2024 National Parks

One of the main reasons for traveling the United States in a motorhome is to explore the many wonders around the country. In previous years I had four posts of attractions visited in the year, but this year I’m going to split them by the kind of attraction, since that seems like it’ll be more useful for future reference.

This is a summary of the National Parks we visited in 2024. You can also see the attractions from 2023, from 2022, and from 2021.

As with the previous summaries, I’ll include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture. Click or tap the link or picture to see more.

You can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the national park category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

We visited 12 new National Parks in 2024 (plus revisited several), for a total of 47 so far of the 63 total National Parks.

Everglades National Park in Florida:

Biscayne National Park in Florida:

Dry Tortugas National Park south of Florida:

Congaree National Park in South Carolina:

Shenandoah National Park in Virginia:

New River Gorge National Park: Grandview in West Virginia:

New River Gorge National Park: Sandstone Falls in West Virginia:

New River Gorge National Park: Canyon Rim and Bridge in West Virginia:

New River Gorge National Park: Thurmond and waterfalls in West Virginia:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina:

Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky:

Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri:

Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Valley in California:

Yosemite National Park: Hetch Hetchy in California:

Yosemite National Park: Wawona and Glacier Point in California:

Yosemite National Park: Tuolumne Meadows and Tenaya Lake in California:

Kings Canyon National Park in California:

Sequoia National Park: northern side in California:

Sequoia National Park: southern side in California:

Channel Islands National Park in California:

Joshua Tree National Park: Geology Tour Road in California:

Joshua Tree National Park: Hall of Horrors in California:

Joshua Tree National Park: Wonderland Ranch & Wall Street Mill in California:

Saguaro National Park in Arizona:

White Sands National Park, in New Mexico:

Big Bend National Park, in Texas:

Several nice parks.

Big Bend National Park

We visited Big Bend National Park, again — we first visited it in 2022. That first time, we explored the western part of the park; this time, we explored the eastern side.

Here’s an interactive map of our route:

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Mountains and cacti:

Mountains and cacti

We had a picnic lunch and short stroll at Dugout Wells, a little oasis where some homesteads once stood, and now just a windmill remains, as far as we could see:

We had a picnic lunch and short stroll at Dugout Wells

Windmill

View

Tunnel:

Tunnel

The Rio Grande Village Visitor Center, the one visitor center we didn’t make it to last time:

Rio Grande Village Visitor Center

Big Rivers, Big Changes:

Big Rivers, Big Changes

There’s even a full-hookup campground in the village, though it’s basically a parking lot:

Full-hookup campground

A roadrunner on the road:

Roadrunner on the road

There’s also a no-hookup campground, which is nicer, despite the lack of utilities. It even has some sites big enough for us, like this pull-through site:

Pull-through site

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Lots of Mexican trinkets for sale; this area is on the border with Mexico:

Mexican trinkets for sale

We did the Boquillas Canyon Trail along the Rio Grande river:

Boquillas Canyon Trail

Steps:

Steps

The Rio Grande river; the other side of the river is Mexico:

Rio Grande River

Shady tunnel of trees, welcome on a warm day (about 82°F):

Shady tunnel of trees

Rio Grande River

Interesting rocks

More Mexican trinkets for sale; Jenn bought the cloth in the front and a bead roadrunner:

Mexican trinkets for sale

The canyon closing in on the river:

Canyon

Youngsters on the Mexican side of the river:

Youngsters on the Mexican side of the river

Canoes on the river; we spoke with a couple of the people, and they said they were camping down river:

Canoes on the river

Interesting rocks

Canyon

Canyon selfie

A nice hike; a little too warm for us with little shade, but we survived.

White Sands National Park

We re-visited White Sands National Park in New Mexico. We first visited in 2022, but enjoyed re-visiting this year. As the NPS site says, it’s like no place else on Earth, the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.

The official NPS map; click or tap for full-size (and more info):

Visitor Center with the historic sign from before it became a National Park:

Visitor Center with historic sign from before it became a National Park

Road between sand dunes:

Road between sand dunes

Picnic area:

Picnic area

Sand dunes:

Sand dunes

Saguaro National Park

We re-visited the two units of Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. We first visited in early 2022, but that was before Jenn was doing her National Parks passport book, so didn’t have a passport stamp for this park. Plus it’s nice to re-visit parks, especially ones we particularly enjoy like this one.

An interactive map of our route, starting with the west side (and a stop at a Subway to pick up some lunch for a picnic):

West-side entrance sign:

West-side entrance sign

West visitor center:

West visitor center

When we visited last time, they were limiting the bookstore to 10 people at a time due to COVID restrictions (but without masks by then), but this time there were of course no restrictions, though it wasn’t super busy:

West visitor center

Fascinating timeline of growth of a saguaro cactus:

West visitor center

Jenn got her passport stamp:

West visitor center

Exploring a dirt road with saguaros and other cacti:

Dirt road and saguaros

We stopped at the amusingly-named “Sus Picnic Area” for lunch:

Picnic area

Our picnic site:

Picnic area

Back on the dirt road:

Dirt road and saguaros

After leaving the park, an undulating road:

Bumpy road

Through the scenic Tucson Mountain Park, also with lots of saguaros:

Tucson Mountain Park

East entrance of the national park:

East entrance

East visitor center:

East visitor center

A saguaro outside the visitor center:

Saguaros

Along the cactus forest scenic loop in the park:

Saguaros

A nice park. There’s something about cacti and desert landscapes that we really enjoy.

Joshua Tree National Park: Wonderland Ranch & Wall Street Mill

On another visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we hiked to Wonderland Ranch and Wall Street Mill.

An interactive map of our route, going in the north entrance for a change, then to Wall Street Mill, and a picnic dinner on Keys Ranch Road, and finally back out the main west entrance:

An interactive map of the hike; zoom in to see more details:

North entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Wall Street Mill Trail:

Wall Street Mill Trail

Wonderland Ranch ruins:

Wonderland Ranch ruins

Windmill:

Windmill

“Here is where Worth Bagly bit the dust at the hands of W.F. Keys, May 11 1943″:

Bit the dust

Truck ruins:

Truck ruins

Wall Street Mill ruins:

Wall Street Mill ruins

Truck ruins

Wall Street Mill info

Wall Street Mill ruins

After the hike, we had a picnic dinner along Keys Ranch Road:

Picnic dinner

Rocks

Sunset:

Sunset

Joshua Tree National Park: Hall of Horrors

On another visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we hiked around the Hall of Horrors, an imaginatively named and fascinating set of rocks.

An interactive map of our route, heading in the main (northwest) entrance:

Another interactive map of the Hall of Horrors Area; zoom in to see more detail:

We stopped by the main visitor center:

Visitor center

Park road:

Park road

Hall of Horrors hike:

Hall of Horrors

Joshua Tree National Park: Geology Tour Road

One of our favorite National Parks is Joshua Tree in California.

We visited the park on several evenings, starting with Geology Tour Road.

An interactive map of our route, heading in the south entrance (which doesn’t have an entrance station or lines of cars, but on the other hand has about an hour of not very exciting scenery):

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Geology Tour Road is a dirt road (in our opinion, some of the best parts of the park are down dirt roads):

Geology Tour Road

We stopped at Paac Kü̱vü̱hü̱’k (pronounced “paach kurv-er-hurk”), put out our chairs, and had a picnic dinner:

David

Fascinating rocks:

Rocks

An old dam:

Dam

Rocks

Heading back up the road, some Joshua trees:

Joshua trees

Sunset:

David

Sunset

More rocks:

Rocks

Supermoon over Joshua trees:

Supermoon

Channel Islands National Park visitor center

We visited the Channel Islands National Park visitor center in Ventura, California. This was actually our second visit here; we previously visited back in 2022, including a boat tour to near the islands.

This second visit was mainly so Jenn could get a stamp in her National Parks passport book; something she hadn’t started on our first visit. We also watched the park film.

Visitor center

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Store:

Store

Relief maps:

Relief map

Relief maps

Sequoia National Park: southern side

We visited Sequoia National Park in California, including the Foothills Visitor Center, the Tunnel Rock, the Giant Forest Museum, Moro Rock, and Tunnel Log.

An interactive map of our route:

Sequoia National Park historic sign:

Sequoia National Park historic sign

Kaweah River:

Kaweah River

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Tunnel Rock:

Tunnel Rock

A very twisty route:

Twisty route

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rock

Interesting rocks

Big trees:

Big trees

Giant Forest Museum:

Giant Forest Museum

Auto Log:

Auto Log

Moro Rock:

Moro Rock

Trees and hills:

Trees and hills

Driving through Tunnel Log:

Tunnel Log

Our truck under Tunnel Log:

Tunnel Log

Tall trees:

Tall trees

Sequoia National Park: northern side

We visited Sequoia National Park in California, including the Lodgepole Visitor Center and Grill, and the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. And saw a couple of bears in a tree.

An interactive map of our route:

Relief map in the visitor center:

Relief map