Best US National Park for Photography

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

What do you consider the best photo op local?

[gatewayphoto]

My 2 grand babies lol

[venchka]

Carry over from the Yosemite thread.............

I will only mention places I have been and include National Monuments.
Bandalier N.M.
Great Sand Dunes N.M.
Mesa Verde N.P.
Grand Teton N.P.
Yellowstone N.P.
Glacier N.P.
Rocky Mountain N.P.
Acadia N.P.

Heck, they are all good. Just get out there and do it!

ps: The five Canadian parks on the Alberta/BC border are the best mountain parks. Mt. Robson Provincial Park is my #1 favorite.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

There is a state park in Nev that has a heck of a Sand Dune, but it is usually covered with 4 wheelers so hard to shoot it. Also in the eastern edge of Nevada is a national park with Bristle Cone Pines.

Very seldom do I go to parks east of the Mississippi.

[ronocnikral]

how do you lump arches with canyonlands and zion with bryce? completely different.

i usually don't go to the parks to take pictures, however. canyon de chelly is crap. not only is it federal land, but you need a navajo guide if you leave the rim. if you camp there, you'll wish you could shoot the navajo's dogs.

i'll echo what wayne and nike says. just do it. or as warren miller says, if you don't do it this year, you probably never will.

[texkam]

How 'bout going underground? Mammoth Cave NP.

[Hogleg 44]

Yosemite, Because of the tremendous variety of scenics available between the East entry near Lake Mono, to the Valley. Mountain Lakes, Climbing Rocks, Mountain Meadows, Forests, Redwoods, and then the Valley! Absolutely One of the most Beautiful Places in the World.
Lake Mono to the Valley, is without a doubt, the Best Motorcycle ride I ever took!
(And Bodie is very close to Lake Mono and that entry!)

[bryanlindsey]

I voted Zion/Bryce. Yosemite is beautiful, but full of Ansel disciples. Grand Canyon is cool, but is very bright most of the time. Never been to Yellowstone or Chaco Canyon, so can't speak to those.

I would ADD Sequioa/King's Canyon. That was my favorite park to shoot in - I liked it slightly better than Bryce Canyon.

[johnastovall]

Why was Guadalupe Mountains National Park not on this list?

[Carl Stone]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

What do you consider the best photo op local?

Can't vote, you left off my personal favorite, Glacier National park. While the others are certainly respectable, Glacier has no equal...........IMO.

I guess you know that The Grand Canyon is the most popular of all of them, but over the last few years haze has taken it's toll on photo ops there.

[LEO III]

Whichever one I'm in at the time!

[KD5NRH]

Originally Posted by texkam

How 'bout going underground? Mammoth Cave NP.

I've heard it's way behind Carlsbad Caverns NP on accessibility. Carlsbad has more of an attitude of "if you can do it from the trail and not get in anybody's way, go for it." When I was there with a tripod, rangers were quite helpful, to the extent of even distracting a fast-moving group for a few seconds to keep them from brushing past me until my 30-sec exposure had finished, and making sure we had time to get long exposures on the ranger-guided tours. (I think it helped that I was also showing people how to get better results from their P&S's, so about half the group was wanting to wait up in certain spots.) Mammoth doesn't allow even monopods, and I couldn't find any info on after-hours photography permits on their site.

Carlsbad's after-hours commercial photography rates are also pretty reasonable. ($100 application fee + $50/day for up to 10 people + $50/hr to pay for the rangers to keep an eye on you: $500 would get you seven hours without having to worry about getting in tourists' way.)

[HOUSCOUS]

I only went to Smoky Mountains NP so I don't have anything for comparison but Smoky Mountains NP is definitely worth to visit again.

[CaptainTom]

I spent the summer of 2000 driving a tour boat around Crater Lake NP.

Some scanned images are Here.

History of Crater Lake NP

[texkam]

I've heard it's way behind Carlsbad Caverns NP on accessibility

Thanks for the info. and for reminding me that Carlsbad is the prettier place.

Tough question. So many great choices. Like asking a parent to pick a favorite child.