Sunset has pulled its national parks coverage into one big collection of guides, and together they read like a map of everything the American West does best — desert arches, granite peaks, underwater kelp forests, and a canyon that never looks the same twice.
The standouts span the usual heavy hitters and a few quieter picks. Yellowstone gets a 13-point hit list running from giant geysers to wildlife-packed valleys. Grand Teton, just south of it in Wyoming, is pitched as the park that shows the West 'in a new light' — think sapphire lakes, knife-edge ridges, and hanging valleys beneath those towering peaks. In Utah, Arches and Bryce Canyon each get a focused primer: Arches for the five views you genuinely shouldn't skip, Bryce for the sweep from Sunrise Point down through some of the darkest night skies in the country. California contributes two very different parks — Sequoia, home to some of the rarest and largest trees on Earth, and Channel Islands, where photographer Kenan Chan reveals the underwater wilderness just off the coast. And the Grand Canyon gets its own ode as 'eternal yet ever-evolving,' still as mystifying as ever.
Beyond the parks themselves, Sunset's roundup nods to the road trip culture that ties them together. Route 66 hits its centennial in 2026, and Nevada's so-called loneliest highway makes the cut for travellers who like their scenery empty and their radio stations sparse. There are also practical threads woven through the collection: a warning that an updated park policy could cost visitors money, a look at what's happening to America's national parks and how travellers can help, plus hotel roundups ranging from historic lodges inside the parks to apartment-style stays nearby.
For anyone plotting a 2026 trip, the timing is useful. Several of these parks now run timed-entry or reservation systems in peak season, and the policy changes Sunset flags make it worth checking fees and rules before you go rather than at the gate. Spring and autumn remain the sweet spots for the desert parks like Arches and Bryce, while Yellowstone and the Tetons are at their best from late June to September, after the snow clears.
The real takeaway from the collection is variety. You can raft a river, climb a tree, or — yes — get pulled behind a horse, all within a few hundred miles. If you only ever do one American road trip, the Sunset editors' argument is that this is the region to spend it on: a cluster of parks where the biggest logistics problem is choosing which detour to skip. Their answer, roughly: don't skip any. Just start early, book lodging well ahead, and give the quieter parks like Channel Islands a slot alongside the big names.
A solid bookmark for anyone staring at a blank summer calendar and a full tank.
