The 5 Newest National Parks in America in 2022 — Know The Place Magazine (2024)

"Hey, have you heard?"

"What."

"There's a new National Park. In like West Virginia or something."

"Ugh. I already GOT to all the Parks in the east! Even went snorkeling from Dry Tortugas. Do they even care about me!? I thought I'd at least accomplish something this year."

It's a joke. But, seriously, have you ever felt that way? Like one of my favorite poems by the inimitable Basho:

Just a cloud or two—

to rest the weary eyes

of the moon-viewer

A "National Park" as compared to National Monument or National Forest, is distinctive. Presently, 63 sites hold the title, out of over 400 National Park sites. (To learn more about the difference between titles, visit the easy to read Department of Interior guide here.)

The relatively low number makes visiting all of them an achievable goal for many (check out this article on the influence of the pandemic on visitations to our parks).

Everyone knows Yellowstone and the Smokies, so let's take a look at some of the newest parks in the system, from most recent in late 2020 to the fifth most recent in 2013. We also will include a one star Google review without grammatical fixes. Ya know…. for fun!

Tucked into the Covid Relief Bill sat a note on over 70,000 acres of land around one of the oldest rivers in the entire world: New River Gorge National River, established in 1978, would be disbanded and transferred to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.

The river, with world-class whitewater rafting, sits 1,000 feet below the tallest cliffs, an unheard of amount east of the Mississippi. Rock climbing and hiking opportunities abound.

Perhaps the most famous aspect of the park, though, is the bridge (here’s our article on 5 unique bridges in the USA). The New River Gorge Bridge is the longest steel span in the western hemisphere and the third highest in the US. It is the one of the most photographed places in West Virginia and turned an engineering challenge in to "a work of structural art," as the National Parks Service says.

One Star Google Review: "Its a fast food restaurant"

Wait what? I thought this was already a national park?!

This is where the name designations come in. White Sands was a National Monument up until late 2019 when it became a National Park. The most visited national park land in New Mexico is known for its gypsum sand dunes (which are cool to the touch, even in the heat) and otherworldly landscape in the desert. Gypsum sand is extremely rare, due to its dissolution when met with water. Interestingly, it is water that keeps the dunes from blowing away—water can be found only a foot underneath the dunes. In recent studies, The National Park Service has learned that "water in a dune can only be 50 years old and very fresh compared to the water at the base of the dunes that can be over 6,000 years old.”

What is less famous, but always ominously there, is the White Sands Missile Range and Trinity Site nearby in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. The Trinity Site (the site of the first Nuclear Bomb test) is 60 miles to the north and within the 3,200 sq mi Missile Range, which closes the National Park occasionally during testing and completely surrounds the National Park. Since World War 2, the site has been used for tens of thousands of missile tests and, more recently, literally testing lasers to shoot down drones and stuff. Look out, Star Wars.

One Star Google Review: "why not call it snow buddy?"

You probably get sick of hearing "unlike any other place on earth," but here it is again: Indiana Dunes National Park (est as a National Lakeshore in 1966) is unlike any other place on earth.

I'm sure there are plenty of things about the actual natural landscape that make it unlike any other place, like crazy shelf ice in the winter, but I'm speaking of human influence.

The dunes are surrounded by some of the most unsightly human-made structures known, especially to the east. Gary and East Chicago, Indiana, have a setting that fits a Charles Dickens story of orphan children working to death, minus the brick streets and knickers. Oil refineries and sheet metal factories are seen, smelt and felt. And then, like a storybook, the darkness gives way to the magical beauty of the Great Lakes - soaring sand dunes and water that rivals the Caribbean in color and feeling.

Coming from Chicago is particularly fitting, especially if you take the streets instead of the Interstate. Leaving the beautiful South Shore neighborhood on Lake Shore Drive, you zigzag through a variety of neighborhoods and towns that quickly descend into deeper states of dystopian dilapidation. You question your humanity and get visions of what the world will look like if we continue in our scorched-earth policies against Mother Nature. When you reach the dunes, the striking and contrasting beauty gives firm resolve to save the earth from ourselves, after enjoying a beach day in the clear waters of Lake Michigan, of course.

Everyone should experience that sometime.

One Star Google Review: "I came to to the dunes only to be turned away and told that it doesnt exisit. Will not return."

Lay low in the cut. You'll be surprised on what you find. And by cut I mean the overpopulation of California and by lay low I mean get high at Pinnacles National Park.

The park is known for rock climbing, striking scenery, and relatively low crowds, especially being only 80 miles from San Francisco.

The park gets its name from ancient leftovers of an extinct volcano, which has now shifted about 200 miles away along the San Andreas Fault. Wildlife opportunities, in particular the 9-foot-wing span California Condor, abound. As does hiking, birding, and caving through Talus Caves, which form from large boulders crashing down and arranging to have an opening.

One Star Google Review: "Don’t have any stores selling water. If u don’t bring enough water, u ll get thirsty to death"