“National Parks are going to be huge in 2010,” says Dan Austin, co-founder and director, Austin-Lehman Adventures (ALA).
“Our pre-bookings are way up which mirror’s USA Today’s recent report that overall attendance at National Parks in 2009 is up five percent over last year. As experts in national park adventures, we are positioned well to take full advantage of the increased interest and desire.”
These predictions of a banner year in 2010 for U.S. National Parks could be right. More Americans vacationing closer to home, Ken Burns’ “America’s Best Idea” film and a 100th birthday for Glacier could all contribute to an increased interest in U.S. National Park destinations.
The ALA 2010 tour line-up of 15 small group adult and family itineraries visiting 10 of America’s most iconic National Parks will include a new trip to Glacier National Park.
Senior guide Matty Kirkland offers his insider’s picks on five off-the-tourist-map places to explore:
1) Yellowstone – “The Bechler-Falls River Basin in the southwest corner offers some of the most beautiful waterfalls plus therapeutic soaking in Mr Bubbles hot spring as the ground shakes underneath.”
2) Grand Teton – “The new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is a 1,106-acre refuge within the park on the southern end of Phelps Lake. The sights once reserved for a legendary family are now open to the public by accessing an eight-mile network of meadow and forested trails.”
3) Glacier – “This is the only place in the continental U.S. that still has all of the predators that were present when the Europeans first arrived in North America. The Coal Creek area is so remote few marked trails exist, yielding a true wilderness experience.”
4) Zion – “Grab a bike and pedal Kolob Terrace Road slicing through the middle of the park between Zion Canyon and Kolob Canyons, dropping 4,400 feet in 18 wild, traffic-free miles.”
5) Fisher Towers near Arches – “Located 20 miles northeast of Moab, UT, it is one of the least-visited but most scenic landscapes along the Colorado River. An easy 4.4 roundtrip hike reveals strange monoliths grouped together like petrified skyscrapers from some prehistoric city.”
Image courtesy of ALA
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I keep telling people about Chaco Canyon NP in New Mexico.
On Par with Michu Pichu. But no one knows about it!
Check it out!!
Thanks Dave!
Really hope this is the case, would love to see today’s society getting out to more of our National Parks. I’m constantly worried about it as it’s harder and harder for people these days to be un-plugged. And there’s not great reception for your iPhone at Zions, but such beautiful places in the world!
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Thanks, the National Parks are such beautiful places! If there isn’t great iPhone reception there, that’s another way to be un-plugged.