For the most recent installment in our “Find Your Adventure” series celebrating the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, we told you about the watery wonderland known as Voyageurs National Park.
But while the lakes and islands of this northern Minnesota park offer a refreshing respite from the summer heat, they’re not the only national parks that can help you keep your cool this summer:
Located in Alaska’s interior 240 miles north of Anchorage, this 6 million-acre park is built around the North America’s tallest mountain, the 20,310-foot massif known simply as Denali. Average summer temperatures here range from 33 to 75 degrees, with snow possible even in July, a factor that makes it our No. 1 place to chill in the months ahead.
Situated on the Canadian border in northern Montana, visitors here should be ready for anything when it comes to temperatures. While summer temps are typically quite comfortable at 75 to 80 degrees, that can change dramatically as it did in 1916 when the thermometer plummeted from 46 to minus 56 degrees in just 24 hours. In other words, bring a coat!
Famous for its wide variations in temperature, this Colorado park includes the 48-mile Trail Ridge Road which tops out at a cool 12,183-foot elevation. While summer temps in the lower elevations of the park often top the 80-degree mark, it’s not uncommon to have the thermometer fall 20 degrees as a summer storm moves through.
