The Can't-miss Sights in 20 National Parks Across the U.S.

While California's Sequoia National Park is already famous for being home to the world’s largest trees, there’s one tree that’s still bigger than them all.  

The General Sherman Tree is the world’s largest tree by volume, standing at a whopping 275 feet and with a diameter of more than 36 feet at its base.

"You can just sit there and stare at it, thinking about how long that tree has been there,” Jim, who says Sequoia National Park has been his favorite one, told T+L. "In this forest of massive sequoia trees, it’s impressive to see that there’s this one that just stands out above and beyond the rest of them."

The journey to Obstruction Point in Washington's Olympic National park is part of what makes heading to the location all the more appealing for Will.

Make your way up Hurricane Ridge and you’ll go along a winding scenic road where you’ll see massive evergreen trees that get thinner and thinner the higher you go. Meanwhile, you’ll see deer and fawns all along the way to the top, where you’ll stand among the peaks of the Olympic Range.

You’ll see glaciers and get breathtaking 360-degree panoramic views of the mountain, while another dirt road will then lead you to Olympic Point, all while you encounter turnouts for different lakes along the way.

“Once you arrive, you’re within three miles of some of the most beautiful hikes with turquoise glacial ponds, lakes, and a quiet unlike anything you’ll experience,” Will said of the location. “It’s like you can hear all of the blood vessels in your head and it’s definitely one of the most quiet places you’ll step into,” he added. 

Watch their video of the park here. 

The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are the easiest to visit within Death Valley National Park, which straddles both California and Nevada.

Here, you’ll find three different types of dunes that range from star-shaped to linear and crescent-shaped. There are also mesquite trees where you’ll find an array of wildlife.

“There’s these magnificent expansive dune fields, some of which go 100 feet tall that you can walk into, all while being surrounded by huge mountains that give off hues of purples alongside the golden dunes and a bright blue sky…it’s just an amazing and surreal experience to be able to see that,” Will said.

This trail in Maine's Acadia National Park is particularly lovely in the fall, according to Will, when you’ll find yourself surrounded by kaleidoscopic fall foliage.

The trail starts at sea level, taking hikers from the ocean's shore up and around the Bowl, a beautiful little lake along the trail where they can stop for a relaxing dip. 

“There’s just these unbelievable reds, yellows, and oranges all over the place until you get to the top,” Will said. “Once you do get to the top, you have these views of the Bowl, fall foliage like you’re never seen in your life, and views of the Atlantic ocean, making for a unique park experience to get to see all of these in one place."

Watch their video of the park here. 

When heading into Yosemite National Park in California, view the best of the park from one stunning spot: Yosemite Valley. 

From here you'll get impeccable views of America's tallest waterfall, the Yosemite Falls, as it cascades down 2,425 feet, in addition to awe-inspiring redwoods, massive granite peaks that stand on either side of you, and "some of the most unbelievable waterfalls in the world," according to Will. 

For a lovely hike through Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, Jim suggest taking the trail to Dream Lake. 

The trail, which extends for roughly two-and-a-half miles, will take you through a series of lakes and encounters with everything from bears to marmots, all before reaching the jewel, Dream Lake, at the end.

"You come out of the forest and see this glistening alpine lake with massive granite peaks and it just seems unreal," Jim said. "It simply blows you away." 

Not only are the Waimoku Falls in Maui's Haleakalā National Park a stunning sight themselves, the journey to reach them is also filled with incredible scenery to enjoy.

As you make your way to the falls, you’ll hike through a bamboo forest where some of the bamboo can reach as high as 50 feet or more, taking you into tunnels of dark green that make for an otherworldly sight.

“You can hear the water dripping and the bamboo cracking against each other as the wind passes through, until you walk through and the trail empties out into this stunning waterfall that looks like something straight out of ‘Jurassic Park,'” Will said. 

Jim picked out Mingus Mill, a historic mill dating back to the 1800s in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, because it’s a scene you wouldn’t typically find in a national park.

Visiting the grist mill, which sits lined with emerald moss throughout, will make you feel as though you’ve stepped back in time as you marvel at its cast iron turbine and see it still fully functioning, all within the surroundings of the park's ancient hardwood forests. 

Watch their video of the park here. 

For a camping experience you'll never forget, head to the Sage Creek Campground in South Dakota's Badlands National Park. 

Make your way along a dirt road and enjoy incredible views before arriving at the campground, where you'll notice you're not alone. 

That's because entire herds of bison occupy the grounds here, giving you a rare chance to get up-close with the animals, who are not afraid to roam right around you and near your tent. 

"It's an incredible camping experience I don't think you can get almost anywhere else, but that's just the thing about national parks, they protect these types of experiences so that you can have them," Jim said. "We were the only campers there, and to be able to walk through this campsite where these wild animals that have never been part of a domesticated setting walk right around you is just an incredibly cool experience."

Watch their video of the park here.  

“This is where you’ll find the most beautiful stand of redwoods in the world,” Will said of Stout Grove, a 44-acre grove within Redwood National Park. 

Here, visitors will find a loop trail where hundreds of giant redwoods can be seen in all their glory.

“You look up and around and there’s just the tallest trees you’ve ever seen in bright greens and reds, just for sheer viewing purposes it’s the best looking grove of redwoods,” Will said.

Part of the reason for this, according to Will, is that while other groves often have underbrush that can obscure your view of the trees, Stout Grove only has ferns and lets you look through the grove to see the large trees stretching in the distance.  

Watch their video of the park here. 

Jim's top suggestion for those visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is to witness the rare sight of lava flowing into the ocean. 

The location of where this takes place tends to change, though the park currently has active lava flows into the ocean at Kamokuna. 

"You can actually stand there and see the lava flowing into the ocean and see the areas where it's starting to build up new land...to be able to watch the creation of new land while you're walking on these ancient lava fields is just unreal," Jim said.

If you're not able to catch the lava flow, another suggestion Jim has is to check out the Thurston Lava Tube in the rainforest portion of the park, where you'll find yourself walking through a huge and hollowed-out tube created by ancient lava. 

"You suddenly find yourself in a rainforest with birds, ferns, and this dense greenery, and it's such a contrast from the rest of the park where everything seems completely devoid of life with its volcanic terrain," Jim told T+L. 

Watch their film of the park here. 

The Narrows is considered one of the most popular hikes in Utah’s Zion National Park, and for good reason.

The hike takes you through the narrowest section of Zion Canyon, where you’ll find yourself surrounded by a gorge with walls that reach as high as 1,000 feet on each side.

Some of the areas are so narrow that you can actually touch both sides.

“It’s great in the summer because you can wade through the Virgin River as you go and see all of these slot canyons with hues of reds and oranges as the light filters through,” Will said.

Plus, the area’s cottonwoods add a brilliant golden hue.

Will suggests you go early to get the best of the experience. “You’ll be the only one and you can hear the rush of the river against your echoes,” he said. 

Watch their video of the park here. 

“It’s widely considered to be the best and most well intact set of Native American ruins anywhere in the country,” Jim said of the Cliff Palace in Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park.

As the largest cliff dwelling in North America, the cliff homes are an architectural marvel to behold as they stand carved directly into the rocky facades. 

“It’s really cool to stand there and see this incredible marvel of ancient architecture as you wonder why they are here and how on Earth they were able to build these dwellings,” Jim said. “What’s interesting is that a lot of national parks protect natural areas, which this does as well, but it’s also protecting these unbelievable manmade marvels."

Take the Wall Street Mill trail to Wall Street Mill at Joshua Tree National Park and you’ll be surrounded by Joshua trees all along your way.

The trees, with their intriguing shapes, look as though they have arms reaching out to the skies.

“They look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book,” Will said of the fascinating trees. “They’re these shaggy and wiry trees where no two are alike.”

You’ll also run into everything from bighorn sheep to hairs along the way, all before reaching the 19th-century gold mill in the middle of the desert. 

Watch their video of the park here. 

Since the duo spent two and a half weeks in Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park, they really got to know its scenery.

Their favorite was Namakan Lake, where you’ll see incredible fall colors on the maple and aspen trees that line the shore. 

There are also tiny little islands throughout the the lake, giving you your own private island to camp on while seeing everything from ducks and geese to bald eagles and families of beavers.

“It’s so cool to be in the water and see these beavers changing the tributaries of the lake as they move the branches through the water,” Jim said of the location.

It’s particularly beautiful to catch a sunset here, since the water is so still that you can what Jim describes as a “picture-perfect reflection” of the pink and purple sunset against the water.

But the real show starts at night, when you can catch the Northern Lights in the winter and see hues of greens and purples dancing in the night sky.

“It’s one of the most amazing things you can see in nature,” Jim said.

Watch their video of the park here. 

Sitting at an elevation of 6,400 feet, this is the highest point you can reach by car at Mount Rainier National Park, meaning the views you get are incredible.

Colorful wildflowers illuminate the area in the summertime, while you’ll find magnificent views of Mount Rainier year-round.

During the sunrise, shades of gold, red, and pink sweep the side of the mountain to create a breathtaking sight, and by night the area is prime for stargazing.

Mount Rainier is also the most heavily-glaciated peak within all of the lower 48 states.

“You can see these massive glaciers all over and especially with global warming, you don’t get that many opportunities to see glaciers like this,” Jim said. “Most national parks are either losing their glaciers completely or seeing them retreat to the point where they're incredibly tiny, but here you get the true opportunity to see glaciers in their glory.” 

Head to this area of Great Sand Dunes National Park to see the largest dune field in all of North America, while admiring the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. 

"I'll never forget my first time going there," Will said of his favorite national park. "What's different about this park is that while you'll usually see footprints and signs of man on other fields like this, because of the constant wind, the area washes itself clean every morning so it looks like you're the first person to ever walk on there."

The field is filled with huge depressions between the dunes that you can camp in before hiking to the top of the massive dunes for top-notch views. 

"There's also usually snow that sits on the top of the peaks year round, so you get this beautiful combination of the golden dune fields, the dark green mountains, and the white caps that sit on top of them," he said.

Head to the most easily accessible grove in the park to admire the oldest trees in the world. Set just below the Wheeler Mountain peak, the trail here takes you through a secluded area filled with mountains, forests, evergreens, alpine lakes, and even a glacier that sits in the middle of Nevada. 

"You'll see these twisted crazy trees that line the paths and it's fascinating to see how they've clinged onto life for so long in such an inhospitable area," Jim said.

“You can sit here for hours and never look at the same thing twice,” Will said of Mather Point. Look down and you'll get remarkable views of the Colorado River and fascinating rock formations below. 

There’s a trail for those who want to hike from the top to the bottom, which Will says is a remarkably scenic experience.

“It feels like you’re going on a journey to the center of Earth as you look down and see all these different layers of rock that are millions of years old,” Will said. “You’re literally looking at millions of years of history in different colors as the rocks go from shades of greens and reds to dark black."

Although these are two different lakes, they sit on the same trail you'll take through Grand Teton National Park. 

Some of the park's other lakes can get heavily crowded thanks to the park's proximity to Yellowstone National Park, which is why these lakes make an ideal location to get away from the crowds and enjoy unbelievable views of the Teton range, which Jim says are some of the most dramatic mountains in the world. 

"The Tetons don't have foothills, so when you go up to them, you're smacked right in the face with them and look up to see these massive mountains that just go straight up into the sky," he said. 

You'll also be able to admire the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the lakes as you relax to the sounds of chirping birds, making for a truly tranquil experience. 

Watch their video of the park here.