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| Mount Rushmore, South Dakota |
Among the best ways to see Dry Tortugas National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Just three short walks allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – a historic fort, a tropical key, and a Gulf of Mexico beach.
19th Century Mining Town
Crossing a thick rolling woodland, the Colorado River Trail offers nice views of Colorado River, arguably the Southwest’s most important waterway. The trail to the ruins of an 19th century mining town, Lulu City, in a 6.2-miles round trip with 320-foot elevation gain.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park trails
A number of great day hikes allow visitors to explore the Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s rich history. Pioneer cabins and mills await on several short day hikes.
Mount Rushmore National Monument
Among the iconic sights of South Dakota’s Black Hills region is Mount Rushmore National Monument. The gigantic carving of the heads of four presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln – took fourteen years and 400 workers to complete. Nearly 3 million people annually visit the monument.
Pinery Trail
Guadalupe National Park
Along the Texas-New Mexico border, families can step back into the Old West and experience the remoteness of what once was a welcome sign to travelers: a Butterfield Stage station in the Guadalupe Mountains. The 0.75-mile round trip Pinery Trail marks a great day hike for families at Guadalupe National Park. The trail leads to the ruins of the Pinery Station, a once favored stop on the original 2,800-mile Butterfield Overland Mail Route.
Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.
