Is Pinnacles the most underrated national park we’ve visited? It’s certainly a leading candidate, and though it is overshadowed by other California parks, this hidden gems holds it’s own and is actually more accessible than most.

Two parks for the price of one! Sequoia and Kings Canyon are often seen as the little brother of Yosemite or the “other” Sierra Nevada parks. But they stand on their own in many ways and deserve the time and exploration.

We’ve been looking forward to this one. It feels like the pinnacle of national parks. We’ve heard and read and dreamt so much about visiting this place. What will it hold for us?

California has eight National Parks, including the largest in the Lower 48 and perhaps the most famous of all Parks. But overlook Lassen Volcanic at your own peril…

What does it take to make you realize something is spectacular? What if one of the most popular movies of all time used the backdrop of a place to portray a forested moon in a galaxy far, far away?

What is it that they say about the best laid plans? Well Crater Lake reminded us that whatever we think we want to do in a National Park, mother nature (and the Park Service) may have other plans.

After a stop in Seattle to pick up our van, we are heading south for the next month, with plans to hit seven National Parks in Oregon and California. But first…

Summer number two of our three-summer road trip kicks off in July, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Haleakala Crater is a very unique place. Imagine being on Maui — a lush tropical island in the middle of the Pacific — and then driving for an hour on switchbacks up the slopes of a 10,000’ volcano only to end up looking into a crater seven miles long, two miles wide, and a half mile deep. And at the bottom is a landscape the most resembles the surface of the moon — sandy, rocky, rugged — but also has verdant sections, one-of-a-kind flora, and a large population of endangered nene (the Hawaiian goose).

Hawai’i Volcanoes is a special place for us. From our home on O’ahu, it is the most accessible National Park. That said, we don’t live on the same island, so we still have to fly to Hawai’i Island, reserve a rental car, book a hotel, and dedicate some time to the park. Even so, on some occasions we just fly over for a quick visit — especially when the lava is flowing!

I filled the gas tank of our rented 2002 Volkswagen Eurovan 17 times in 31 days from mid-July to mid-August. It was a green Weekender camper van with a Westfalia pop top. The kids slept upstairs. During that month, we drove more than 3,000 miles exploring seven national parks, from the Rockies to the Olympic Mountains.

People who live in the Seattle often describe a clear day by saying, “The mountains are out.” They could be referring to either the Olympic Range to the west or the Cascades to the east. However, when Seattleites say, “The mountain is out,” they only mean one mountain: Mount Rainier, the volcanic peak that dominates the skyline to the south. Perhaps, the only thing more impressive than seeing Mount Rainier straight ahead as you drive down I-5 is being up on the slopes of the behemoth when the mountain is out.

Olympic National Park shares the Olympic Peninsula with national forest land, military installations, indigenous tribal reservations, private land holdings, state and county parks, and a smattering of small towns and rural outposts. The borders of the national park are not contiguous. There is a large inland, mountainous unit and several smaller coastal units. To visit the entire park, patience and long drives are required, because you are covering a land area roughly the size of Yellowstone National Park, and with just as much beauty and intrigue.

One of the least visited national parks in the system, North Cascades is truly a hidden gem in Northern Washington. Add in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, and the North Cascades Complex was yet another highlight of an amazing trip.

Driving into Glacier from the east, the giant monoliths rise abruptly out of the plains. Our approach was made even more dramatic by the hazy conditions caused by wildfire smoke. The mountains weren’t visible until we were well past Browning, Montana and approaching East Glacier. But when those mountain appeared, they were majestic and foreboding and addictive all at once. Glacier is a very unique place, as we were about to find out.

How can Yellowstone live up to expectations, if the expectations are so incredibly high? The wildlife, the geothermal activity, the history, the canyons, the waterfalls, the expanse of wilderness. It sounds like five or six parks in one. And, to summarize, that’s pretty much what we found at Yellowstone. That, and a park that exceeded our expectations.

Before our trip we had the great fortune to chat with David Kroese, who has visited all 423 units of the National Park System, most of which are documented in his book The Centennial: A Journey through America’s National Park System. Having someone like David look over your itinerary is like getting the professor’s answer key before you take the exam. His top advice for the entire trip was for Grand Teton, and it was simple: “Don’t ignore the canyons!” We listened, and we were very grateful.

We planned meticulously for our trip. Every activity was scoped out; every hour scheduled. But our plans were mostly guidelines. Just suggestions. And we learned that quickly at Rocky Mountain.

On a Friday night, we hopped on a red eye flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles to Denver. We checked into our hotel and took in a Colorado Rockies game. The next day was all planning and prep.

Phase one of our big park-to-park tour is upon us. It’s been a long time coming; planning the entire trip for 2020, un-planning it because of Covid, and replanning for 2021. But we’re more than ready at this point. With the day-by-day itineraries handled, the next steps is packing.