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Wind Cave is one of the longest and most complex caves in the world. Complete with more than 100 miles of surveyed cavern passageways below ground and 28,295 acres of diverse ecology above, Wind Cave National Park is an American treasure with an impressive history. The first recorded discovery of Wind Cave occurred in 1881 when brothers Jesse and Tom Bingham followed the sounds of the whistling wind and came upon the cave. In 1903, the cave and surrounding...
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Rocky Mountain National Park is often called "the crown jewel" of the nation's park system. Set in Colorado in the southern part of the Rocky Mountain chain, which forms the backbone of North America, the park contains 72 named peaks above 12,000 feet with the tallest of these, Longs Peak, rising to 14,259 feet. Established in 1915 as a national park, it now hosts more than two million visitors every year. Vacationers enjoy picnicking, hiking, camping,...
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Founded in 1908 to provide services for visitors arriving at the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, serves tens of thousands of international travelers each year. From 1908 to 1960, visitors arrived on Union Pacific Railroad parlor cars and boarded awaiting stagecoaches or, in later years, touring buses to embark on their journey to Wonderland. The railroad no longer serves this popular gateway city,...
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For more than half a million years, volcano Mount Mazama towered over southern Oregon. From time to time, it erupted, spreading pumice, ash, and cinders for miles around. Then, approximately 7,700 years ago, Mount Mazama erupted with such force that the volcano could no longer support itself and it collapsed, leaving a large caldera. Eventually, the volcanic action subsided and all was calm. Over the next centuries, water and snow accumulated in the...
5) Fort Macon
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Silently standing guard on the eastern point of Bogue Banks overlooking the entrance to Beaufort Harbor, Fort Macon is the centerpiece of one of the most visited North Carolina State Parks. Since Fort Macon State Park was established in 1924, it has been a familiar destination for millions of visitors to the "Crystal Coast" of Carteret County, North Carolina. The old historic fort itself, standing today in venerable repose, harkens back to another...
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Southern Colorado's unique Great Sand Dunes rise to a height of 750 feet above the San Luis Valley floor and are the nation's highest dunes not adjacent to an ocean or lake. The sweeping dunes were protected as a national monument in 1932 and as a national park in 2000. From prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the historic Ute Indian tribe, inhabitants have long used the resources of the land around the dunes. Zebulon Pike was the first American explorer...
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A stone wall along Seneca Street in East Aurora, New York, welcomes visitors to Knox Farm State Park with its charming buildings, woodlands, and open fields. The farmland was purchased by Seymour H. Knox, an entrepreneur from Russell, New York. Successful in the five-and-dime store industry with his cousin F.W. Woolworth, Knox expanded his business interests to include raising horses and developing a self-sustaining farm. Following his death in 1915,...
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The story of Mount St. Helens is that of an active volcano and human interaction with it. The mountain is culturally important to the regional native people. Its Cowlitz name, Lawetlat'la, means "Person From Whom Smoke Comes." Early European settlers saw opportunities to make a living from the natural resources, and people fell in love with the forested valleys and slopes of the glacier-clad peak with the blue lake at its foot. Forgotten were the...
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Ward Pound Ridge Reservation's expansive landscapes and long-abandoned cellar holes tell a unique story. Its 4,315 acres, set aside by the Westchester County Parks Commission in 1925, hold within its boundaries a legacy left by the Native Americans and 18th- and 19th-century families who farmed the rolling fields and rocky hillsides. Marks of the 20th century include the remains of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) encampment and the stone walls,...
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Best known for its pivotal role in opening up the western frontier and its association with explorers and pioneers, the legendary Cumberland Gap has long been celebrated in music and literature. To better preserve that history, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was authorized in 1940 and now covers more than 24,000 acres in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Daniel Boone is remembered here, as well the Native Americans who used the path through...
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Denali means "The High One" in Athabascan. Standing at 20,237 feet, Denali is the tallest mountain in North America and has roughly 14,000 feet of vertical relief from base camp to summit-more even than Mount Everest. While native populations had lived within the boundaries of today's Denali National Park and Preserve for over 7,000 years, white settlers only arrived en masse starting in the 1890s. When they did arrive, it was to chase after Denali's...
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The first fire lookouts in the Glacier National Park region were simply high points atop mountain peaks with unimpeded views of the surrounding terrain. Widespread fires in the 1910s and 1920s led to the construction of more permanent lookouts, first as wooden pole structures and subsequently as a variety of one- and two-story cabin designs. Cooperating lookouts in Glacier Park, the Flathead National Forest, and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation provided...
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Yellowstone National Park contains over half the world's active geysers, with more than 700 within its 3,472 square miles. The most famous geyser is Old Faithful, named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. In 1871, the US Geological and Geographical Survey, led by Dr. F. V. Hayden, reached the Upper Geyser Basin. In just over a day, the explorers witnessed eruptions of many geysers still seen today, including Giantess, Beehive, Grotto,...
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The majestic beauty of Grand Teton National Park has moved people throughout time. Native Americans believed in the spiritual power of the towering mountain peaks and journeyed there to gain special powers. Early fur traders, who had just crossed less ominous mountain ranges, viewed with trepidation the massive obstacle that loomed before them on their passage to the Pacific Northwest. In others, the Tetons ignited vision and passion-a vision to preserve...
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Hot Springs was one of the first areas set aside as a federal land reservation in 1832-predating the first national park at Yellowstone by 40 years. In 1921, it was officially designated a national park. Physically the smallest of the 59 US national parks today, Hot Springs measures just larger than 5,500 acres. Its 47 on-site springs produce more than 700,000 gallons of thermal water per day. From early natives who quarried novaculite found in the...
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A fast-growing frontier community transformed itself into a beautiful urban model of parks and boulevards. In 1893, East Coast newspapers were calling Kansas City "the filthiest in the United States." The drainage of many houses emptied into gullies and cesspools. There was no garbage collection service, and herding livestock through the city was only recently prohibited. Through the diligent efforts of a handful of recently arrived citizens, political,...
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Situated on the Hudson River, the Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal operated its railroad/maritime complex for over 100 years in this area. After its shutdown in 1967, community advocates, already lobbying for nine years, continued their successful campaign for the site to become a public park. With over 1,000 acres, Liberty State Park opened on Flag Day-June 14, 1976. Today, this recreational landscape features the Nature Interpretive Center,...
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The Mount Hood National Forest is the closest national forest to Portland and encompasses the northern end of Oregon's Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River Gorge. Established in 1908 as the Oregon National Forest and renamed the Mount Hood National Forest in 1924, it now consists of more than a million acres. The forest is home to Oregon's tallest mountain, as well as eight designated wilderness areas covering more than 300,000 acres. The forest...
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Hip and historic, North Park fascinates with its commercial energy and Craftsman charm. The community has always embodied an enterprising spirit. In the 1870s, cronies of Alonzo Horton mapped neighborhoods north of Balboa Park in a patchwork of individual subdivisions. Four decades later, John Spreckels's streetcars finally brought investors, residents, and shopkeepers, creating San Diego's slice of Bungalow Heaven. Baseball great Ted Williams played...
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Located in one of the most isolated places on the earth, thousands of miles from the nearest landmass, the area surrounding the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park was created by violent earthquakes and fiery volcanic eruptions. Shrouded in ancient myth and legend, the park's history dates back to a time before the Hawaiians first arrived. It was a time when gods and goddesses roamed throughout these islands; the most famous, the fierce goddess of the...
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