National parks in Wyoming

Summer view of the Yellowtail Dam from the Ok-A-Beh road.

100ESSENTIAL Sharron Genaux

National Recreation Area · MT

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

Bighorn Canyon is a genuinely underrated recreation powerhouse straddling Montana and Wyoming, where a deep reservoir carved through dramatic canyon walls anchors an almost absurd range of activities.

Backpackers in North Fork Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton behind

100ESSENTIAL NPS Photo / D. Lehle

National Park · WY

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton is the rare park that earns a perfect breadth score because it genuinely delivers on every front.

A geyser erupts steam in front of the bright sun.

90ESSENTIAL NPS / Jacob W. Frank

National Park · ID

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is not just a great national park, it is a category unto itself.

A large two story white building with pillars. Several windows with green shutters

74EXCELLENT Chase Swift Photography/Chase Swift

National Historic Site · WY

Fort Laramie National Historic Site

Fort Laramie punches well above its modest footprint.

73EXCELLENT NPS/ S. Carter

National Monument · WY

Devils Tower National Monument

Devils Tower punches well above its compact size.

A white canvas wagon sits in front of a large rock buttress with mountains in the distance.

62WORTH IT NPS Photo

National Historic Trail · CA

California National Historic Trail

This is not a park you visit so much as a history you inhabit across a 5,000-mile corridor.

Red cliffs line a highway as seen from a high point with grass in the foreground.

62WORTH IT NPS photo

National Historic Trail · IL

Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail

This is not a trail you hike end to end on a Tuesday afternoon.

A wagon swale is cut deep into limestone rock with trees in background.

62WORTH IT NPS photo

National Historic Trail · ID

Oregon National Historic Trail

The Oregon National Historic Trail is less a destination than a 2,000-plus-mile framework for understanding westward migration across six states.

A rider in a red vest on a horse in a grassy patch surrounded by sagebrush with clouds in the sky.

61WORTH IT NPS photo

National Historic Trail · CA

Pony Express National Historic Trail

The Pony Express Trail is less a destination than a framework for a road trip across the American interior.

Fish fossils exposed near cliff edge with green hills in the distance.

45NICHE NPS Photo

National Monument · WY

Fossil Butte National Monument

Fossil Butte is a free, low-key monument built around one genuinely extraordinary idea: 52-million-year-old lake fossils so well preserved they changed how scientists understand ancient North America.