Check out these 16 natural wonders of the U.S. for serious awe

Picture huge dunes of glittering white sand—that’s what you’ll see at White Sands National Park in New Mexico where gypsum sand stretches for 275 square miles of desert. It’s the world's largest gypsum dunefield, and the national park preserves about 40 percent of it, including fossilized footprints of Ice Age people and animals.

Best time to visit: The many yuccas in White Sands bloom in April, but watch out for windy days. Otherwise, try October to early November when cottonwoods are in bloom. Make sure the park isn’t temporarily closed for missile testing before you visit

How to get there: The visitor center is on Highway 70 near Alamogordo. Check for directions depending on which way you are driving.

You’ll think you’re in Norway when you see the magnificent fjords and majestic mountains in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park. As one of the largest world heritage sites and the Tlingit homeland, this is a stunning location for science lovers studying the profusion of glaciers, as well as visitors who can hike, kayak and camp on its impressive land with ice-blue water. There’s even a temperate rain forest contained within the 3.3 million acres.

Best time to visit: Most visitors come between late May and early September due to milder temperatures; July is peak month. It’s helpful to know that the Glacier Bay Lodge and Visitor Center always closes between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

How to get there: It will take some planning. There are no roads that lead directly to Glacier Bay. You can go by charter air services, Alaska Marine Highway ferries, cruise ships, tour boats and charter boats. 

Located north of Moab, Utah, Arches National Park is so named for more than the 2,000 wind-sculpted sandstone arches gracing the area—the largest such concentration in the world. The most famous of these is the iconic 52-foot-tall Delicate Arch, whose image can be seen on Utah license plates.

Best time to visit: March through October is very busy, so you’ll want to visit during the off-season if at all possible. Trailhead parking lots can fill up, keeping you from seeing the features you most want to hike to. Otherwise, set your alarm and get yourself on the road early.

How to get there: There’s no public transit within the park, so you’re probably going to be driving or biking (or traveling with a tour group). The park is 5 miles north of Moab.

This protected string of old-growth forests represents what’s left of the massive redwood trees that once covered Northern California and served as home to the Indigenous populations: many villages existed here for tribes such as the Tolowa, Yurok, Hupa and Karuk. Trees can reach up to 367 feet in height with a width of 22 feet; the National Park Service invites you to imagine a skyscraper of 35 stories to mentally estimate these trees’ heights. Note: redwoods are the tallest trees; sequoias are larger by volume. For the latter, head to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, also in California. These trees can live over 2,000 years, making them among the oldest living things on Earth. Why the cumbersome park name? Redwood National and State Parks are collaboratively run by the National Park Service and California State Parks.

Best time to visit: July marks peak tourist time, so to avoid the crowds, consider going any time during the spring or fall. If you want to catch the native rhododendrons blooming, visit sometime from mid-May to early June.

How to get there: The park spans about 50 miles of Highway 101 between Crescent City and Orick, California (about six hours north of San Francisco).

You could say that the entirety of Hawaiʻi is a natural wonder, and you would be right. But if we have to choose just one place to highlight, it's Volcanoes National Park on The Island of Hawaiʻi, which is home to two major volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Kīlauea. Kīlauea is the most active volcano in the world and the most visited. Standing on an overlook seeing smoke emerge from the volcano, anticipating that hot molten lava may come next...this is truly a moment of appreciating nature’s power.

Best time to go: Lava is not always visible; check the local news or national park website before you go to learn whether eruptions may be visible. A trip in the early morning or evening is best to avoid the crowds.

How to get there: The park is located 30 miles from Hilo; there are no shuttles or other forms of public transportation within the park.

Mount Rainier National Park is a 236,381-acre park in Washington state that happens to encompass an active volcano. Since it last erupted in the 19th century, chances are nothing will happen if you go—nothing, that is, except experiencing breathtaking views of Mt. Rainier itself, along with glaciers, waterfalls, and meadows filled with wildflowers.

Best time to visit: July through August, when wildflowers transform the park's subalpine meadows, and the dry, warm weather provides optimal hiking conditions. Sunrise Visitor Center is open early July to early September, while the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center in the Paradise area is open May to early October.

How to get there: You’ll find great seasonal wildflower displays at either of the visitor centers.

Straddling the border between New York state and Ontario, Canada, Niagara Falls consists of three waterfalls named Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil. Combined, they send 6 million cubic feet of water a minute, plunging 160 feet into the Niagara Gorge below. The thundering noise and spectacle is one of those things that’s hard to describe—but there’s a reason honeymooners have historically chosen this dramatic spot to start their married lives off with a bang.

Best time to visit: Highs in the low 80s, and cooling sprays from the falls make June to August a great time to visit.

How to get there: Niagara Falls State Park is open daily (yes, even holidays!), and it’s completely free to walk into the park and see the Falls. Parking, however, may come with a $10 fee. There are also fees for specialty spots that get you great views: Skylon Tower on the Canadian side currently costs the equivalent of $13, while the famous Maid of the Mist boat tours cost $30 for adults.

Discover the best things to do in Niagara Falls

The world's most famous geyser, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (plus little bits extending into Montana and Idaho), lives up to its name, erupting more than 1 million times since its discovery in 1870, at an average of 20 times a day. Each blast spews some 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of water to heights of 100 to 180 feet. It’s infectiously fun to be part of a crowd getting ready for an eruption; you follow the countdown on a sign to know exactly when it’ll happen (those 90 percent accurate predictions are posted when the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center is open, usually January through mid-March and mid-April through early November). And when the jet of water and steam does extend into the air, it’s thrilling, especially if you view it at sunset, with light reflected against the heated water droplets.

Best time to visit: Early morning or in the evening from April to May and between September and October.

How to get there: Park at either the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center or the Old Faithful Inn/Lodge (or better yet, book a room for the night at this incredible example of “parkitecture”) and walk over to the famous geyser.

It isn’t every day you can climb 350 steps that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: that’s the staircase carved into the rock at Moro Rock in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. We can attest that it’s a somewhat scary (steep dropoffs on the other side of that metal banister!) but ultimately exhilarating climb to the top with spectacular vistas of the Kaweah River Gorge and the Great Western Divide, a craggy range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with some summits topping 13,000 feet. You’ll feel proud as you stand atop the wind-battered summit.

Best time to visit: Summer weekdays, when you can drive to the parking lot at the base (on weekends, you’ll have to take the free shuttle from the Giant Forest Museum). You can’t climb Moro Rock in winter because snow coats the steps and it is closed for safety reasons.

How to get there: Within Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, follow the Generals Highway to the Giant Forest Museum, where you’ll either park for the shuttle or turn onto Crescent Meadow Road and drive another 1.5 miles to the Moro Rock parking lot.

Yosemite is one of the most celebrated national parks for a reason. The first sight of monumental rock formations like Half Dome and El Capitan as you drive in on hairpin-turn roads is almost a sacred moment; pull over and soak it in. And you'll also want to appreciate the park's profusion of waterfalls. In Yosemite Valley alone, you'll find Yosemite Falls (the tallest waterfall on the U.S. mainland), Bridalveil Fall, Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, Sentinel Falls and the Horsetail Fall. There are many other regions of the park that are worth visiting, including Hetch Hetchy where you can see the Wapama Falls.

Best time to visit: Roughly 75 percent of visitors arrive May-October, with the summer being the most popular. April and November are lovely as they are less crowded.

How to get there: There are five entrances to Yosemite; the closest one to San Francisco is Big Oak Flat. Be aware that even once you get through the gate, you often have quite a drive to reach the valley. 

Arizona’s Grand Canyon needs no introduction, except to say that it took the Colorado River two billion years to carve its impressive dimensions (277 miles long, by 18 miles wide by 1 mile deep). The sedimentary layers exposed by erosion vividly change color with the light. It is a remote and alien landscape that makes you feel reverence for its incredible scope. Dusk views are beautiful anywhere around the rim of the Grand Canyon—all you have to do is pick your observation spot and take it all in. 

Best time to visit: March through May and September through November when daytime temperatures are cool and the crowds are thin.

How to get there: You have to figure out whether you’re heading first to the North or South Rim (most people go to the South Rim, and it’s open year round, while the North Rim is open seasonally in warm weather). We can’t help but recommend that you take the Grand Canyon Railway to get there, since we adore trains.

Besides playing a role in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Devil’s Tower in Wyoming was dedicated as the first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Rising 867 feet into the air, this butte made of volcanic rock is a sacred site to several First Nation people, including the Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa. 

Best time to visit: When are you most likely to see a rainbow here? Late spring and summer after a storm rolls through. Not to mention, the dark skies viewing here is also impressive.

How to get there: Devils Tower is accessible by Wyoming Highway 24, which intersects with US Highway 14 at Devils Tower Junction, six miles south of the tower.

Death Valley is one of the most expansive (the largest in the contiguous U.S.) national parks. Badwater Basin, at the south end of the park, is a surreal 200 square miles consisting of salt flats (essentially, crusted salt that looks like snow) and a shallow poisonous pool that contributes its name to the area. It’s the lowest point on the continent at 282 feet below sea level, and provides for a barren but thrilling vista.

Best time to visit: The National Park Service says that “Death Valley is famous as the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America.” So… pack our bags; let’s go! Just kidding—there is incredible beauty to the parched landscape here and much to admire about the hardy plants and animals who make it their home. (Trivia: hottest temp recorded here was 134 degrees F on July 10, 1913). But winter and spring can be very moderate and even, dare we say, pleasant.

How to get there: To reach Badwater Basin, drive 30 minutes south of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to reach the parking lot and trailhead. Take a quarter-mile hike to the spot where the salt forms into the shape of polygons, like nature’s linoleum, as far as the eye can see.

Even if you’ve never heard of the Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, you’d recognize it thanks to how Hollywood has used it as a backdrop for countless Westerns. Located on the Arizona–Utah state line, the site is known for its striking sandstone buttes, the largest of which reaches 1,000 feet high. Along with the fragile rock pinnacles, you’ll see miles of mesas and buttes, shrubs and sand: all touched with rosy light by the sun at dusk.

Best time to visit: Anytime between April and October; Temps remain relatively cooler, even during the summer months, because of Monument Valley's 5200-foot elevation.

How to get there: Monument Valley is quite remote—so fly into a major city in Arizona or Utah and get ready for a road trip.

In Kentucky, visitors can scramble underground at Mammoth Cave National Park, so named because it’s the longest cave system in the entire world. A whopping 400 miles have been explored thus far, much of it by carefree explorers in the early part of the 1900s; don’t think about it too much or you’ll start to feel the slow infusion of dread in your veins. In 1925, a man was trapped by rockfall in a narrow crawlway 55 feet underground and died 14 days later, so the National Park Service took the cave over and put safety measures into place. Google William Floyd Collins if you’d like to read an interesting historical account! Today, you can take varied tours; everything from crawling on your hands and knees to going through with a lantern, and all of it including massive waves of awe at the network of dark pathways. Some trails are wheelchair accessible, too.

Best time to visit: Spring and fall! The cave itself is about 54 degrees year round, but to have mild temperatures outside the cave (and fewer crowds), avoid summer.

How to get there: Be careful because GPS can send you the wrong way, which has caused some guests to miss their cave tour. Follow instructions here to get to the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center on the south side of the park, the spot from which the cave tours depart.

Want to see a dazzling display of sea surf hitting rocks and flying up in an Instagrammable plume? You’ll want to visit the Nature Conservancy’s Blowing Rocks Preserve on Jupiter Island in Hobe Sound, Florida. The 73-acre sanctuary contains an ancient Anastasia limestone shoreline, the best for seeing waves crash against these rocks as high as 50 feet. It’s also the largest limestone shoreline on the east coast. Best of all, few visitors get here, so you’re likely to have a rare moment of quietude with the sea (and admission is free—but bring a few dollars for the donation box to support the Blowing Rocks Preserve).

Best time to visit: Winter when seas are rougher, and definitely you’ll want to be there at high tide; check the tide charts before embarking.

How to get there: Drive over Bridge Road to get to Jupiter Island, a scenic two-lane road under a banyan tree canopy.