The United States is as beautiful as it is massive. It’s the third largest country in the world in size and population.
It is home to spectacular deserts, majestic mountain ranges, volcanos, redwood forests, waterfalls, canyons, glaciers, caves, and swamps.
Naturally, if you wish to visit any of the magnificent natural wonders in the US, you can travel to your destination by plane or railway. But if you have the time, taking a road trip and savoring every moment is the ultimate way to see some of the most awe-inspiring and breathtaking places in the world—right here in the US.
The National Park System
The National Park system protects and preserves many of these earth wonders where visitors can marvel at Mother Nature’s great displays of beauty.
Here are the top 10 most breathtaking and rich landscapes with natural wonders ranging from unusual geological formations to massive redwood forests.
1. Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls has been the most popular tourist destination in the US attracting millions of visitors each year.
Niagara Falls consists of three waterfalls located at the United States and Canada border: The Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls, and the Bridal Veil Falls.
The three falls work together to create the World’s most incredible waterfall flow rate. It is the combination of height and water flow that makes Niagara Falls so beautiful.
2. Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is known for its red-tinged canyon walls and awe-inspiring natural wonders like Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs.
The park preserves more than 10,000 hot springs, mudpots, fumaroles, travertine terraces and—of course —geysers.
3. The Great Lakes
The Great Lakes—Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario—form the largest-surface freshwater system in the world, together holding nearly one-fifth of the Earth’s surface freshwater. The Great Lakes have over 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) of shoreline.
This reserve of fresh water truly stands out as a unique treasure. After the glaciation of North America, thousands of years of snow and ice made the earth sink, providing a home for the Great Lakes we know today.
4. Florida Everglades
Everglades National Park is the largest tropical wilderness in North America.
The Everglades provide one of the most pristine environments for bird lovers with over 350 species calling the Everglades home. Protected wildlife like the American Crocodile as well as the manatee and Florida panther are two of the more popular threatened species also located in the Everglades.
5. Death Valley
Death Valley is one of the hottest places on earth, the driest place in the US and its Badwater Basin is also the point of the lowest elevation in North America – 282 feet below sea level.
More than a desert, Death Valley encompasses 3 million acres, including snow-capped peaks, endemic species, and slot canyons galore.
It’s a landscape of sand dunes, sheer cliffs, desert canyons, towering mountains, and desert oases. Telescope Peak, at 11,000 feet high has incredible views of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and the highest point in the continental United States – Mount Whitney.
6. Grand Canyon
The scenery of the Grand Canyon is widely considered one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes—truly a site to behold.
In Grand Canyon National Park, pine and fir forests, painted deserts, sandstone canyons, mesas and plateaus, volcanic and geologic features, the Colorado River, perennial streams, and waterfalls contribute to incredible panoramic views.
The Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River over millions of years. This phenomenon shows the impact of weathering and erosion over a long period of time.
7. Redwood National Park
Redwoods are the tallest trees on the planet. They can reach heights of nearly 400 feet, which is approximately the same height as a 36-37 story skyscraper—so high that if you are standing at the bottom on a clear day, you still wouldn’t be able to see the top.
Redwoods live for 500 to 700 years, although some have been documented at more than 2,000 years old, meaning that some of the coast redwoods living today were alive during the time of the Roman Empire.
8. Crater Lake
This lake was formed 7,700 years ago, when a violent eruption triggered the collapse of a tall peak. Scientists marvel at its purity—fed by rain and snow, it’s the deepest lake in the USA and one of the most pristine on Earth.
9. Carlsbad Caverns
High ancient sea ledges, deep rocky canyons, flowering cacti, and desert wildlife are the treasures above the ground. However, right beneath the surface are more than 119 caves—formed when sulfuric acid dissolved limestone leaving behind caverns of all sizes.
Visitors enter a world of silence, darkness and cold, almost 230 meters under the ground—absolutely awe-inspiring.
It’s not just people who visit the area. About 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats come to the big cave from Mexico each summer to give birth.
Every evening, as the sun goes down, thousands of adult bats fly out to eat night-flying insects. As it gets closer to morning they return to their cave and locate their babies.
Then, in late October the bats all leave and return to Mexico, but they always return the next year.
10. The Mississippi River
The iconic Mississippi River is one of the world’s great rivers and one of the most complex floodplain river ecosystems on the planet.
It is also one of the defining features of the North American continent. Used by Native Americans for trade, food, and water long before Europeans visited the New World, the Mississippi River and its watershed is a major contributor to the ecology, culture, and economy of the United States.
Final Thoughts
The United States is a country full of awe-inspiring natural wonders. Offering an incredible variety of diverse and inspiring landscapes, breathtaking locations, and powerful panoramas, America truly is the land of dreams.
After you get settled in the US, we hope you’ll visit some of these incredible natural landmarks. And we hope this article may have inspired you just a little.
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