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Reader Participation Day: If Cost Were No Object, Which National Park Would You Visit?

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Published Date

March 17, 2010

If cost weren't an issue, would you head to Crystal Lake in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve? Photo copyright QT Luoug, www.terragalleria.com/parks, used with permission.

We all harbor pipe dreams, ambitions that are so far out there they can best be described as dreams. With 392 units in the National Park System, it certainly can be considered a pipe dream to visit each one. But let's turn dreams to realities. If you could visit only one, which would it be?

That's right. If someone were willing to pay all your expenses, which unit of the National Park System would you choose to visit? I've long had a trip to Alaska on my to-do list, with a visit to either Wrangell-St. Elias or Lake Clark national parks. But then, visiting Hawaii Volcanoes would be nice, too, as would a canoe trip in Voyageurs National Park.

So, where would you head and why?

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Comments

Submitted by Connie Hopkins on March 17, 2010 - 7:07am.

My first inclination is to say ALASKA with all of her beautiful wilderness areas. THAT is actually on the radar however for us. We are trying to visit the National Parks on their Centennials (we'll be in Glacier this summer and Rocky Mt in 2015, Lord willing). In 2016, Hawaii Volcanoes and Haleakala will be celebrating theirs. I was impressed with Dayton Duncan's emotion as he described being an eyewitness to new land being birthed out of the lava flows, as we watched the Ken Burns/Dayton Duncan America's National Parks special. As a lover of all things history i would HAVE to go to Pearl Harbor and attempt to soak in the sacredness of that place.


Submitted by admin on March 17, 2010 - 7:22am.

Denali would be my first choice.


Submitted by admin on March 17, 2010 - 8:59am.

Katmai National Park to see the amazing brown bears fishing in the waterfalls.


Submitted by admin on March 17, 2010 - 9:16am.

American Samoa


Submitted by MikeD on March 17, 2010 - 9:23am.

Yeah would have to say something like Gates of the Arctic.


Submitted by admin on March 17, 2010 - 9:50am.

If I can have only one choice it would probably be American Samoa.


Submitted by admin on March 17, 2010 - 9:51am.

I'm going with a guided trip to Gates of the Arctic. I'd love to see it and don't feel prepared to do it on my own.


Submitted by SaltSage236 on March 17, 2010 - 10:47am.

Easy. Gates of the Arctic, hands down. Maybe on the same summer trip, I'd hike into Kobuk Valley and spend a month or two down at Wrangell-St. Elias, Lake Clark and Katmai before I fly back to Colorado.


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