It’s not too late to take a fall road trip at these 10 national parks

19.10.2023 - 12:15 / lonelyplanet.com

Summer trips through the USA’s national parks are a rite of passage. But what if someone told you they’re at their best a couple of months later?

Come fall, our favorite destinations do a costume change, offering new experiences for those looking for an outdoor escape that won’t have them sweating in their tents. 

Explore woodlands, deserts and shorelines, observing nature’s brilliant nuances as the season changes – think glorious leaves, more wildlife or clearer views of our galaxy. Below are reasons to visit 10 parks across the country that will make for a perfect autumn getaway. And no, it’s not too late to set off on one.

You can find plenty of big trees on a road trip around Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, particularly within the boundaries of Olympic National Park. In the park’s one-million-plus acres (400,000 hectares) of wilderness, you can hike into the mountains, wander along the coast and explore the old-growth temperate rainforests. Head for the lowlands of the Sol Duc or Elwha Valleys for groves of Douglas fir and western hemlock. Deeper in the park, moss-covered Sitka spruce and western hemlock stand tall amid the ferns and lichens in the jungle-like Hoh Rain Forest and Quinault Area. And if you’d like to add some vampire lore to your rainforest adventures, stop in the town of Forks, the setting for Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels, where teen Bella Swan falls for an ever-so-handsome vampire. 

We couldn’t make this list without including the only national park in New England, a region globally recognized for having some of the most eye-catching autumn colors on the planet. The park is an ideal spot to participate in all the leaf-peeping you can handle. Colors tend to peak around the beginning of October; if you want to track where and when they’re at their best, the Maine state government maintains status updates on its website. The park contains 158 miles of trails that loop around lakes and forests and along rocky shorelines, giving you all the chances to see the many sides of Maine. 

Acadia originally belonged to the Wabanaki people, who called the area Pemetic, meaning “the sloped land.” The area was popularized by writers and artists in the late 1800s, and Acadia National Park was established in 1916, the first national park east of the Mississippi.

Yellowstone is nature’s tour de force. As part of its unique “supervolcano,” visitors will find half of all the geysers on Earth, the country’s largest high-altitude lake and a mass of blue-ribbon rivers and waterfalls. And all that is before you see one animal – and you can expect to see many. Bear (or bison) “jams” are sometimes an issue from Yellowstone Lake on. Beyond the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, head east toward Lamar Valley,