America's national parks

David Gotisha / msnbc.com
Crater Lake

The brilliant blue Crater Lake, located in southern Oregon, was formed when Mount Mazama, standing at 12,000 feet, collapsed 7,700 years ago after a massive eruption. Crater Lake is one of the world's deepest lakes at 1,943 feet.

National Park Service
Olympic

Washington state's Olympic National Park offers visitors beaches on the Pacific Ocean, glacier-capped mountain peaks and everything in between. Keep the weather in mind when visiting, though, as roads and facilities can be affected by wind, rain and snow any time of year.

Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images
Sequoia and Kings Canyon

A woman stands among a grove of a Giant Sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park in Central California. The trees, which are native to California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, are the world's largest by volume, reaching heights of 275 feet and a ground level girth of 109 feet. The oldest known Giant Sequoia based on its ring count is 3,500 years old.

National Park Service
Denali

Alaska's Denali National Park spans 6 million acres and includes the 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, North America's tallest peak. Many park visitors try to catch a glimpse of the "big five" -- moose, caribou, Dall sheep, wolves and grizzly bear.

National Park Service via AP
Kenai Fjords National Park

The National Park Service considers the 8.2-mile round-trip on Harding Icefield Trail in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park to be strenuous, saying hikers gain about 1,000 feet of elevation with each mile.

Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images
Death Valley

California's Death Valley encompasses more than 3.3 million acres of desert wilderness. In 1849, a group of gold rush pioneers entered the Valley, thinking it was a shortcut to California. After barely surviving the trek across the area, they named the spot "Death Valley." In the 1880s, native peoples were pushed out by mining companies who sought the riches of gold, silver, and borax.

David McNew / Getty Images
Wind Cave

Bison graze in Wind Cave National Park in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota. Millions of bison were slaughtered by white hunters who pushed them to near-extinction by the late 1800s. Recovery programs have brought the bison numbers up to nearly 250,000.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Canyonlands

The Lower Basins Zone is outlined by the white rim edge as seen from the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images
Shenandoah

Fall colors blanket the Shenandoah National Park, drawing tourists to Skyline Drive to view the scenery.

Don Heupel / AP
America the beautiful

We're celebrating our country’s splendor with photos that capture its vast and unique beauty. Some are familiar: Niagara Falls (left) or Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Others are more obscure: a forgotten garage on Route 66 or sun-bleached cliffs in the West. In our daily lives, we're apt to overlook the magnificence around us.