16 National Parks

David Medved, a member of Greenfield Kiwanis shared his photographs and experiences from 16 National Parks in the Western United States.  David mentioned that there are 392 national parks, forests, or monuments operated by the National Park Service.

The tour started in South Dakota with the Badlands National Park.  David mentioned that this is part of the plains region of the United States but the formations we see are the results of many years of water and wind erosion.

The next stops were Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  David’s pictures included pictures of the parks water features as well as Grizzly Bears, Bison, Moose, and Elk. 

The next five featured parks were in Utah.  Capital Reef National Park includes Cathedral Valley.    Dixie National Forest featured yellow Aspens after the first snowfall of the season.  Bryce Canyon National Park was the first park we saw featuring the hoodoo rock formations.  Zion National Park featured Angel Rock and Checkerboard Mesa.

Arizona is the home to Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, Vermillion Cliff National Monument and the Grand Canyon National Park.   The photographs of the scenery were spectacular with the photos of the Grand Canyon having been taken from a helicopter.

Petroglyph National Monument and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monuments in New Mexico featured Petroglyphs and hoodoos.  Tent rocks are hoodoos that erosion has caused the top of the hoodoo to fall off leaving a rock that resembles a teepee like tent structure.

Yosemite National Park featuring falls and the El Capitan rock formation is in California.  Our last featured Park was Sequoia National Park in California that features trees that are in excess of 2,000 years old.