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• Park Colorado National Monument Colorful canyons, cliffs, and other rock formations tower 2,000 feet over the Colorado River on this part of the spectacular Colorado Plateau. Drive or bike the 23-mile Rim Rock Drive for scenic views from the top of the canyons or hike among the 40 miles of trails to get a closer look at some of the park's sculpted rocks, wildlife, and desert plants.
• Park Congaree National Park Wild and primeval, Congaree National Park is home to the largest old-growth floodplain forest in North America, with large, majestic bald cypress, water tupelo, cedar and loblolly pine trees. The Congaree and Wateree Rivers can flood ten times per year, replenishing soil nutrients that sustain the forest habitat. The park offers hiking and canoe trails, primitive camping, and excellent opportunities to see barred owls and other wildlife.
• Park Constitution Gardens These 50 acres in downtown Washington, D.C., were once underneath the Potomac River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged part of the river, and during World War I, the government used the land for temporary buildings for the U.S. Navy and Munitions Department. The buildings were demolished in 1971, and in 1986, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation dedicating the gardens to the legacy of the Constitution, in honor of the document's bicentennial. Today, this willow-framed duck pond and its winding pathways provide beauty and serenity for visitors to the National Mall.
• Park Coronado National Memorial In the 1540s, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led 339 European soldiers and more than 1000 Aztec allies on a quest for gold through the Southwest. The expedition didn't find treasure, but it did have an enormous impact on the culture of the region. The memorial is located in a region known as Sky Island where four major biogeographic provinces meet. As a result, the park features a varied geology and rich biodiversity.
• Park Cowpens National Battlefield The 1781 Battle of Cowpens was a pivotal victory for the Patriots and a turning point in the Revolutionary War. Today, the soldiers’ stories, the history of the battle and a glimpse into 18th century backcountry life are preserved and interpreted at Cowpens National Battlefield. Visitors can explore the battlefield, hike a portion of the Overmountain Victory Trail and enjoy the park’s natural setting.
• Park Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake sits in a rugged portion of the Cascade Range and is famous for its deep, jewel-blue water. An impressive 20-mile ring of cliffs encloses the basin and adds to its magnificence.
• Park Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve This rugged landscape features cinder cones, spatter cones and lava tube caves formed from volcanic activity in the Great Rift, a series of cracks in the Earth that runs over a stretch of 52 miles. In 1969, astronauts traveled to this region to explore its geology and learn how to identify scientifically valuable specimens for their Apollo voyage. Today, visitors can hike through unusual volcanic terrain, including the short but steep path to the top of the Inferno Cone where panoramic views can stretch as far as the Teton Range 100 miles east.
• Park Cumberland Gap National Historical Park This park sits at a natural opening in the Cumberland Mountains that served as one of the earliest gateways to the West for thousands of settlers traveling across the frontier. During the Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers vied for strategic control of gap, and several forts still exist in the park. Visitors can explore the Hensley Settlement from the early 1900s, a historic community with original, hand-hewn chestnut and oak cabins. Hikers can enjoy underground tours of the park’s impressive caves, as well as more than 85 miles of trails, including routes that lead to unique rock formations and dramatic waterfalls. The four-mile drive to Pinnacle Overlook also offers wonderful views of three states.
• Park Cumberland Island National Seashore Just off the Georgia coast, this park preserves a Georgian Revival mansion, nearly 204,000 museum artifacts and archives, miles of undeveloped sandy beaches, and more than 9,000 acres of federally designated wilderness. The park interprets the history of the island, which was one of the premiere leisure destinations for some of the nation’s most powerful and influential families during the Gilded Age. Visitors can glimpse some of the numerous plant and animal species that reside on the island and in adjacent waters, including threatened and endangered animals such as the North Atlantic right whale, Florida manatee, wood stork, piping plover, loggerhead sea turtle and green sea turtle.
• Park Curecanti National Recreation Area These three reservoirs along the Gunnison River offer boating, fishing, camping and hiking in a spectacular Rocky Mountain setting. The park's Blue Mesa Reservoir is the largest body of water in Colorado and features one of the best Kokanee salmon fisheries in the country.
• Park Cuyahoga Valley National Park This park preserves 22 miles of the Cuyahoga River and the mosaic of natural and man-made features surrounding it, including lush forests, rolling hills, wetlands, waterfalls, farm fields, historic buildings and dramatic rock ledges. Decades before this Midwestern site officially became a national park, severe pollution in the river outraged and embarrassed the country, helping to spur the creation of the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and Earth Day. Now the health of the river has improved significantly, and the park offers numerous recreational opportunities and even a scenic railroad for its millions of visitors each year.
• Park Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park This national historical park celebrates the legacy of three talented men from Dayton — aviators Wilbur and Orville Wright and the poet, novelist and playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar. These men were lifelong friends who lived in the same neighborhood. The park site includes the Dunbar House where the author spent the last years of his life with his mother, the last surviving bicycle shop that the Wright brothers owned, and the Huffman Prairie Flying Field where the brothers tested some of their early flying machines.
• Park Death Valley National Park A world of extremes, Death Valley is the nation's driest, hottest and lowest place, but also features mountains over 11,000 feet high that experience below-zero weather and snow, as well as colorful badlands, sand dunes and canyons. Its dramatic mountains, valleys and dunes are world renowned for their complex and diverse geology. The park also contains a wealth of well-preserved archaeological sites and petroglyphs.
• Park Delaware National Scenic River The Delaware is the largest free-flowing river in the country. Visitors can boat, fish, hike, visit cultural sites and explore the gorges, bluffs, forests and wetlands of this geologically diverse waterway.
• Park Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Once touted as a scenic wonder of the world, the Delaware Water Gap is a mile-long stretch of the Middle Delaware River that slices through two mountains. The park includes the river and 67,000 pristine forested acres where visitors can enjoy hiking, camping, fishing and water sports in one of the cleanest rivers in the country.
• Park Denali National Park & Preserve Home to North America's highest mountain, Denali National Park and Preserve encompasses more than 6 million acres of varied settings.
• Park De Soto National Memorial Hernando De Soto was one of the earliest European explorers of North America. His expedition landed on Florida’s west coast in 1539, and he led his men on a five-year, 4,000-mile odyssey across the Southeast into what is now Arkansas. The park preserves tales of the expedition, along with historic armor, weapons and other period items. Visitors can also experience four distinct ecosystems along the park's half-mile nature trail on the south shore of the Manatee River at the mouth of Tampa Bay.
• Park Devils Postpile National Monument This monument takes its name from a cliff of cooled lava that formed into striking hexagonal columns some 100,000 years ago. These unusual 60-foot formations are some of the finest examples of columnar basalt in the world. The park's dramatic Rainbow Falls are another natural wonder at the park, where they plunge 101 feet into the San Joaquin River.
• Park Devils Tower National Monument Scientists debate how Devil’s Tower was formed, but agree that about 65 million years ago, molten lava was forced into existing hard rock formations, cooling and eroding over millions of years into this striking formation that stands 1,267 feet above the landscape. The site is sacred to the Lakota people and many other Plains Tribes, and President Theodore Roosevelt declared it the nation's first national monument in 1906.
• Park Dinosaur National Monument This park preserves a quarry rich with paleontological resources as well as expansive surrounding landscapes, including mountain ranges, steep canyons and wild river valleys. The Quarry Exhibit Hall displays more than 1,400 fossils from the late Jurassic period. Five sites on the western side of the park also preserve a collection of petroglyphs and pictographs from the Fremont people who lived in the region a thousand years ago. The Green River meets with its largest tributary, the Yampa River, in the heart of the park, helping to support more than 1,000 native plant and animal species throughout the area.
• Park Dry Tortugas National Park This park protects seven small islands 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, and the ocean waters that surround them. These islands change constantly from the effects of tides, weather, air, and other environmental and human factors. On Garden Key, visitors can tour the largest all-masonry fort in the United States, built between 1846 and 1875 to defend the Gulf of Mexico, but never completed. The park is also renowned for its vibrant coral, lush seagrass, and migratory birds.
• Park Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial This four-acre memorial in Washington, D.C., honors America's 34th president, who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II and led the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
• Park Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve This national historical reserve on Whidbey Island in Washington's Puget Sound is a living museum to 19th-century life in the Pacific Northwest. The park's dramatic scenery includes dense woods, pastoral prairies, rocky shores, and peaceful blue lakes and lagoons. Visitors can learn about the people who lived on these spectacular lands over hundreds of years, from Native American tribes that established villages along the coasts to the 19th century settlers whose houses, stores and farms are still in use today.
• Park Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site Get a glimpse into one of the most darkly romantic minds in American literature by touring the apartment once rented by the author and critic Edgar Allan Poe.
• Park Effigy Mounds National Monument Effigy mounds are raised piles of earth shaped like animals and other symbols, often used as burial grounds. This national monument preserves more than 200 such prehistoric mounds created by American Indians living in northeast Iowa's Upper Mississippi River Valley. These sacred and ceremonial sites most frequently take the forms of birds and bears, though some are also shaped like turtles, panthers, bison, deer and other animals.
• Park Eisenhower National Historic Site Still a working cattle farm, this national historic site near Gettsyburg Battlefield preserves Ike's beloved weekend retreat with original furnishings and informative exhibits about the 34th U.S. president's life.
• Park El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail El Camino Real de los Tejas will carry you through 300 years of Louisiana and Texas frontier settlement and development on a Spanish colonial "royal road" that originally extended to Mexico City, Mexico.
• Park El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail Take a journey on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail to savor 300 years of heritage and culture in the Southwest. This Spanish colonial "royal road" in New Mexico and Texas originally extended to Mexico City, Mexico.
• Park Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site This historic site in the Hudson Valley area of New York state includes the Val-Kill Cottage where Eleanor Roosevelt lived after the death of her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1945. She lived in the cottage for 17 years and maintained a politically active life, serving as American ambassador to the United Nations and chair of its Human Rights Commission, helping to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Park Ellis Island National Monument Ellis Island straddles New York and New Jersey and commemorates the immigrant experience. Millions of American stories began at Ellis Island; by some estimates, 40% of people in the country today have at least one ancestor who entered the U.S. via this station. Though considered a gateway to the American dream, long lines and the threat of detainment and deportation tested the resolve of immigrants, many of whom had already spent days and sometimes months on crowded, unsanitary ships to escape persecution and poverty in their homelands.

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