Candidate at michigan state university is a man who likes to design road trips he has previously organized the ultimate us road trip and the best cross canada journey and this time olson created an itinerary that would allow travelers to see every single national park in the 48 contiguous states without wasting any time. The optimal road trip to the u s.
Some road trips include itineraries for multiple parks.
National parks road trip map. But of those 50 national parks in the continental usa there are another four parks that are not accessible by vehicle due to the fact that they are maritime based national parks. The national park service does an amazing job with their national parks and national monuments forests and more through the united states. Elias national park and preserve in alaska which spans a massive 13 2 million acres.
I ve designed this road trip to form a circle around the u s so you can hop on at any point and proceed whatever direction you like. Within the continental united states aka lower 48 there are a total of 50 national parks there are 2 in hawaii 8 in alaska and 2 in the territories making a total of 62. Along the way you ll be treated to sheer sandstone.
Our favorite road trips to the parks launching from cities with major airports and other popular launching points. The 11 day ish depending on how often you stop road trip traverses 1 500 miles six national parks that s zion bryce canyon capitol reef arches canyonlands and grand canyon plus monument valley as seen in our fave hbo thriller westworld and a slew of tiny desert towns. In total this road trip spans 14 498 miles 23 333 km of road and will take roughly 2 months if you re traveling at a breakneck pace.
Planning an epic national park road trip. The grand circle road trip includes parks. The largest u s national park is wrangell st.
This road trip is focused solely on those you can reach by car in. Trip planner contents include. Basic national park maps so you can get your bearings.
National park system technically consists of 59 parks but 12 of them are in alaska hawaii and other u s. If you want to see all of them on one trip be sure to check out randy olson and his road trip map where you can hit all of the national parks. Overview of national park entrances and their closest gateway towns.
The united states has 61 epic national parks which are looked after by the national park service. Zion and bryce canyon national parks arches and canyonlands national parks grand canyon national park capitol reef national park and more. From the grand canyon national park to yosemite national park each is as diverse unique scenic as the last.
Randy olson a computer science and engineering ph d. Western national parks road trip u s a. While this road trip can be done in around 2 weeks we recommend you allow yourself as much time as possible to explore these spectacular parks.
However we don t recommend this unless you have a full year. National parks centennial road trip map was designed to commemorate the 100 th birthday of the national park service which was in august of 2016.
