5 Best National Parks in the Continental US for Photography

5.  Rocky Mountain National Park - Taking photos of alpine mountain settings usually involves a very heavy pack that gets heavier with each foot fall, once you’ve packed up a tent, food, stove, sleeping bag, clothes, and other extras, by this time the camera either doesn’t fit or you just can’t bear to add the extra weight of lenses, tripods, and multiple camera bodies.  Rocky Mountain National Park has the solution for this.  Trail Ridge Road runs for ~30 miles above tree line providing loads of access to trail heads that start above tree line allowing you to get right at the alpine goods.  The park opens early too so you can come in to capture the alpineglow at sunrise.  The parks lakes and stark mountain peaks are so varied that people will often ask “Where did you take that?!?”

4. Acadia National Park - If you want to capture the colors of fall there’s few places better than Acadia.  With beautiful roads with low stone dividers and a network of tunnels there’s fantastic shots to be had from the road.  Cadillac Mountain is the first place the sun hits the US in the morning and makes for great dawn photography.  From the mountain top you can see many great colors in trees but also have views of the sea.  Adding cool blues into the rich saturated reds and oranges of fall makes for some great contrast.  If you get closer to the coast windier days will give you stronger tides and it’s not too hard to capture the waves crashing against rock faces beneath fall foliage.

3.  Arches National Park - Arches is small for a national park, and it’s tucked up against stiff competition, Canyonlands has 3 major districts and takes up more than 10 times the space that arches does, Capitol Reef isn’t too far away either, but arches gets into the top 3 because of some amazing unique offerings.  First is great paved access to all major points in the park, the definitive Delicate Arch which adorns all of the Utah license plates is an easy mile hike up slickrock and just when you start to get tired you’re in an unreal natural amphitheater.  If you wait till sunset there are some incredible photos to be had at “magic hour.”  While there are numerous other arches to hike out to, and all of them are on well maintained trails or good 4wd roads, the best treasure of this park is the Fiery Furnace.  This literal maze of slickrock canyons maintains a cool temperature and is an endless playground for a climbing photographer and a perfect fortress of solitude for those seeking one.  A few ranger led tours go through the area daily and a pass costs 5 dollars to get into the area.  Take at least one ranger tour so you know how to get in and out without damaging the environment, once you’ve done that come back again and explore the area freely, you’ll be stunned at both the beauty of the landscape and the silence of the canyons.

2.  Death Valley - Given the number of national parks out there you’d think a big expanse of desert wouldn’t make it into the top 3.  Death Valley is home to much more than empty sands though.  The sheer diversity I’ve seen in Death Valley and the level of accessibility are just unparalleled.  You can see water get carried up though a salt flat in the pre-dawn and see it burn off in seconds as soon as the sun turns it’s angry glare down on the valley.  If you like mountain climbing telescope peak is at 11K feet and you can make a continual hike from Badwater Basin at -283 feet all the way up the mountain for the longest continual climb in the lower US.  The sand dunes that they shot the first star wars movie in are in Death Valley along with the amazing racetrack a dry lake bed that becomes so slick when wet that stones weighing hundreds of pounds are pushed around by the wind.  The other thing that makes Death Valley amazing is that most of it is accessible by paved road, and what isn’t found on a paved road is easily found on a dirt road.  There are a few roads that require serious 4wd vehicles, but most can be navigated by a passenger car or motorcycle.  Go in late fall or early spring to avoid the heat but expect cool nights, but the dark skies are perfect for astrophotography.  No matter where you go there’s always something new to take a photo of, and the amazing changes in elevation provide high contrast landscapes that you can’t find anywhere else.

1. Yellowstone National Park - Yes it can be crowded and Old Faithful has been photographed more than Madonna, but the real thing to photograph in Yellowstone is the wildlife.  Huge herds of bison are often found by the road side, bears are all over the place and even packs of wolves can be seen within a circuit or two of the park’s excellent roads.  Bring a long telephoto lens as most of the large animals don’t take kindly to flash bulbs or those that get too close.  In winter all of the animals are covered in snow and frost.  The steam from the geothermal vents throughout the area, make all the critters look like frozen ghosts.  The steam also creates some amazing shots at both sunrise and sunset.

Eric Starling is a webmaster and photographer in Denver, CO.