Sunrise at Marble Canyon - Arizona
Arizona
Arizona is famous for one of America’s largest and most popular national parks, Grand Canyon, however it offers a variety of other national and state parks that should not be missed.
One area I find particularly interesting is Northeastern Arizona, which encompasses parts of Glen Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs, Canyon de Chelly, and Monument Valley.
Other notable parks are Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.
California
While California offers many National Parks for visitors to enjoy, for the purposes of this site, I focus primarily on Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Mojave. Depending on when you chose to visit, a trip that involves both the alpine parks of the Sierra Nevada Range, and the desert parks in California southeast corner, may make for the perfect summer vacation , and a variety of different natural landscapes.
Colorado
Nevada
New Mexico
Utah
Utah is arguably the crown jewel for nature parks in the Southwest. It contains more national parks and monuments then just about any other state in the country, let alone the Southwest. Parks include Arches, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, Zions, Capitol Reef, Dinosaur Monument Valley and Bryce Canyon.
It also has a number of state parks known for their natural beauty, including Snow Canyon, Goblin Valley, Goosenecks and Dead Horse Point.