We’re already a quarter of the way into 2021, and with “National Park Week” coming up April 17-25, it seems like a good time for an update on my National Park Travel Goal. I shared this goal in one of my earliest posts when I restarted the blog in December 2019. At that time, I had checked off 29 of 61 National Parks from this bucket list of mine. Even with the pandemic, I managed to visit a few new parks in 2020, along with repeating a couple of the parks that I hadn’t visited since I was a young child. I’m currently up to 36 of 63 National Parks, with hopes to add several more in the coming months!
Last year’s original plans were all derailed, but I’m feeling optimistic about this year! Having now been fully vaccinated, I intend to check Big Bend (TX) off my list in the very near future. Hopefully soon after that, a trio of parks in close proximity to each other — Carlsbad Caverns (NM), Guadalupe Mountains (TX), and White Sands (NM). I’m also hoping to keep Isle Royale on the agenda after that trip was canceled last year when the park stayed closed for the year due to the pandemic. The logistics of that one are challenging, but our reservations are made again for this summer! Looking ahead, I’m daydreaming about Haleakala in Hawaii as an excellent way to wrap up the year around Christmas-time, so we’ll see how that idea plays out!
In late 2020, West Virginia’s New River Gorge became America’s 63rd National Park. The designation came after my mom and I made a stop there earlier in the year, but I’m checking it off my list. Since this is my list, I get to make the rules like that! Below are a few photos of the amazing New River Gorge Bridge. There’s a great viewing platform for the bridge, and also a scenic loop you can drive to get the “under the bridge” view. It made for an excellent stop on the way back from our visit to Shenandoah, and I had no idea at the time that it was under consideration for an upgrade to “National Park” status.
View without walking all the way down the stairs to the platform 
Under the bridge view from scenic driving loop 
View from platform at the bottom of wooden stairs – New River Gorge National Park
2021: ???
2020: Hot Springs (32), Shenandoah (repeat), Great Smoky Mountains (repeat), Congaree (33), Everglades (34), Biscayne (35), New River Gorge (36)
2019: Pinnacles (30), Joshua Tree (31)
2018: Dry Tortugas (26), Great Sand Dunes (27), Black Canyon of the Gunnison (28), Rocky Mountain (29)
2017: Olympic (24), Mount Rainier (25)
2016: Acadia (22), Death Valley (23)
2014: Cuyahoga Valley (16), Zion (17), Bryce Canyon (18), Capitol Reef (19), Arches (20), Mesa Verde (21)
2008: Badlands (11), Theodore Roosevelt (12), Glacier (13), Grand Tetons (14), Yellowstone (15)
2006: Yosemite (8), Sequoia (9), Kings Canyon (10)
2002: Hawaii Volcanoes (7)
1999: Denali (6)
1994: Shenandoah (5)
1991: Mammoth Cave (4)
1990: Grand Canyon (2), Petrified Forest (3)
1985-ish: Great Smoky Mountains (1)