The Best National Park Books To Inspire Your Next Vacation

Whenever we are looking for our next park to chase, it always seems like we look to the same places for ideas and inspiration.  Word of mouth from the trips of friends, family and fellow ParkChasers usually gets our vacation wheels a’turning. So do our Facebook and Instagram feeds, full of posts and photographs from the individual units of the National Park Service.  9 times out of 10 though, the idea for our next park to chase comes from something we’ve read.

Since our first trip to Glacier in 2010, we’ve been voracious collectors of books about our National Parks. Our bookshelves and nightstands have a steady supply detailing the photography, history, and conservation of our parks.  We keep a running list from the Visitor’s Centers and bookstores on our vacations and ask for them as Christmas and Birthday gifts later in the year.   And we have often found that a few minutes of flipping through color photos of beautiful places can take the edge off what otherwise seemed like a long work day.

Today we thought we’d share some of our favorites. Some of these have inspired us to pack our bags and set sail, and others were souvenirs from the places we’ve been. (And buying through these links helps us chase more parks which we definitely appreciate!)   Mostly, we hope picking up a new page-turner encourages you to do some ParkChasing of your own.