Your Guide to the National Parks, and others

Michael Oswald has spent years exploring and photographing our beautiful national parks, and has logged thousands of miles hiking, paddling, and pedaling through them. He has distilled his personal knowledge into four wonderful texts, described below. Because while we try to build social infrastructure in and around our communities, we shouldn’t forget the natural infrastructure that we have in place in our parks, and the bonds they can help us forge between nature and each other.

The Dayhiker’s Guide to the National Parks

This book is exactly what it says it is – a helpful guide for dayhikers visiting national parks. There are maps of trails, including difficult level, length, altitude, and trailhead. Great, succinct descriptions, and recommendations for the best way to get to trails. Also, the book is small and light–it’s easy to throw it in a pack to take with you.

Your Guide to the National Parks

This is the most extensively detailed of all the books, with information about how far a drive things are from each other, where you might stay, the best times to visit, etc. Most helpfully, there is a lot of information about the trails and what you can see along the trails (cascades, large rocks, waterfalls, and more). There are extra tips for backpackers, bikers, rock climbers, and families with small children. There is even information about nearby museums and visitor centers, as well as campgrounds, entrance fees, and public transportation.

National Park Maps: An Atlas of the U.S. National Parks

As promised, this is an atlas, and it is a large, beautiful book with detailed maps to help visualize your next rip. There are lists of favorite hikes, divided by difficulty, the recommended amount of time to spend at each location, and fun facts.

America’s Best Ideas: My National Parks Journal

This is a fun idea–it’s a small book, in journal format, with parks listed every several pages, with lines for you to journal your experience. There are also boxes to tick off for doing certain things at the parks.