24 Must-Visit National Parks To Add To Your West Coast Bucket List

The first national park — Yellowstone, located mainly in Wyoming — was established in 1872. Today, there are 63 national parks from coast to coast. Some of the most beautiful among them, including Yellowstone, are located in the West Coast states of Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. From the snow-capped mountains of Olympic National Park in Washington State to the giant redwood trees in Redwood National Park in California, there's a lot of beauty to behold. Whether you only have time to see one, or you plan to see them all, here are the best ones to bookmark for your adventure. 

The fifth national park established in 1899, Mount Rainier is a short drive from Seattle and perfect for a day trip or overnight if you're staying in the city. Like Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier is celebrated for its dramatic glacier-capped peak, starkly contrasted with meadows full of wildflowers in the summer months. In fact, Rainier's peak has the most glacier coverage of any in the lower 48 states. And what many people don't know is that Mount Rainier is an active volcano. Although it's been dormant for 1,000 years, it is expected to erupt again in the future.

The most adventurous visitors attempt to climb the peak, which reaches nearly 3 miles into the sky, but only about 50 percent successfully summit it. For the more leisurely visitor, the park offers hundreds of hiking trails, including the Wonderland Trail that wraps all the way around the mountain. You can also camp, snowshoe, backcountry ski, and view more than 280 species of wildlife, including Stellar jays, marmots, and black-tailed deer. 

Redwood National Park is named for the giant trees that inhabit its 172 square miles — some of the largest and oldest in the world. In fact, one of these mammoths takes top rank as the world's tallest tree at 381 feet — equivalent to the height of a 35-story building and taller than the Statue of Liberty. 

Living among the trees are black bears, bobcats, Roosevelt elks, coyotes, and black-tailed deer. The park also has 40 miles of wild coastline, sprawling prairies, rushing rivers, lagoons, and marshland. Popular activities include hiking, whale watching, fishing, canoeing, and swimming. 

Death Valley is often said to be the hottest place on Earth with a high temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in 1913. That's not how it got its name though. In the winter of 1849-1850, a group of explorers lost their way in the valley. All feared for their lives, and one came to an untimely death. Upon exiting the valley, one of the group is reported to have said, "Goodbye, Death Valley." And so it was called.

Such an ominously named and blistering hot location doesn't seem like it would be a popular destination, but almost 1 million visitors come every year to see the stunning landscape of sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, wildflower meadows, and deep canyons spread across the park's 3,422,024 acres. Huge is an understatement — it's the largest of all the national parks in the continental U.S. Almost 1,000 miles of paved and dirt roads lead visitors to access points for hiking, camping, mountain biking, backpacking, trail running, and more. There's even a self-guided Star Wars driving tour. 

As its name gives away, Lassen Volcanic National Park in California is home to several volcanoes. In fact, you can find all four varieties of volcanoes that exist in the world — shield, plug dome, Cinder Cone, and Composite. Visitors will also come across hydrothermal activity in bubbling, steaming hot water pools, boiling mud pots, and fumaroles releasing volcanic vapors and gasses. You can see these features by car or hiking through the park's more than 150 miles of trails. In winter — which often lasts until July — backcountry skiing and snowshoeing are popular activities. 

Gates of the Arctic National Park is the second largest, covering an astounding 13,238 square miles north of the Arctic Circle. It's also one of the least-visited national parks in the United States, which makes sense since there are no roads or dedicated trails that lead there. Access is either via plane or backcountry hiking. In addition to hiking and backpacking, visitors come to fish and raft the many floatable rivers. In winter, cross-country skiing and dog mushing are popular activities. There are also plenty of opportunities to spot the grizzlies, Dall sheep, moose, wolves, and wolverines protected by the park. One of the largest herds of Caribou in Alaska, with around 200,000 members, also calls the park home. 

Just adjacent to Sequoia National Park and its world's largest tree, King's Canyon National Park has the world's second-largest tree — the General Grant Tree. The park also features Redwood Grove, which is the largest Sequoia grove still in existence. The other main attraction here is the canyon for which the park is named. Kings Canyon is the deepest in North America at a maximum depth of 8,200 — deeper than even the Grand Canyon which maxes out at 6,000 feet. 

Often referred to as the "Galapagos of North America," Channel Islands National Park is a chain of five islands off the coast of southern California. Like the Galapagos, the Channel Islands are surrounded by a diverse marine environment in which thrive hundreds of animal and plant species, including dolphins, sea lions, seals, sea otters, spiny lobsters, whales, sunflower stars, and giant black seabass. On land, visitors can spot several bird, mammal, and plant species endemic to the islands, including the spotted skunk, island fox, island scrub jay, Island paintbrush and Torrey pine.

Kenai Fjords National Park in southcentral Alaska is a 607,805-acre wonderland of vast glaciers, untouched wilderness, and a rugged coastline teeming with wildlife. The 700-square-mile Harding Icefield that links 40 glaciers is the largest icefield in North America. Visitors can follow the 8.2-mile Harding Icefield Trail, which traverses the valley and climbs past the treeline to reveal sweeping icefield views. 

Day cruises through the fjords offer breathtaking vistas of glaciers and marine life, including orca, fin, minke and humpback whales, otters, seal lions, puffins, and porpoises. Kayaking, salmon fishing, and camping — either wilderness or in one of the two public cabins — are also popular activities. 

Perhaps one of the best ways to see Kobuk Valley is by air, where you can get a bird's eye view of the 380-mile Kobuk River snaking through the huge expanse of the North American Boreal Forest — one of the last of its kind in the world. In fact, air is one of the only ways to arrive in the wilderness, in addition to boat or on foot, as there are no roads. 

Once inside the park, activities abound for the intrepid outdoor traveler, including floating and boating, backpacking, camping, and fishing the Kobuk in the summer, and skiing, snowshoeing, dog sledding, and skijoring through mountains and along frozen rivers in the winter. There are no developed facilities in the park, so visitors must bring all their own supplies and equipment and be prepared for frigid temps — even in summer. 

With its inception in 2013, Pinnacles is one of the newest national parks. Its rocky spires, or pinnacles, are remnants of an extinct volcano 23 million years ago. Located near the San Andreas Fault, the landscape is evidence of its seismic history, which also helped form the unique talus caves — another highlight of a visit to the park. 

Pinnacles is an approachable and accessible park with plenty of amenities — including a designated camping area, RV parking, and a swimming pool. Hiking is the most popular activity here, with plenty of variety from flat and easy trails to rigorous day-long hikes. 

Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest national park, covering 20,587 square miles. To put that in perspective, it's bigger than the country of Costa Rica.  It's also one of the most beautiful and the least visited parks. The park is part of a larger area encompassing Kluane, Glacier Bay, and Tatsehenshini-Alsek that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its vast glaciers and biodiverse ecosystems, including marine, montane, alpine tundra, sub-alpine, and coastal forest. 

Mount St. Elias is the star of the park with its peak topping 18,000 feet. Adjacent sits Mount Wrangell, an active volcano with a summit of over 14,000 feet. 

An International Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home to two of the most active volcanoes in the world — Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Between 1983 and 2018, Kilauea's activity was nearly continuous. It has slowed since then, but it is still possible to catch spectacular scenes of bright orange lava flowing into the sea. Get up close on a hike or a boat tour, or get a bird's eye view from a helicopter. When there's no lava, there's still plenty to do, including hiking to the Keanakakoi and Kilauea Iki craters or into the Thurston Lava Tube. You can also hike the Puuloa Petroglyphs trail, which takes you to a field filled with ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs.