The USA's National Parks: National Geographic's celebratory images
January's issue of National Geographic magazine pays homage to the stunning beauty of the United States' National Parks with some incredible images.
It marks the beginning of a year-long celebration the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
The photos, some of which can be seen below, were shot by photographer Stephen Wilkes and explore the changing beauty of the parks between day and night.
Wilkes took thousands of photos and put them together digitally to create a seamless, time-spanning panorama between morning and evening.
You can find out more about National Geographic's exploration of the parks and the history of the National Park Service on the magazine's website here.
The photos below by Stephen Wilkes to appreciate the striking beauty of the landscapes.
Yosemite Valley, California (pictured, top)
In March 1868 a 29-year-old John Muir stopped a passerby in San Francisco to ask for directions out of town. "Where do you wish to go?" the startled man inquired. "Anywhere that is wild," said Muir. His journey took him to the Yosemite Valley in California's Sierra Nevada, which became the spiritual home of Muir's conservation movement and, under his guidance, the country's third national park. "John the Baptist," he wrote, "was not more eager to get all his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God's mountains."Today around four million people a year follow their own thirst for the wild to Yosemite.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana
"Today I am in the Yellowstone Park, and I wish I were dead." So Rudyard Kipling began his 1889 account of a tour in America's oldest national park. His disdain was aroused most by the "howling crowd" of tourists with whom he shared the visit. Attractions such as Old Faithful still draw more than three million (mostly well behaved) visitors yearly to Yellowstone; the vast majority of them never go beyond a hundred yards from a paved road. If Kipling himself had ventured deeper into the 3,472-square-mile park to witness the splendor of its river valleys and mountain meadows, his rant might well have given way to rapture.
West Potomac Park, Washington DC
On an April day cherry blossoms festoon West Potomac Park, part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington, D.C. While the grand parks of the West may elicit more gasps of awe, urban parks draw far more visitors. The National Mall hosts 24 million visitors a year, almost twice the number of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon combined.
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
The Grand Canyon is the touchstone American park; whatever happens here could have repercussions throughout the park system. It has withstood threats from ranching, mining, and logging interests and a federal dam project. Today's challenges include a proposed town development on the South Rim and a tramway that would bring 10,000 visitors a day to the canyon floor.
