By: Grace Hanlon and Sarah Thomas
In science class, we are starting to learn about National Parks. They are all so pretty but so different from each other. They all have things that are unique or special about them. With the help of nationalparks.org, here is a mini-tour guide about five of the coolest national parks in our country: animals and wildlife you can see, activities to do there, and what makes that park special.
Acadia: Acadia National Park is on the east coast in Maine. It is famous for Cadillac Mountain, (pictured above, which is the highest peak on the east coast), forests, and rocky beaches. Lots of people visit Acadia during the fall because of the nice weather and the beautiful scenery, especially the trees with all of the red, orange, and yellow leaves. It also has beautiful sunrises and sunsets which you can see from the Cadillac Mountain. Did you know that you might even be able to see the Northern Lights in Acadia during the winter? There’s also a lot of wildlife and animals like foxes, raccoons, coyotes, deer, crabs, otters, and the occasional moose.
Yellowstone: Yellowstone National Park is the first thing that comes to mind when people think of national parks or nature. That’s because Yellowstone is the first national park! Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, but parts of it are in Montana and Idaho. It is known for its geysers, mud pots, steam vents, and hot springs. In fact, Yellowstone has more geysers and hot springs than anywhere else in the world. A famous geyser in the national park is Old Faithful, but there are many, many others.
Even though geysers are an astounding sight, that’s not all that they’re for, though. They also play an important role in nature. There is also a lot of wildlife including large buffalo herds, grizzly bears, and wolves. Did you know that there are a lot of elk in Yellowstone? Yellowstone has four basic seasons: Summer, Spring, Fall, & Winter. More people come in during the summer than in the winter. But there are tons of things to do in Yellowstone all year round. This includes hiking, biking, horseriding, photographing, camping, e.t.c.
Arches: This national park is full of stone arches (that’s how it got its name). Actually, there are more than 2,000 natural stone arches, humongous rock fins, and big balanced rocks in this national park of Utah. But how did all these arches form? Well, around 65 million years ago, geologic forces started to shape and change the land, creating rock sculptures that slowly started to climb to the sky. These sculptures soon became arches. That is how Arches National Park started. Arches also has amazing sunsets and night skies. It has a desert environment. The arches in this national park are an amazing sight!
American Samoa: American Samoa National Park is known for its coral reefs, tropical rainforests, Samoan culture, and fruit bats. People like to hike and snorkel in American Samoa. Did you know that there are three species of bat in American Samoa?? These include two fruit bats (the White-napped Flying Fox and Samoa Flying Fox) and the Pacific Sheath-tailed bat. There is also the Polyseian Gecko, Mourning Gecko (interesting name!) Pacific Boa, and the Stumped-toed gecko. This national park takes up three islands, Tutuila, Ofu, and Tau. Each of the three islands has its pretty lakes. A few of these lakes include Fatiumulai, Lake Fiti, Lake Ologama, Crater Lake, Pala lake, e.t.c. American Samoa is hot and humid all year round.
Glacier Bay: The park is full of big beautiful glaciers which is obviously how it got its name Glacier Bay. It’s located in Alaska and the glaciers began to form around 4,000 years ago. Cold weather caused ice to grow and then turn into one huge glacier. Then in the 1700s, the climate began to get warmer and the glacier began to melt. This caused one huge glacier to melt into several different ones.
Fun fact: Glacier Bay is bigger than the state of Connecticut, but the national park only makes up 1% of Alaska! Glacier Bay is famous for its glaciers of course but there is also a rainforest and mountains. You might think that it’s super cold in glacier bay because that’s what might come to mind thinking about icy glaciers. But actually, in the summer it’s around 50 to 60 degrees and hardly ever drops to single digits in the winter. There are also some cool animals like killer whales, humpback whales, and sea lions, and some other things like deer, moose, and brown and black bears in the rainforest. It’s one of the world’s largest international protected areas.
