The Grand Canyon was formed by the Colorado River eroding away rocks for millions of years.

The animal you saw and thought was a seal is a manatee . They are amazing animals very gentle creatures and huge!

The Grand Canyon was, and still is, created through geologic processes. The Colorado River cut through the rock, it’s also the type of rock the river cut through along with the uplifting of the land.

When he said he could just cycle over that massive National Park, I nearly fell out of my chair. I can only think he’s never seen a wild forest. I would so love to take him by the hand, and lead him in, and watch his face as he begins to understand….❤️

National Parks are part of the federal Gov. run by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. It is to conserve nature, wildlife, and cultural heritage. You cannot build on them.

The US is massive, I can't even imagine a point where there would be so many people in the US that we would need to take up residence in state/national parks. 47% of the US is uninhabited, there is plenty of space for folks to live in for the time being. 🙂 Love, LOVE your videos by the way! Keep it up!

that animal you thought was either a platypus or a sea lion is actually a manatee I believe

As someone who grew up in Alaska I'm just sitting here laughing about you and Laurence trying to pronounce some of the names. 😁

The Grand Canyon literally still has the one thing that created it... the Colorado River.

The hidden gems aren't the national parks but the state parks. Some have landscapes that are just as beautiful and they are way less crowded. Out west there are scenic blm lands, too, and it's free to camp on them.

No, the Grand Canyon wasn't created by an asteroid - you're thinking of the Great Meteor Crater, which is also in Arizona, & is about 125 miles away. Both are more or less on Route 66. The Grand Canyon was formed by water erosion, as the Colorado River runs right through it. And the people of Alaska are paid an incentive to live there - currently it's about $3000 per year, & I think that's per person, not household.

The Grand Canyon is 6000 ft deep at its deepest point and 18 miles wide at its widest. Its an average of a mile deep and 10 miles wide. As a lot of people have said already, the Grand Canyon is not an impact crater, its a canyon that was eroded by the colorado river. There is, however, an impact crater in Arizona thats pretty significant (not like Chicxulub significant, buts its like 1.2 km across and 560 feet deep.) Now Yellowstone: its not overdue. Not only is that not how probability works, its average time between eruptions is much larger than people think and, if there was a way to be "due" for an eruption, we would have 100k years to prepare. That being said, volcanos are not clocks and they dont go off on a schedule. And theres evidence that a) yellowstone could erupt effusivly (aka non-explosively) or in smaller stages and b) the activity might be winding down and it might not erupt at all, at least for a good long while, until the hotspot can create a new magma chamber. I would check out the video "yellowstone wont explode and end civilization" by soup emporium. A very good overview of the nature of yellowstone's eruptibility and its funny too! And no, national parks are not going to be developed more than like camp grounds, ranger stations, and roads. They are protected for a reason and america has more than enough room for everyone, so theres no need.

As an American expat now living in the UK, I can opinionate that the reason it feels like a long ways from one place to another is that the layout of the roads seems to have been inspired by a toddler throwing spaghetti; there was just far more infrastructure built up before modern roads arrived unlike in a relatively young nation like the United States. It's also why I agree with the saying, "Anything over 100 years old to an American is really, really old and anything over 100 miles away to a Brit is really, really far." 😂 When I worked in the Southern U.S., it wasn't a big deal for me to drive home to Ohio on a long weekend to visit my family for a couple days - 10 hour drive with a few pitstops for food and petrol, leave before breakfast and be at my folk's house in time for dinner. But to put into better perspective how efficient our highway infrastructure is, in that 10 hour trek (not counting getting off for pit stops) I made four right turns and a left between my door and theirs, just shifting from one highway to another. That's why I think Americans just don't notice the distance Kabir. 🙂

Mother Nature and Time created the Canyon and the land around!!! No asteroids, volcano or earthquakes made this bad boy. Just rain, wind and climate!!!!!! Pretty damn impressive!!!!! So says Austin TX!!! 😎🍸

It'll be kind of fun to watch somebody attempting to cycle through an area where there are absolutely no roads. Seems to me that to be efficient a bicycle actually needs a flat surface to roll on in the long-term.😊

LOL. Two friends and I did a leisurely 2 week road trip around and through Scotland, up to Orkney, hit some of the western Isles. Everybody we ran into were so big-eyed when we explained where we’d been so far and where we were going, and then we tried to explain that Scotland was about 1/3 the size of our home state.

The aquatic animal we saw in the Florida, is a MANATEE. A gentle and amazing animal. I believe they're protected as an endangered species. They are slow-moving and non-aggressive - at the mercy of mankind.

There are so many wonderful national parks, but there're also many state parks that are just as amazing 😊

Sir David Attenborough is truly a UK National Treasure.

Kabir, the National Parks get all the attention, but there are National Forests, and National Wildlands, also. As well, State Parks in many states -- especially western states -- are every bit as beautiful as their National counterparts, and usually significantly less crowded. Here in Oregon, for instance, all of the beautiful coast here is public property, many actual State Parks, but the whole coast is managed by the Parks Department. As well, Oregon has only one, small National Park, Crater Lake, which to my mind is really a bit boring. Yet there are millions of acres of wildland for camping and hiking and exploring. There are many such examples around the country. I believe what you remembered about the size of US National Parks was that, taken together, the Alaskan National Parks are larger than all the British Isles connined. There is a mile wide crater in Arizona that was made by a meteor impact (it was about the size of a basketball on impact). But the Grand Canyon was formed by erosion from the Colorado River over eons, millions and millions of years. The Alaskan wilderness often requires travel by float plane or bush plane, because there are no roads in many places and few inhabited destinations.

Up here in Maine, we're proposing a new national park. I really hope it goes through. If it does, it'll be called Maine Northwoods national park and will be 3.2 million acres or 5k SQ miles (almost 13k SQ km) to give you an idea of the size, it would be roughly the size of Northern Ireland. And larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks combined.

Paul Bunyan dragged his axe along the ground after a long and tiring journey. That's how the grand canyon was created

Living in National Parks: General speaking, No. But, there is often housing within the park for park employees, as well as concessionaires. Also, some parks do still have private "inholdings" that predate the park's formation. Last but not least, there are a few parks that include the traditional homesites of native Americans - including the Grand Canyon. But generally speaking, the National Parks are not located in places that would be convenient to live, and many could not naturally support much population.

Hey Kabir!1st thing I want to mention is the Grand Canyon. A canyon plateau was created by a tectonic uplift millions of years ago that the river we call the Colorado River carved its way thru. So, basically it was created by erosion. The Grand Canyon itself is 446km long. 29km wide & 1,859meters deep or just over 1mile. I went there as a kid. It was beautiful, but the main thing I remember was having fun yelling out into the canyon & hearing my voice echo back.😊 The animal that was shown w/the Everglades National Park was not a Sea Lion or Seal. Definitely not a Platypus, he was not talking about Australia. The animal was a Manatee aka a Sea Cow. Good reaction!😊

You can camp on “public lands” but you can’t stay longer than two weeks at the same place. I can’t imagine they’d ever be developed in the foreseeable future

The vast majority of Glacier Bay's "visitors" cruise into and out of the bay without departing the cruise ship that they are sailing on - it is a spectacular cruise, and oftentimes a National Park Service Ranger will board the vessel and narrate the cruise. Not surprisingly - Many of Alaska's National Parks, are destinations that can be booked as part of a cruise package.

Lakes in volcanic craters looks so blue because they are very clear, and very deep, so reflection from the sky just make them look that turquoise. Crater Lake in Oregon is the same way. The lakes around Glacier National Park are all glacier melt, so they are pure and clear and look shallow, but are incredibly deep!

I’m from the U.S. and have visited the Lake District and Snowdonia. Both are absolutely beautiful. No, the Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River.

The formation of the Grand Canyon was entirely alluvial. When the great inland sea that covered the Midwestern US was pushed up by the formation of the Rocky Mountains, all that water had to go somewhere, and in its passage it carved out the canyon.

Kabir, Katmai NP (Alaska) is famous for the brown bears that "fish" for salmon coming upstream to spawn. Special observation platforms have been set up and humans are required to view from those designated areas. At certain times up to 2 dozen bears can be observed fishing in one particular prime area. Most of the Alaska NP's have a limited number of visitors due to their relative inaccessibility. One of my favorite NP's is Kenai Fjords NP near Seward, AK, which is both stunningly beautiful and pretty accessible.

Depending where you are, a two-hour commute isn't necessarily very far - people laugh when they visit urban areas and distances are given in time (travel time usually depends on time of day), not miles/kilometers. Then they Find Out.

2 hours is long for you guys? That is wild. 2 hours isn't that bad 5 six hours is what I would consider a long trip, 1 hour is definitely very common.

Best time to visit most National Parks is the spring or fall. Don't go in June, July, or August. Check the weather before scheduling your trip. I went to the Grand Canyon 2 wks ago. Most of the snow had melted but not all areas were open.

Great Smokey Moutaincs National Park spans western NC and eastern NC. Absolutely beautiful.

One of my favorite things about these large parks is that many of them have some of the darkest night skies in the US, so you get an amazing nighttime view as well as the daytime scenery.

Speaking of Yellowstone, an old veteran mama grizzly bear just emerged recently with a new cub from hibernation. At this point mama knows what to do as it’s her 18th. I think they named the cub Teton, but I’m not entirely positive there. Also, just look up pics of Crater Lake here in Oregon.

"To me, a two and a half hour drive is a long drive." I live in Los Angeles and used to work in San Dimas, about 30 mi away. I used to drive nearly 2 hours to and from work every single day 😂

That sea animal that Laurence said, "Whatever that is", is a manatee. Manatees are also known as "sea cows". They're very docile and are endangered.

At its deepest point, the Grand Canyon is 6,093 (or about 1857 meters) deep. There is a Meteor Crater in Arizona, but it is not the Grand Canyon.

there is a National Park in Illinois called starred Starved Rock beautiful with a great waterfall called Just one mile from the Visitor Center is Wildcat Canyon which has the tallest waterfall in the park at 125 feet. When frozen in winter, it's a popular spot for ice climbers. You can learn more about ice climbing at Starved Rock State Park in this post.Jan 23, 2023 it's a must see

In the USA, 53% of the land is unpopulated 👍

The pale blue water you noticed is characteristic of glacial meltwater. It is primarily due to the size and identity of the dissolved minerals in the water.

I have visited Yellowstone, the Great Smokey Mountains, Glacier National Park, the Redwoods and the Badlands. All of them are amazing places to visit. My favorite is Yellowstone, mainly because of the wildlife. We’ve seen bears, wolves, bison and moose. Yellowstone doesn’t disappoint. There is no building in any of the parks except for the campgrounds, and other structures for the rangers and volunteers who work at the parks. Yellowstone does have several lodges that were built in the early years of the park before the rules were made to define and protect the parks. There are also many National Monuments and Forests to explore. The state parks are also wonderful and are scattered all across the states. There is so many places to explore and enjoy in the US.

The Grand Canyon, in the U.S. state of Arizona, is a product of tectonic uplift. It has been carved, over millions of years, as the Colorado River cuts down through the Colorado Plateau. The Grand Canyon is between 5 million and 70 million years old. A canyon is a deep, narrow valley with steep sides.Jul 15, 2022

Yes, the Yellowstone volcano is due. Honestly, any volcano erupting is deviating, but it's actually needed if we want any form of civilization. I'd suggest looking into that. It's actually quite fascinating, and terrifying.

That large aquatic animal that you saw it's called a manatee, or AKA a sea cow😂, the only known predators for them is man they are in the endangered species list just because of man😢, Alaska the one largely named park with an "A" yes it's named after natives. I recently learned that they do not like to be called native American.

To give you an idea of some sizes: 1. London to Edinburgh is abt 402 miles. 2. New York City to Atlanta Georgia (7 states all east coast) is abt 866 mi. 3. San Diego CA to Yreka CA (just a few miles shy of Oregon) is 770 miles. And you're still in CA! 4. Texas is so wide that its westernmost city, El Paso, is closer to San Diego , 723 MI than it is to Houston in the same state (744 mi)

The Grand Canyon was made through erosion of the land by the Colorado River. The crater you're thinking of is Crater Lake

Indiana Dunes has become a national park at the shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana. It's within 50 miles of Chicago and it's an amazing place. One of the hidden gems that you mentioned. Unlike some of the other areas surrounding Lake Michigan, the beaches are pristine. There are neat trails going back into the woods. The sand dunes provide a lot of fun for the kids to roll down, although it's a lot of work climbing up them. It's just a really neat place to visit.

I don't think the population of the US would ever get so large that it would require us to go into federal land. West of the Mississippi there is still tons of undeveloped land that could be developed first

1:01 You can get a package deal that will tour the Southwest National Parks… Grand Canyon, Mt. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Death Valley… the BEST time to come is late August-Mid October, or late March- early June. That is hiking season. Tourists come more in June- September. When school is out. I work outside the GCNP for a hotel.

Yosemite in spring is the best time. The waterfalls are amazing.

Having a wilderness experience in a U.S. national park isn’t just, or even mostly, about visiting in the off-season. Many of the less popular parks aren’t ever mobbed by tourists the way the most popular ones are, so visiting them in the off-season isn’t necessary to avoid the tourist mobs. In even the most popular parks you can still have a true wilderness experience (even more than you may want, honestly) if you do more than just visit the most popular, easily accessible and more developed sites within the park. You need to check ahead of time about necessary back country permits, resources, safety procedures, etc., but if you get off the beaten path, then there is still a lot of wilderness in even the most popular parks, and you’ll run into almost no one even in high-tourist season.

Sequoia National Park can give you a really good feel of nature, mainly because you feel sooooo small there. There's not as many animals around though. My favorite is Yellowstone for sure. If you get there in April or May, or maybe the end of August or into September, you might have smaller crowds. There's always a Winter visit. The thing is, I always feel like I'm going through a zoo with no barriers between me and the wildlife. I had to come to a stop to let a badger and her 4 little babies cross in front of my motorcycle. When I looked over to the side, she was sitting up, eyeballing me. "Ok, got it....moving along now." Or, when I was stopped in traffic and this huge bull bison walked past my bike. Yep, Yellowstone, that would be my pick.

The Grand canyon is NOT a creator. Kabir it is carved by the Colorado River that is still cutting into it. No by Law you can not build in a Nat. Park. They all are protected.✌👍

Best time to visit Yellowstone is late September, early October, before snow. You get Autumn colors, elk bugling, fewer kids and families since they're back in school. Also, every state has state parks, many of which are singular and spectacular. Crater Lake in Oregon is an extinct volcano now filled with water. The big meteor crater in Arizona is fun to visit, much smaller than Crater Lake, and tiny compared to the Grand Canyon. All are cool places.

To clarify, there are national parks and national forests. Parks are preserved as close as possible to their natural state. National forests can be harvested for timber and other resources, but a lot of permits are required and conditions met before begining. The purpose of national forests was to set aside areas that could be managed so one company couldn't buy all the land. Also so that they wouldn't destroy one resource while going after another. There are also state parks and forests, where states have done the same thing.

Great reaction! To put what you've been told into perspective: a 2-hour commute isn't "normal" here in the US, it's extreme -- but it does happen. Periodically, articles appear giving examples of how much time and expense people here are willing to commit to traveling to/from work, in order to live in a location they like and/or can afford.

There is a huge crater relatively close to the Grand Canyon. You can see them both in the same day but have very different causes.

There's a reason Alaska is sparsely populated and also home to some very large national parks. It tends to be a bit cold and snowy there. Small private planes are a common mode of transportation for a reason, some areas can't be accessed by road, at least for part of the year. Much of it remains wilderness because it's not exactly conducive to human habitation, too harsh for most people. I've been to Alaska, but only along the southern coast (field work on Coast Guard vessels), and decades ago. Did make it to Juneau on one trip, went to an observation center to see the glacier there. Most trips were actually to Kodiak Island, at least for home base. Population would have to climb much, much higher before having to consider moving to Alaska. Most current US population is concentrated in cities and primarily along the coasts. There's a *lot* of space still left undeveloped within CONUS, though many would prefer to leave it that way. And, building housing in a National Park would mean that portion was no longer part of a National Park, in most cases, since they are usually for preserving what's there, not building on it. And, as many others here have said, the Grand Canyon is a river canyon, carved by the river that still flows through it. I've been there once, and I would recommend doing as we did and look into using the Grand Canyon Railroad from Williams, AZ. A small town that also happens to be on a part of the historic Route 66. Tourism to the Canyon rim originated with a train that runs from Williams up to the rim. The current Railway works with the hotels and rooms both in Williams and the Canyon and offers package deals. You avoid the traffic of driving into the Canyon. You get a ride on a restored train from back then, maybe even pulled by a steam engine depending on time of year. Very scenic ride. An extra van ride to a bit of non-public rim area. Baggage handling throughout at both ends. Train up in the morning, down in the afternoon. Which you take depends on the package. Up and back same day, stay a day, or two. They do things like stage a shootout at sundown on Route 66 and a train robbery on the ride back down from the canyon.

One of my favorite things to watch, when the salmon are running at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, is the live Bear Cam. Even if you look it up now, you can see some of the "greatest hits" so to speak. I just watched "Bears Falling Off Brooks Falls" again. It's okay. They don't get hurt, but it's entertaining. Just watching them catching salmon is fun. Sometimes the salmon literally jump right into their mouths. I'd love to see you react to one of the videos from Brooks Falls. I think you'd get a kick out of it. Love watching your videos. You are very entertaining and seem like a really good dude.

Monument Valley is an incredible place to visit. It isn’t a national park, because is belongs to the Navajo and is located on the Navajo Reservation. It s as incredible as the Grand Canyon National Park. In the east is Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park.

Glacier National Park is the most beautiful national park I've been to. It's the only one that I would want to visit again. The others are kind of a one and done. There are far fewer tourists at GNP because it's more secluded. There are tons of hiking trails and beautiful scenery. The glaciers there are melting, so the sooner the better!

Hot Springs in Arkansas is a hidden gem. It's the first national park (year 1832) predating Yellowstone by 40 years. It is a big tourist destination for Arkansas and a great place to spend a few days. Love to hang out there.

Adirondack State Park in NY is larger than any of these at more than 24,000 square kilometers. You saw it in a reaction video to a state park video by Geography King. I recall your disbelief that you were looking at something in New York.

There is a massive crater in Arizona, northeast of the Grand Canyon called Meteor Crater. It's designated a National Monument. Many geologists think that the basin that the Phoenix Metropolitan Area lies within is also a meteor's crater and that the tip of the meteor it is right in the center, Piestewa (pea-es-tu-wah) Peak. There's also Crater Lake in Oregon, but it is the result of a violent eruption of a volcano that collapsed the mountain around it. My favorites are Yellowstone with all of its exotic natural formations, small hot water pools of various deep colors depending on what mineral lie beneath it and Rocky Mountain National Park because I used to live within a half hour's hike of it and its forests are thick and very fragrant. I'm hearing of some National Parks I've never heard of, thanks to Lawrence!

Best way / time to visit Grand Canyon is by guided 2-week raft trip during the last week or April to first week of May.

Greetings from the Yosemite National Park area of the Golden State of California!! I’ve lived in this area for my entire life.. ( 70 years).. I love this place because it’s just heaven on earth !! Love Grandma Debbie

You’re my favorite reaction channel

Wind Cave national park and the Black hills National Forest which is right next door is exactly what you're talk about where it won't be overrun by tourist especially if you go in the spring and fall and avoid the summer its busiest time

Something to point out - that 2nd biggest park mentioned has no roads - so no way to bike. If you want to get a lot of bang for your buck on a road trip you could do the West Coast some and hit the parks there. The other option is the East Coast with New York to Washington DC is around a 4 to 5 hr drive with tons to see and do. You could also do the Smoky Mountain Trail parks and check out all the stuff there which runs through several states.

The Grand Canyon was originally formed by the movement of tectonic uplift and was then carved out over millions of years by the Colorado River. That sea cow is called a Manatee

5:04 That, in the Everglades and much of Florida, are Manatees. If Yellowstone ever goes off, you can kiss much of the USA's west and central area (if not more) goodbye. Yes, it will affect the entire planet. A lot of areas in Alaska are so remote, you get there by plane. Unless you want to hike your way through but that could take a long time. If you come to the capitol of Florida, Tallahassee, you can go to Wakulla Springs. There's a roped-off area for swimming over the springs, and you can take boat tours to see the wildlife.

If you would like to see Yellowstone when there are few people, go in winter. But if you aren't into snow, April and May are gorgeous at Yellowstone and there are fewer tourists than in the summer. Any time of year that you go, you can feel alone if you just get off the main roads and take a hike. There are thousands of sq kilometers of wilderness to experience.

If you come to Seattle you’re within easy driving distance of both Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks. It’s about 3 hours southeast from Seattle to reach Rainier and about the same distance, but west to reach Olympic.

One of them that is low key is Mammoth Cave. There are several tours and most are 20 people or less. I like the long one which takes a couple of hours and there's a break in the middle with a cafeteria.

Pictures don't do the Grand Canyon justice, like your brain doesn't understand until you're there standing by it and you're like "holy shit! this is wild"

Kabir, you are thinking of Sunset Crater. If you go, make time to see Sedona / Oak Creek Canyon, where many of my high school classmates and I ...er.... found ourselves ending up on the way to school. Also, there are a lot of great places to explore in Northern Arizona that are obviously less famous than Gramd Canyon, but still fun to visit. My favorite is Walnut Canyon, right outside of Flagstaff. If you want to feel as though you've gone back in time, it's a must do.

The Grand Canyon was eroded by the Colorado River. No meteor no earthquake. As we say here in Texas; Y'all be safe.

Yes you have to know what time of year to visit each park and what times of day are best. And yes there are many many hidden gems. This list of top 25 would certainly be challenged by many americans.

Yellowstone is the oldest nationsl park in the world. It also spills over into Montana on north and west and Idaho in the southwest. Lit is considered an active volcano. It's the magma u derneath that fuels all the hot springs and geysers.

I love David Attenborough. [nodnod] When a new Attenborough documentary comes out, my husband and I both dash over to watch. The day he finally passes should, like, trigger a worldwide week of mourning, 'cause damn, the man is a global treasure.

A good time to visit is right after our Labor Day holiday. The weather is still nice in all the parks/states, but kids are back in school so the number of people visiting is much smaller.

That picture of Crater lake is ice with water underneath. However, it is pretty clear water and very deep, so it does reflect the sky in pictures like that

We just came home from the Grand Canyon. Standing at Mather Point on the south rim...It is truly breathtaking. Just over 5,000 feet deep and miles and miles wide, no picture or television program can do it justice. As for driving, we finished our epic road trip in Moab Utah at The Arches National Park. We then did the craziest move of our lives. We drove 2,000 miles in two days to return home to Pennsylvania. Spending nearly 18 hours on the road the second day. Thank heavens for Utah, speed limit 130 kph. Total mileage, nearly 6,000. Las Vegas was our western most stop...Gotta do the California thing next time!!!

Olympic National Park is awesome, very underrated

The deal with The Gates of Arctic is when you go about 50 or so miles north of Fairbanks, there are no roads in Alaska north of there except for the few remote roads to small places and the highway that leads up to Prudhoe Bay, and a good chunknof that road goes through remote locations and the road itself isn't very safe for the northern part of it. Basically, dont make the trip on that road unless you have a good 4 wheel drive. If you draw a line east to west across the state from Fairbanks, there is next to no roads, except for that one.

In California, there's also Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks in a row going up the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which have various national forests, as well as state parks and forests between and surrounding them. It's basically hundreds of miles of protected lands.

The thing about the Grand Canyon that's so amazing is it's something you can't see as you're getting close, like it would be if you're approaching a mountain range in the distance. You can't see it til you're almost on top of it because it's a giant hole in the ground and below you, rather than above. It will literally take your breath away. I'm partial to Bryce Canyon in southern Utah and Canyon de Chelly (shay) in northeastern Arizona.

The majority of people live packed into cities or towns. Besides the wilderness and farm land, there is still a lot of empty land- most people live close together, to be near work, stores, entertainment, etc. If the population were to double, most of that would be absorbed by expanding the cities, and that might use up a tiny fraction of that empty land.

I read that the Grand Canyon is so large that it can be snowing on the North Rim, raining on the South Rim, and just a mist at the canyon floor.

No, the Grand Canyon was carved out by the Colorado River over millions of years. What you're thinking of is Meteor Crater which is somewhat near the Grand Canyon, but east of Flagstaff, AZ and is located at these coordinates: ⁦35°01'37"N⁩ ⁦111°01'28"W⁩

There is no "off season" for Yellowstone. It's too far north to be open for regular visitors year round. It's only easily accessible June-September. Sometimes as early as May and sometimes as late as October, depending on snowfall. Of which there can often be 8-10 feet of depth to. So no, you'll never be able to go there without a lot of visitors because there's such a limited time each year when people can go in without a snowmobile.

You can live in a national park if youre a fulltime employee there. My grandparents lived in Yosemite valley for most of my childhood, as my Grandfather ran a small visitor shop there

Except for Denali, I am unfamiliar with other Alaskan parks. I do hope you get a chance to visit the U.S. Driving is probably the best way to see the country. I haven't visited too many but the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone were the two parks that impressed me the most. I've had the good fortune to visit the UK a few times and in my first visit, I thought I could visit quite a few places in a relative short time because it was a small country. That did not happen. In the summer, every road we went on was being worked. The great thing was British Rail and all the places they covered. Fast, clean and beautiful scenery. Great way to travel.

I'm on my way to Cuyahoga Valley National Park right now. Spending the weekend up there in a Mercedes off-grid camper van.

The parks that are more likely overlooked are state/metropolitan parks. Some are rather big. Many parks are closed or have limited hours in the off-season, so my advice is to go during the week and during the day. Maybe late spring early fall when school is in session and not during national holidays as many families do family picnics/reunions during holidays at park pavilions.

The water in that lake actually *IS* that shade of turquoise- it wasn't just a shadow. That vibrant, I-swear-there's-no-filter hue is a hallmark of glacial waters. It's caused by the minerals that make glaciers blue, & which are retained when the waters melt directly off of glaciers to form the lakes. Lake Louise in Banff, Canada is a great example. If anything, it's actually even MORE vibrant in person.

One should note that the summit of Telescope Peak (elev.11,049 ft / 3368 M) is only about 15 miles (24Km) distant from the Badwater Basin (elev. -282 ft / -86M).

There are state parks that may not be add big as national parks, but can be equally impressive. Because of the smaller size they can be less populated by tourists, giving you that feeling of being out in nature. I recommend Letchworth State Park. There's also Watkins Glen.