When you have The Essential Geography at your disposal, you can do more than reference locations. Because The Essential Geography's is carefully curated and uniquely easy to read, you can see geographic relationships that turn each location into a unique and memorable place.
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National Park Vignette provide examples of the types of geographic information you will enjoy discovering on The Essential Geography of the USA.
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Straddling the divide between the Susitna and Yukon/Kuskokwim Rivers, Denali National Park and Preserve encompasses most of the western Alaska Range, and features Denali, highest mountain in North America. Just SW of the park, the Iditarod Trail crosses Rainy Pass.
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Closer to Cuba than the US mainland, Dry Tortugas National Park protects islands of the same name, a long way from the nearest road.
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Encompassing low-elevation wetlands and coastal waters, including Florida Bay, Everglades National Park spans the southern tip of Florida, from the Gulf of Mexico to greater Miami.
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Located north of Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve and Kobuk Valley National Park lie lie in and around Alaska’s Brooks Range. The more mountainous of the two, Gates of the Arctic straddles the Continental Divide and tops out at 8510 ft Mt Igikpak.
Downstream of the Missouri River confluence, not far from Cahokia Mounds, iconic St Louis landmark Gateway Arch rises from the west bank of the Mississippi.
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Glacier National Park lies on the Continental Divide in Montana’s forested Lewis Range, where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. The park features 10,466 ft, Mt Cleveland, and 8020 ft, Triple Divide Peak, from where water drains to three destinations; Hudson Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Glacier adjoins the Black Feet Reservation, and provides the setting for the northern-most section of the Continental Divide Trail.
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Alberta, Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park combines with Glacier National Park to form Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
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On the ragged edge of the North American continent, west of Alaska capital city, Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve showcases a landscape of water, forest and ice.
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Largest of the seven Colorado Plateau national parks, Grand Canyon ranges in elevation from around 1000 at Lake Mead to over 8000 ft at North Rim. Famous neighbors include the Navajo Nation and the Hualapai Reservation, location of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
West of the Continental Divide, south of Yellowstone and north of Jackson, in the forested Rocky Mountains of NW Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park's Teton Range rises around 7000 ft* out of a valley named “Jackson Hole,” through which flows the Snake River. To the SE, and slightly higher than the Tetons, the Wind River Range features state highpoint, 13,804 ft, Gannett Peak. To the west lies Idaho's massive Snake River Plain.
* Calculate this by subtracting the elevation of Jackson or Jackson Lake from the elevation of the Teton Range.
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Located just west of the Nevada-Utah line near Baker, in the Great Basin region of the parallel ranges and valleys, Great Basin National Park straddles the summit ridge of the forest-draped Snake Range, and features 13,063 ft Wheeler Pk.
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On the eastern margin of Colorado’s high-elevation San Luis Valley, near 7544’ Alamosa, and just north of 14,345’ Blanca Pk, Great Sand Dunes National Park includes a slice of the Sangre de Cristo Mtns.
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Above the Tennessee River, in the forested mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina border, Great Smoky Mountains National Park features Tennessee state highpoint, Clingmans Dome, and a section of the Appalachian Trail.
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East of El Paso, on the Texas side of the New Mexico line, close to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park reaches an elevation of 8749 ft at Guadalupe Pk, which we know from the triangle symbol to be the state highpoint.
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The boundary of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park itself has the shape a lava flow, in this case running down the flanks of the Big Island’s 13,677 ft Mauna Loa. At Haleakala National Park on Maui, Pu‘u‘ula‘ula rises out of the Pacific a “mere” 10,000 ft.
