Category Ranking
Best National Parks for Scenic Drives in Winter
Top parks for scenic drives during winter, ranked by a composite of activity quality and seasonal conditions.
Updated
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley's salt flats, singing dunes, and moving rocks reward October-to-April visitors with cooler temps and wildflower blooms.
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Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Two active volcanoes shape terrain from tide pools to alpine desert. Walk across recent lava flows and through rainforests on ancient rock.
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Big Bend National Park
Big Bend protects 1,200 square miles where the Chisos Mountains rise from desert. Over 450 bird species recorded: more than any park.
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Arches National Park
Over 2,000 natural stone arches carved from red sandstone, the world's highest concentration, including the iconic Delicate Arch.
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Grand Canyon National Park
The Colorado River carved through two billion years of rock to create a chasm one mile deep and 277 miles long at the South Rim.
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Saguaro National Park
Giant saguaros, some 200 years old and 40 feet tall, frame both sides of Tucson in the densest stands of these iconic cacti anywhere.
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Haleakalā National Park
A dormant volcano where you stand above the clouds at 10,000 feet, then descend through alpine desert to rainforest in a single morning.
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Joshua Tree National Park
Two desert ecosystems meet where the Mojave's yuccas give way to the Colorado's slopes and granite formations split by ancient forces.
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Yosemite National Park
Granite cliffs rise 3,000 feet, seasonal waterfalls drop half a mile, and giant sequoias reach into the Sierra sky in this iconic valley.
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White Sands National Park
The world's largest gypsum dunefield covers 275 square miles where white sand dunes shift up to 30 feet per year and swallow ecosystems.
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