National Parks

The United States has 63 official national parks, a subset of the much larger National Park System, which includes more than 400 protected sites of various designations. These 63 parks are the crown jewels—large, scenic, ecologically significant landscapes preserved for their natural beauty, geology, wildlife, and recreation opportunities. They stretch from the volcanic peaks of Hawai‘i to the fjords of Alaska, the deserts of the Southwest, the forests of the Appalachians, and even into two U.S. territories. The very first national park was Yellowstone, established in 1872, widely recognized as the first national park in the world.