Remember To Visit These National Parks When Heading East

National parks are great weekend escapes for city dwellers, travel enthusiasts, and students who are ready to explore the wild.  Almost all the national parks in the United States are worth visiting.  Yet for visitors who are heading to the East, here are three of the national parks they can explore and enjoy.

Congaree National Park

The Congaree National Park is located in South Carolina and is the largest hardwood forest that survives—to this day—in the eastern periphery of the United States.  The perpetual flooding in the area results in more than bald Cypress trees and Spanish moss, which makes it perfect for birds and wildlife spotting.  The park, set in an area of 22,000 acres, is a home for otters, alligators, bobcats, deer, and a vast variety of birds.  It offers great access to hikers down the 7km long Western Lake Loop Trail.  The Kingsnake Trail, which is 19k long, is heaven for sighting birds.

Image source: wanderwithjo.com

Everglades National Park

Astoundingly huge at 1.5million acres, the Everglades National Park is the largest sub-tropical chunk of wilderness in the whole of United States.  It is a huge reserve that consists of mangroves and sawgrass.  Visitors can move around in small boats through small channels.  Walls of high grass tower on either side.

Acadia National Park

Acadia is the first and premier national park of the East and is the most dramatic one that Maine has in store for its tourists.  Cadillac Mountain and Bar Harbor offer different attractions, yet are equally astonishing.  However, the Otter Cliff is considered the main attraction, standing at 34m high, making it a headland tallest than any north of Rio.

Image source: dk.com

Dywer and Associates works on preserving and restoring natural habitats by supporting the further expansion of the country’s national park system. For more posts like this, click here.

Great National Parks In The U.S. To Visit With Your Kids

While many parks and reserves in the U.S. are great for the family, not all of them are child-friendly, especially those that are riddled with difficult and steep trails. Listed below are some of the best parks to visit for that bonding with your kids and with nature.

Arches National Park

What makes this Utah park most alluring for family visits is that it’s very accessible. Kids will not complain about the distance of the trails much, as the 36-mile loop will already have visitors witnessing the park’s main sights. Kids will love the numerous sandstone arch formations that look like spires and domes, especially since some of them are climbable. Make sure to visit Delicate Arch, the most-photographed monolith jutting out at the corner of a cliff like the feet of a giant or a portal to some magical place.

Image source: visitnc.com

Yellowstone National Park

This famed park is more than just Old Faithful. Kids will love seeing the geyser for sure, as well as the wildlife of bison and wolves, but the park has many programs in place specifically catering to kids, from studying the site’s thermal features while playing with laser guns to tracking earthworms. There’s plenty to do here to keep the kids happy and occupied when the excitement about the scenery has passed.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This is the perfect place to bring the children to witness swarms of fireflies as well as 30 species of salamanders. The 500,000-acre park that straddles North Carolina and Tennessee offers ranger- or naturalist-guided training for kids who want to get closer to the various species of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals that call the reserve their home. You can enroll the children in the Smoky Mountain Field School, or even have their try playing junior rangers.

Image source: nationalparktripsmedia.com

Dwyer and Associates will always be for preservation of biomes and other natural environments that exist within national parks. More writings on national parks in the U.S. here.

Children Will Love These National Park Adventures

American novelist Wallace Stegner was right when he said: “National parks are the best idea we ever had.” Here are some of the best delectable adventures for children in store in the country’s well-preserved national parks.

Image source: TravelChannel.com

First on the list is to become a Junior Ranger, a program that enables children to earn badges or patches for completing fun activities. There are other programs for youth, including the Junior Paleontologist program, which teaches kids about fossils at Badlands National Park, and Young Scientists for probing the area around Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

Kids can also have a crash course in geology. Arches National Park in Utah boasts of the richest concentration of arch and “window” formations worldwide, from the Double Arch (two huge arches sharing a common support column) to the Fiery Furnace (a warren of passageways between stone fins and walls, best for guided hikes).

No one’s too young for an adrenaline rush, too. Have the children take a scenic helicopter ride such as the North Canyon Tour, a 30-minute aerial tour of the Grand Canyon, or have them go sledding on a sand dune onboard snow saucers at New Mexico’s White Sands.

They can also make their park visit a learning opportunity with the wealth of events, classes, and activities available on schedule. Celebrations like the National Hispanic Heritage Month teach them a thing or two about appreciating cultural diversity, while they can join fun online classes, such as following the lives of Brooks River brown bears on the internet.

Image source: NationalGeographic.com

Dwyer & Associates believes in the conservation of national parks and will always be protective of these scenic beauties. For similar reads, visit this page.

Top 5 Reasons to See the Beauty of Yosemite

Local and foreign travelers marvel at the grandeur that is Yosemite. Families and groups of friends drive and hike miles just to witness its beauty. From its towering waterfalls to the elegance of its wildlife, Yosemite is not a place to miss.

Image source: huffingtonpost.com

The Yosemite Valley Floor Tour: Not a fan of hiking? No problem. This tour lets individuals enjoy nature without having to feel exhausted from all the walking and hiking. A two-hour open-air tram tour introduces the park to its visitors in an excellent way. The tour is perfect for those who would want to relax.
Waterfalls: With five waterfalls measuring to a thousand feet or more to boast of, Yosemite gives its visitors choices of trails to see them. From easy hikes to challenging ones, travelers can decide which path to take to see a specific waterfall. With melted snow from the mountain, they’re best to see during late spring.
Starry skies: At night, Yosemite lets travelers see the wonders of the skies through guided astronomy walks, and nighttime bike tours. These tours are offered during the summer.
Wildlife: Spotting animals in Yosemite won’t be a surprise as there are over 400 species present in the park, including reptiles, fish, amphibians, mammals, and birds.

Image source: rvcoutdoors.com

Camping: Living among the wildlife and experiencing the beauty of nature through the sound of the falls and the sparkle of the stars are among the reasons why camping in Yosemite is quite an experience. Whether camping with a bunch of people or wanting to spend a cozy night with just a few friends, Yosemite will never disappoint.
Dwyer and Associates advocates the preservation of the planet through conservation of national parks. For more articles on the grandeur of national parks, click here.

Photography and National Parks: A Perfect Union

National parks in the United States have been a staple destination of nature and wildlife photographers for over a century. A huge part of the appeal is that national parks are protected and preserved, and so they stay pristine and as close as they can to when they first came to existence.

Image source: jasonsavagephotography.com

Climate change, sadly, has changed the appearance of several national parks over the past few decades. This is both a warning and an invitation to photographers since they have to hurry to catch the waning beauty of some parks, while given the chance to document these cataclysmic changes.

On the side of the parks, the more photographers who come and shoot in them, the more promotion and exposure they get. This added social awareness makes for more people willing to participate in their protection. This creates new campaigns, and newer ways to send word that parks have to be preserved for future generations.

A huge plus is that national parks reward photographers with health advantages that only national parks can give. The pollution-free air is enough to relax the lungs of a photographer, and all that hiking will surely give them a good work out. Finally, going through these parks can be stress-relieving on both the body and mind, as is photography.

Image source: marcadamus.com

Dwyer and Associates care a lot about the environment, which is why they are doing all they can to help preserve our national parks. Learn more about the different national parks in the United States by subscribing to this Twitter account.