National Park Week 2020 is winding down and it’s great to see all of the activity the has taken place online.  Even though the world is sheltering-in-place, the appreciation for the parks prevails!  I’ve seen some of the most beautiful pics and stories across social media and on the National Park Foundation website.  Inspirational for sure and it really has me ready to hit the road and wander when it’s safe to do so.  Today, we are going to toss out 20 NPS facts that many of you will know, but hopefully, there is one or two here that you can add to your internal history book on the National Parks.  Be forever wandering, but not lost and #FindYourPark!

20 NPS Facts:

1. Yellowstone National Park was the first U.S. national park, founded in 1872.  Although the majority of the park sits in Wyoming, both Idaho and Montana can claim that the park is in their state
2. The first place you should stop at any park is the Visitor Center.  You are in such because there are nearly 880 of them to visit and get your passport stamp!
3. National parks contain at least 247 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals, more than 75,000 archeological sites, and nearly 27,000 historic and prehistoric structures
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park with more than 9 million guests per year, followed by Grand Canyon National Park, which gets more than 4 million visits per year
5. Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the lower 48 U.S. states, stretching 5,300 square miles or 3.4 million acres.  The smallest national park is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, coming in at about 5,500 acres. This was actually the first federally protected piece of land in 1832. It was not named a national park until 1921
6. Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range of Denali National Park is the highest point in the national parks at 20,302 feet
7. There are two national parks located north of the Arctic Circle: Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Kobuk Valley National Park. Both are obviously in Alaska
8. One of the hottest temperatures on earth was recorded in 1913 in Death Valley National Park, registering 134 degrees.  DV also boasts the lowest point in the western hemisphere: Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, is 282 feet below sea level
9. The Grand Canyon, in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, is known as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World
10. Utah’s five national parks are all within easy driving distance of each other, which means that you can cross off five national parks from your “bucket list” on just one trip. The Sequoia National Parks namesake trees in are some of the world’s largest living things while Redwoods National Park is home to the tallest trees
11. Everglades National Park protects more than 25% of Florida’s original everglades
12. Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky has the longest cave system in the world with more than 3,454 mapped miles.  Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is home to the nation’s deepest cave, which is 1,593 feet deep.  Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is the first cave to be named a national park in the world
13. At 1,932 feet deep, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is the deepest lake in the U.S.
14. The Yellowstone Caldera, Yellowstone National Park, is a supervolcano that is responsible for three of the world’s six biggest volcano eruptions
15. Three of the 10 highest waterfalls in the world are located in Yosemite National Park in California.   Ribbon Falls in Yosemite is nine times taller than Niagara Falls
16. Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the largest volcano on earth both in terms of volume and height above its base. It contains about 19,000 cubic miles of lava and rises more than 50,000 feet above its base, including the portion which is beneath the ocean
17. Mesa Verde National Park was the first national park to be recognized for “works of man,” an acknowledgment of the incredible cliff dwellings left behind by the Pueblo Indians
18. There are 25 active glaciers and more than 700 lakes of various sizes inside Glacier National Park
19. Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota has 344 square miles of navigable waters for boating, canoeing, and kayaking
20. The National Park Service protects over 84 million acres of wild landscapes and historic sites with over 18,000 miles of trails in the national parks just waiting for you to explore them!