National park pins are an easy and stylish way to show your appreciation for our national parks. Perfect for wearing on clothing, jackets, or even backpacks – national park pins make a statement!
This official series collector’s pin shows Custer State Park, an important cultural and natural landmark that hosts significant events and dignitaries. It comes equipped with a rubber stud clutch attachment for secure fastening to fabric surfaces.
Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park was established in 1986 in eastern Nevada and features some of the richest ecosystems in America. Home to indigenous Native American communities for millennia as well as ranchers, farmers, and Mormons over time, the Great Basin also features numerous petroglyphs and pictographs created by these groups throughout its landscapes that can be explored.
No matter what time of year it is, Great Basin offers something spectacular to discover all year round. In fall, witness how its landscape transforms with vibrant shades of orange and red as fall sets in.
The park’s diverse habitats support a diverse array of wildlife species. Low-elevation landscapes host jackrabbits, pygmy rabbits, and mule deer; mountain slopes house bighorn sheep and cougars, while its birds include over 136 local species that can easily be spotted while driving or hiking through it.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is one of the nation’s premier ruins sites, honoring ancient Puebloan cultures who once called this canyon home. At their cultural high point between AD 850 and 1250, Puebloans constructed impressive public buildings and monumental ceremonial structures known as great houses and kivas using pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, and landscaping – creating an ancient urban ceremonial center unlike anything ever built before or since.
The park’s extensive preservation policy ensures that many walls, tools, personal goods, and datable materials remain intact for continued research and interpretation. Bikers can experience the park by biking along Canyon Loop Road (shared with vehicles). Hungo Pavi and Una Vida Petroglyphs can easily be reached on short hikes.
If driving, always call ahead of your visit to check on current road conditions and parking availability. When possible, avoid large SUVs as the dirt roads can quickly become impassable in bad weather.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is one of the world’s most beloved national parks, famous for its giant sequoia trees and dramatic rock formations such as Half Dome. Visitors travel from all around the globe to experience Yosemite.
Yosemite National Park is famous for its majestic waterfalls. Home to some of North America’s biggest waterfalls, such as Yosemite Falls, Ribbon Fall, Sentinel Fall, Horsetail Fall, and Vernal Fall, visiting Yosemite for waterfall viewing should occur during spring when water levels are at their highest.
Yosemite National Park features mostly plutonic rock formations, with some areas of volcanic (extrusive) igneous rocks and two sizes of metamorphic rocks. Lower elevations of Yosemite are covered by deciduous and coniferous forests, including several groves of giant sequoias; as height increases, vegetation changes into more rocky alpine environments that host only cold-tolerant species.
Yosemite National Park is an unparalleled natural sanctuary containing an impressive biodiversity of plants and animals, including black bears, mule deer, bighorn sheep, bobcats, and coyotes. Additionally, Sierra Nevada red foxes are found here as well.
Arches National Park
Arches National Park features beautiful red rock vistas that have attracted people for millennia. Captivating pictographs and petroglyphs tell the stories of people who traveled through this region over centuries past.
Start from a shallow sea that once covered this part of Arches National Park and follow its evolution over time: salt became compressed into rock as fault lines deep within Earth shifted layers to form domes and canyons, water seeped in through cracks in joints, wind erosion produced sandstone fins with more than 2000 arches that make up Arches.
Hunters and gatherers once visited this remote area for its abundance of wild food. Additionally, they used microcrystalline quartz such as chert and chalcedony to craft stone tools, which allowed them to survive the harsh environment within this park. Today, remnants from these activities can still be seen scattered about in large debris piles left behind from these activities.
Arches National Park recently completed an Ethnographic Overview and Assessment study involving tribal consultation. They aim to use its results as the basis for future management decisions in their park.
Canyonlands National Park
Utah’s Canyonlands National Park features breathtaking canyons and cliffs that provide a constant source of geologic marvels, making for excellent hiking terrain and history discoveries. Once home to Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang, who would use these remote canyons for hiding after significant heists.
Canyonlands are part of the Colorado Plateau Province, an expansive high plateau which has been intricately dissected by literally thousands of canyons and tributaries, creating one of America’s most breathtaking and challenging landscapes – a must-see destination for nature enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers.
The park has been continuously inhabited for 10,000 years. Early hunter-gatherers left behind rock art and granaries in this region, while today you can still spot ancient ruins, including Tower Ruin and Fort Bottom Ruin in Horse Canyon and The Needles districts, respectively – some fragile structures require great care when visiting these old structures.
Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef may not boast as stunning of scenery as some of its neighboring parks, but that doesn’t make the park any less impressive. Situated along a 100-mile-long wrinkle in earth’s crust known as Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef features gorgeously colorful natural bridges and canyons ready to be discovered by visitors.
Prehistoric Fremont Indians left behind petroglyphs and pictographs on rock walls in what would eventually become the park, yet people only started settling here as ranchers during the early 1900s. Later, however, the government transferred ownership and designated it a national park in 1971.
Visitors to the park can stretch their legs on one of the numerous trails scattered throughout, take in a show at Cohab Canyon Amphitheatre, or drive along scenic park roads. Additionally, there is the Fruita Historic District visitor center, which features information, maps, books, and displays and is open year-round, while during busy times (March to October), reservations must be secured to ensure space at its 71 campsites is available for use.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park is a spectacular natural arena filled with thousands of multicolored rock pinnacles known as hoodoos, best seen during sunrise or sunset when their color bursts through in full glory.
Southwestern Utah’s Park of Canyons may not be as widely known as its sister protected area of Zion National Park, yet its geologic wonders – from over 144 million-year-old rock formations and hoodoos to majestic hoodoos – make it just as magnificent.
The park’s central road winds along its plateau rim, offering stunning scenic viewpoints like Inspiration Point, Bryce Amphitheater, and Navajo Trail; for more expansive vistas, visit Rainbow Point or Yovimpa Point.
Bryce Canyon National Park boasts a high-rim country, which consists of forests of spruce and fir, while lower, drier elevations feature ponderosa pine and Utah juniper. Wildlife found here includes badger, black bear, bobcat, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope, as well as 170 different bird species – the park boasts over 220 species in total!
Zion National Park
Zion National Park in Utah draws millions of visitors every year with its beautiful landscapes and exhilarating hikes, making this national park one of Utah’s premier tourist spots. From Angels Landing to The Narrows, Zion’s natural wonders will leave an indelible mark.
Zion National Park can trace its history back 230 million years. Submerged underwater and covered with volcanic ash, then gradually becoming desert. Floodwaters receded before pushing upward to form canyon and valley formations of sandstone rock that reveal this incredible geologic journey. The rock layers reveal this impressive panorama.
Fossils from Zion National Park’s Temple Cap Formation reveal evidence of marine life, such as clams and snails; furthermore, its rocks bear marks left by early humans hunting and gathering for sustenance.
By 6,000 BC, various semi-nomadic tribes resided in the area and thrived by hunting large animals such as wooly mammoths. As these creatures became extinct due to overhunting, tribes transitioned towards cultivating lifestyles to take advantage of all the bounty available in their environment.
