including rock squirrels, chipmunks, lizards, snakes, and eagles.

Mammoth Cave National Park, USA

Mammoth Cave is the world's longest cave system, with more than 365 miles explored. Cave tours have been offered since 1816, which makes Mammoth Cave one of the oldest tour attractions in North America. While cave tours are the park’s big attraction, there is plenty more to do and explore while visiting this beautiful wilderness area, such as hiking, camping, horseback riding, fishing and kayaking.

Mammoth Cave National Park became a World Heritage Site in 1981 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1990. Mammoth Cave National Park was established to preserve the cave system, including Mammoth Cave, the scenic river valleys of the Green and Nolin rivers, and hilly karst terrain typical of south central Kentucky. Beneath the sandstone-capped ridges of Mammoth Cave National Park lies the most extensive cave system on earth, with over 400 miles of passageway mapped and surveyed. And yet after 5,000 years of intermittent exploration, the full extent of this water-formed labyrinth remains a mystery.

Mammoth Cave National Park is the #1 tourist attraction in the state of Kentucky and has over 400 plus mapped miles of known passageways making it the longest cave system in the world. Even though Mammoth Cave is the Park's most renowned feature, the Park also includes over 52,000 acres of beautiful hills, bluffs and forests and is home to an enormous diversity of plants and animals and a rich cultural heritage tracing back over 4,000 years. Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave in the world.

Mammoth Cave National Park offers a wide variety of above-ground recreational activities with over 70 miles of trails, over 30 miles of rivers, camping, horseback riding and biking. Enjoy hiking or horseback riding in the rugged hills and exploring the deep valleys or seek solitude by a waterfall. Mammoth Cave is also one of few National Parks with over 30 miles of scenic, meandering rivers running through it, offering one of the few operating rural ferries in the nation, and year-round canoeing, boating and fishing opportunities.

Ranger-led activities are offered year-round and are a fun way to gain first-hand knowledge about the wildlife and flora of the region. The National Park activities include nature walks, campfire programs, slide show presentations and, of course, cave tours.

Main Attractions

Water Adventure 

Nearly 30 miles of the Green and Nolin rivers offer canoeing and kayaking - the perfect way to explore the dramatic landscape of the park. Boats may be rented outside the park at local outfitters who will gear you up for an hour, 3-hour, or even an overnight excursion. While traveling down the rivers, you will get a very different view of Mammoth Cave National Park. The land is full of dramatic bluffs, sinkholes, and stunning forests.

Wild Cave Tour 

This tour has participants on the hands and knees, crawling through tight spaces, scaling rocks, and sweating up a storm. But let me reiterate: it is awesome. The tour lasts about 6 to 6.5 hours, and includes a tasty lunch, which you eat inside the cave via The Snowball Room. Expect to see the following: 1. A whole lot of rock. 2. Stalagmites and stalactites. 3. Some of the largest underground rooms you can imagine. 4. Smiles.

Backcountry 

While the park offers three developed campgrounds, get away from all the visitors and enjoy the solitude of the backcountry. There are 12 peaceful and scenic backcountry campsites to choose from, which all offer something different to see. This park is much more than a cave, so get out there and see the rugged hills and woodlands of Kentucky. To get to most, you will take a "ferry", though I use this word with caution. Rather than a bridge, the park has a mini-ferry, large enough to fit one car at a time. You drive up, you sit in your car, and you begin to move to the other side of the river. It's a 20-second ride but brings you to another side of the park, something many visitors never check out.

Violet City Lantern Tour 

You will be surprised to see an underground hospital that was used for Tuberculosis patients, and to learn about mummies discovered along the trails. The tour covers 3 miles in 3 hours, so it is a slow pace with time to sit and discuss stories and illusions expressed and check out landmarks like the Star Chamber, Broadway Avenue, Elizabeth's Dome, and more. Though there are a few hills and stairs to climb, this isn't a very strenuous tour. But keep in mind that children under the age of 6 are not allowed and neither is flash photography.

Frozen Niagara 

Unlike most of the cave, this section is decorative and intricate. If you haven't guessed it, the landmark got its name for its strong resemblance to a frozen waterfall. You can explore this area by tour (Wild Cave explores it too) which takes visitors over the top of the save to the Frozen Niagara Entrance. The entrance was created in 1924 and takes visitors down into a fairyland of formations. You will descend into the Drapery Room, about 50 feet, and takes you only 1/4 of a mile in an hour. It's a slow tour, perfect for those looking for an introduction to the cave or for those with little ones.