Planning

National Parks to Visit in August

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For August, I recommend going off the beaten path to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Great Basin, Isle Royale, Kings Canyon or Voyageurs. While some more famous parks are crowded and hot, a little effort visiting any of these rewards you with exceptional natural beauty.

The popular rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison sits around 8,000 feet, so summer is peak season with August a little cooler than July. Although the 2025 South Rim Fire closed campgrounds and washed out some roads and trails, most visitors only drive along the scenic rim and walk out to the overlooks which remain open. Mid-day can get hot, so plan a relatively short stay on either a clear morning or afternoon to take some great photos.

Great Basin is another very high altitude park where the hiking is good in August up where the bristlecone pines are. While the caves are at lower elevations, they never get hot. And August is less crowded than July. Make reservations and enjoy.

Isle Royale is best in August. It’s warm enough to spend time out hiking, camping or on the water. The bugs aren’t as bad as June and July, and everything is fully open. You just need to get tickets and make reservations by January, which is challenging.

Kings Canyon in August has great weather for hiking. So drive the scenic byway to Roads End, and let your feet take you away into the wilderness. Smart park travelers make reservations in advance and hit the busiest sights first thing in the morning.

Voyageurs has fewer bugs in August than June/July and the water is warmer. And you’re going to want to get out on the water, maybe canoe camping on an island. Again, early planning and reservations are essential.

For earlier months in this series, click January, February, March, April, May, June and July.

National Parks to Visit in July

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To avoid heat, July is all about high latitude and altitude, and I recommend visiting these northern mountain parks: Glacier, Lassen Volcanic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Rocky Mountain . While many other parks are hot and crowded, these are at their peak with plenty of space to explore.

The key to visiting Glacier is to understand that there is only one road through the park, and it doesn’t open until late June. The park is full of activities by June, but the accumulated snow takes a long time to melt at Logan Pass. And it’s a long way around. So if you want to see the sights and do the activities on both sides of the park, then you need to wait until July. August is even busier. The high mountain waterfalls are glorious along the Going to the Sun Road in July.

Lassen Volcanic similarly has its main road blocked late by snow, but by July almost everything is open including some wildflowers. For Bumpass Hell, the full trail usually opens later in July, but there are boiling mud pits and other fascinating volcanic features around the park. Fire damaged parts of the park have mostly reopened this year.

Mount Rainier too is better if you wait until July, when leftover snow recedes to open up roads and trails. I hiked the Paradise Trails in mid July and only crossed one patch of snow. Wildflowers were out, temps were pleasant and the mountain is big enough to handle many happy hikers. Plan your arrival, as the parking lots fill up.

North Cascades is also glorious in July, with wildflowers and waterfalls. Depending on where you want to hike, you may need to go later in the month for all roads to be fully open. But there are many great hiking options all month.

Rocky is another high elevation park, and July is a good time to see wildlife up there. I realize it’s crowded, but if you reserve campgrounds in advance you can reach the best areas early. Visiting in July means that you can move around early, like the elk, and it’s a good time to find bighorn sheep or pikas. I’ve visited in September and felt limited by wind and storms.

National Parks to Visit in June

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I recommend Badlands, Great Smoky, Teddy Roosevelt, Yellowstone and Wind Cave in June. These popular parks are big enough to accommodate some crowds, are more fun in summer, and are even busier in July and August.

The Badlands are at their mildest in June, with wildlife about and even some greenery. Spend some time soaking in the scenery from a campground, time your hikes for the sun angles and weather, and listen to a ranger talk at an amphitheater. You won’t have the place to yourself, but do you really want to be in the Badlands by yourself?

Great Smoky in June is good for seeing bears, fireflies, and for swimming holes or rafting, so no wonder it’s so popular. Plan ahead and spend some time camping here, so you can visit the most popular spots on weekday mornings. Take your time hiking and ask folks what they’ve seen.

Teddy Roosevelt is another fun park that’s great in June. I enjoyed driving to all three park units, hiking and enjoying wildlife and scenic viewpoints. But if I go again, I’m going to stay longer. The folks at the campgrounds were very friendly and nice.

Yellowstone is the best park in the contiguous US and is big with lots to see and do. So you need to go when there’s good weather and activities are in full swing. Book campgrounds and activities well in advance, give yourself time for everything on your list, and go in June before it gets even busier in July and August. The grand old park can handle the crowds, but planning ahead is the key.

Wind Cave is crowded in summer, so common advice says to visit in May or September to avoid crowds and heat. But it’s a cave, so heat is not an issue. And the cave tours are all in guided groups, which are similar in size most of the year. So my advice is to visit when you’re visiting other parks above in the region. And you should absolutely book your tickets in advance. Bison can be seen outside the park entrance in June and other months.

June is a beautiful month, so take advantage of the fine weather, go camping and enjoy some of the best national parks in the country.

National Parks to Visit in May

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See January, February, March, and April. May is a great month to visit many parks, especially river and forest parks that are full of life in spring. I recommend Congaree, Cuyahoga Valley, New River Gorge, Olympic and Yosemite.

Congaree is a great place to kayak, so high water may allow you to roam more. But May is also when the fireflies all blink together. Recreation.gov holds a lottery in early April for evening passes during the week long synchronous firefly event mid May.

Cuyahoga Valley is popular in May as the Brandywine Falls are awash and the trails are surrounded by spring greenery. I like biking there, and the tourist trains run a full schedule in May also taking bikes.

New River Gorge may be best in May as the wildflowers are out on the trails, the temperature is just right, and the river runs fast for rafting.

Olympic for me is all about the rainforest. Go early, wear good hiking boots, a thermal layer and rain gear, but try to visit Hoh Rainforest and hike the Hall of Mosses when it’s wet and green. Visiting the rainforest is a unique national park experience, unlike mountain hikes or beaches. The park is beautiful during the summer, but it gets very crowded at Hoh beginning Memorial Day weekend.

Yosemite’s waterfalls all flow strong in May, and Bridalveil, Sentinel and Yosemite Falls are spectacular at peak snowmelt. Wildflowers bloom on the valley trails, the temperature is pleasant during the day, and it’s not as crowded as summer. Glacier Point viewpoint usually opens to vehicles in May, earlier now that there’s less snow.

You may notice that my recommendations on when to visit are often a little earlier than common advice, and that’s usually to avoid crowds, to take advantage of planning and because the climate is changing. Planning ahead is particularly important for saving time and money, as a simple campground reservation made six months in advance can put you in the best possible location at the best time for $30. Summer used to be the best time to visit most national parks, but many parks are now too crowded and too hot in July and August. But stay tuned, because I’ve got more national parks recommendations coming on the first Friday of each month.

Arches National Park

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Landscape Arch above spans over 100 yards. Photographs fail to render the three dimensional features. Only by hiking up the trail, turning that last corner and wandering around to view from different angles do the arches reveal their true nature. My head was spinning trying to take in the detailed patterns on rock faces, judge the sizes of dramatically shaped features, imagine the geologic timescale and focus on the variety of terrain in every direction at different distances.

The reason there are more arches here than anywhere else in the world is salt. As elsewhere, the land formed in layered deposits, rose up and eroded. The unique part was that there were more layers of salt from shallow inland seas which slowly migrated underground and piled up against a hard fault line, forming an unstable underground salt dome that liquified and caused many long straight vertical cracks in the rock layer above. The exposed fins of sandstone eroded from both sides forming many arches and small windows. (Bridges are entirely different than arches).

In theory, the most famous arches are easily explored. Only a few miles from Moab, the main park road climbs up through the dramatic red canyon and branches off towards Delicate Arch above a salty valley, past Balanced Rock towards the Windows and up above to the Devil’s Garden. Each area has parking, and many of the trails are easy. In March, there were only a few visitors in the morning, and every arch waited patiently for me to admire. But by April the park requires timed reservations due to crowds, and in summer the heat can become dangerous. So in practice, you should time your visit thoughtfully, especially if you want to capture sunrise or sunset views without crowds. This is one of my favorite parks for geologic features.

Here’s the link to my visits to all parks in Utah.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

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I don’t always plan my schedule well enough. I made it to this park about 30 minutes before closing, but just after they closed the volcano road to the top, which is why I took this photo from near the visitor center. Sometimes parks will let you drive out before sunset on your own after the visitor center closes, but apparently the volcano road is narrow and restricted to hikers for the last couple hours of daylight. I should have checked the hours more carefully, and I should have planned an extra day or two on this leg of my trip. I actually had to postpone two planned stops until next time in order to get back on track. I think volcanoes remind me of devastation more than renewal, so I tend to de-prioritize them when planning. Oh well, sometimes we need to admit our mistakes, so we can do better in the future, if we still have time. There’s a broader lesson in that.

Click to see my photos of all national park units in New Mexico.