It’s National Park Week – A unique time to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the great American outdoors.
While the US park scene offers much of the remarkable historical sites and landscapes, There are also many features and facts about our national parks which are little known.
The National Park Foundation says, “National parks are powerful places that have many meanings and connections to the people who visit them – our shared history, our spirit of discovery, and our dreams of the future.”
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According to the National Park Service (NPS), here are 15 facts about national parks that may surprise you.
1. The National Park Service protects more than 85 million acres of natural resources and historic sites across the country
Mountain peaks in St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangel Mountains, Wrangel, Alaska. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
It covers 13.2 million acres in the largest national park: Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Wrangell-St. According to the NPS, Elias is about the same size as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined.
2. America’s second national park – Mackinac National Park, established in 1875 – was returned to the state of Michigan in 1895
According to The Travel, when American troops were evacuated from Fort Mackinac, Mackinac was closed as a national park, leaving no one to care for the park.
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Today, it is one of Michigan’s state parks known as Mackinac Island State Park.
3. One of the hottest temperatures recorded on Earth occurred in Death Valley National Park in 1913
Death Valley National Park welcome sign seen on January 6, 2023 in Death Valley, California, United States. (Typhoon Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The California park’s Furnace Creek reached a record-high 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, the NPS reports.
4. Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park is home to an abundance of sea turtles
Five species of sea turtles are found in the waters of south floridaThey nest annually in the Dry Tortugas region, according to the NPS.
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The park is made up of seven small islands that are accessible only by boat or plane, making it one of the most remote national parks in the US.
Dry Tortugas National Park, Dry Tortugas, Florida. The park is made up of seven small islands that are accessible only by boat or plane, making it one of the most remote national parks in the US. (Philip Gould/Corbis via Getty Images)
5. Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky offers the world’s longest cave system
According to the NPS, there are 426 mapped miles in the cave system that have been discovered so far.
6. The First State National Historical Park is Delaware’s only national park
The First State was formalized as a national park by an act of Congress in 2015, the city of Wilmington’s website reports.
How much do you know about America’s national parks? Check out all 15 interesting facts here. (Getty Images; iStock)
The border states of Maryland and New Jersey combined have 27 national parks.
7. The world’s three largest volcanic eruptions occurred in Yellowstone National Park
Dramatic mineral terraces are seen along the highway near park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, on September 21, 2022. (George Rose/Getty Images)
Yellowstone’s “supervolcano” eruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 631,000 years ago, according to geologists who studied the large calderas left in the wake of the eruptions.
Yellowstone is one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world, the Wyoming State Geological Survey reports.
8. Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is home to the deepest cave in the country
Lechuguilla has been mapped at a depth of 1,604 feet along more than 145 miles of route.
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According to the NPS report, this cave is also known as one of the 10 longest caves in the world.
9. Kalaupapa National Historic Park in Hawaii The island of Molokai is home to a leper colony at the Hansen’s Disease Settlement
Kalaupapa National Historic Park Leper Colony, as seen from Palau State Park Overlook, Molokai, Hawaii. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
In the 1860s, thousands of Hawaiians suffering from leprosy were deported and isolated on the island of Molokai, the NPS said on its website.
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Nearly 30 years after receiving treatment, Hawaii’s isolation policy was ended in 1969 – but patients still live at Kalaupapa by choice.
10. South Dakota’s Wind Cave National Park is the first cave in the world to be named a national park
President Theodore Roosevelt On January 9, 1903, legislation was signed making Wind Cave America’s eighth national park, the NPS reports.
11. America’s deepest lake is found in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
Aerial view of Crater Lake caldera, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. (Marlee Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
According to the NPS, the 1,932-foot-deep crater lake was formed by the collapse of a high peak caused by an eruption 7,700 years ago.
12. In Washington’s Olympic National Park, there have been no bear-related deaths — but a hiker was killed by a mountain goat in 2010
The NPS stated that as of 2018, mountain goats are not a native species to the Olympic Peninsula.
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The animals have lost their fear of people due to exposure to humans, potentially leading to aggressive behavior, the NPS said.
A wild mountain goat on a Colorado mountain peak. (iStock)
13. The largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa Volcano, is found in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island
The massive volcano stands 13,681 feet above sea level and more than 30,000 feet above sea level – higher than Mount Everest.
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Mauna Loa, which means “tall mountain in Hawaiian,” makes up about 51% of the island, the NPS reports.
14. The Grand Canyon, part of Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, is known as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
The South Rim of the Grand Canyon at dusk on December 17, 2021. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
According to the NPS, the Grand Canyon encompasses 1,218,375 acres.
15. White Sands National Park has the world’s largest gypsum dune field.
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Rolling white sand dunes cover 275 square miles of the New Mexico desert, the NPS reports.
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