Our Epic National Parks Road Trip in Photos

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I’m back!

We’ve been back home for more than a week now and it’s about time I publish a blog post about our national parks road trip, don’t you agree? I’ve been really busy catching up on work last week, which is why there wasn’t a post earlier.

I’m pretty much back on top of things now, though, so lots of new content will appear on the blog in the course of the following weeks. For now, let’s start with this bunch of national park road trip photos.

Most of the many hundreds of pictures that I took on our six-week road trip are processed and uploaded to my personal and stock portfolios. For this summarizing round-up post, I’ve selected my favorites. If you want to know where we went, you’ll find a summary at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy!

50 National Parks Road Trip Photos

1. Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree National Park, California

2. View from Double Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

3. Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, California

4. Sand boarding in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

5. Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

6. Desert wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

7. Coyote in Death Valley National Park, California

8. Echo Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah

9. River Styx Spring Trail, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky

10. Viewpoint in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

11. Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California

12. Raven, Channel Islands National Park, California

13. Zion Canyon in Zion National Park, Utah

14. Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

15. Dante’s View, Death Valley National Park, California

16. Thor’s Hammer in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

17. Route 66 in Southern California

18. Petrified wood in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

19. Sunset at Dante’s View, Death Valley National Park, California

20. Cliff dwelling in Cliff Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

21. Chimney Rock in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

22. Humpback whale in Channel Islands National Park, California

23. Colorado Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, California

24. Cracked desert floor, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

25. Green River Overlook, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

26. Hot Water Cascade, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

27. Garden of Eden, Arches National Park, Utah

28. Camel statue in Borrego Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert, California

29. Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

30. Cholla cactus, Joshua Tree National Park, California

31. Peek-A-Boo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

32. Road in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

33. Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, California

34. Big Sur, Highway 1 in California

35. Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

36. High Peaks Trail in Pinnacles National Park, California

37. Old Studebaker on Route 66, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

38. Grand Wash Trail in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

39. Waterfall in Muir Woods National Monument, California

40. Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, Utah

41. Campfire in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

42. Devil’s Golf Course, Death Valley National Park, California

43. Joshua Tree National Park, California

44. Bryce Amphitheater in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

45. Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

46. Landscape Arch in Arches National Park, Utah

47. Road in Death Valley, California

48. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

49. Camping in the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

50. Plateau Point in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Road Trip Summary

Basically, we did an enormous clockwise loop around the southern United States, from Virginia to the Southern California desert parks and back. We drove through the following fifteen states: Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri,  Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. (This brings the number of states I’ve been to to 28.)

The main focus on this trip for me was visiting as many national parks as possible and doing at least one strenuous hike in each one—Caroline’s was attending two floral design workshops.

We ended up visiting fifteen different national parks: Hot Springs, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Channel Islands, Pinnacles, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Mammoth Cave. Additionally, I also spent time in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and we drove through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and visited Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco. (I’ve now visited seventeen national parks in the United States. My goal is to get to twenty by the end of the year, a target that should be easily reached.)

This is just to say that it was a pretty epic road trip. Naturally, you can expect lots of blog post about this trip in the near future, so make sure to check the blog regularly.

If you enjoyed these photos, please consider following me on Instagram and liking my Facebook page, where I share my best photos on a(n almost) daily basis.

Feel also free to check out my photography portfolio here for tons more travel photos.