Not a hiker? That’s not a problem at these 8 national parks.

It’s easy to assume that a jog to certainly one of America’s 63 national parks would contain hiking. After all, the U.S. park machine features more than 21,000 miles of trails, along side many among probably the most spectacular on this planet. However following a footpath is apt certainly one of many ways to explore “America’s perfect idea.” From soaring over the wasteland in a scorching-air balloon to surveying the little universes inside coastal tidepools, right here are eight stellar park experiences, no boots required.

Stargazing in Bryce Canyon, Utah

The undercover agent at this fantastical wasteland park is out of this world—2.2 million light years out, to be exact. That’s how far you can see into the cosmos on a clear night at this International Dark Sky Park, reaching the Andromeda Galaxy and encompassing thousands of visible stars in between. 

(Here’s easy experience Utah savor a local.)

Bryce Canyon’s 8,000-foot elevation, clean air, and distance from light-spilling civilization combine to assign on the superlative celestial point to. Rangers lead popular telescope stargazing sessions and corpulent-moon hikes, and each June, the park hosts an astronomy festival complete with children’ activities and constellation excursions. 

Tidepooling in Olympic, Washington State

Expansive flora and fauna, savor black bears and Roosevelt elk, are inclined to acquire all the glory at this sprawling park the place mountains and coasts meet the rainforest. However the little creatures inhabiting ephemeral pools along the Pacific shoreline steal the purpose to. 

All the pieces from neon-vivid anemones to hermit crabs, spiky urchins, and hand-sized sea stars make their homes within the shallow rock pools left within the back of by twice-daily tidal cycles. Time your seek advice from for low tide (grab a tide chart from any customer heart), stagger into grippy, waterproof shoes for navigating the slippery intertidal stones, and head out to explore. Ruby Beach and Kalaloch Beach 4 are two easy-access tidepool hotspots.

Geocaching in Scared Forest, Arizona

Certain, you may stick to the standard tour of this Painted Wasteland park: Pause at a few overlooks with badlands views, stroll to petroglyph panels, take a look at some fossils. However you’d be lacking out. 

Branch out by firing up a geocaching app and station out to accept the park’s six physical caches—you’ll acquire an insider’s tour of rarely considered highlights within the system. “One presents you a undercover agent of the Painted Wasteland that you wouldn’t see unless that cache was there,” says Invoice Parker, the resource stewardship and science program manager who station up the machine. “They’re ways to examine places that we may not normally scramble.” Scared Forest also hosts virtual Earthcaches, which teach treasure hunters real-world classes about geology and Earth sciences.

Soar-fishing in Yellowstone, Wyoming

The hardest part about fishing in America’s first national park is selecting the place to cast your line. Dozens of outfitters provide every thing from introductory clinics to morning walk-and-wades to horseback jog-to-fish combos. 

Going solo? Search for large rainbow and brook trout within the Madison River, native cutthroats in Yellowstone River, and browns within the thermally heated Firehole River. Gibbon, Gallatin, Gardner, and Lamar Rivers, along with fairly a few tributary streams, also provide fishing alternatives.

(Climate change comes for a favorite summer pastime: fishing.)

Highlining in Joshua Tree, California

This wonderland of rocks and wasteland plant life is fundamental territory for highlining—essentially, barren region tightrope walking. Highliners rig trudge-wide slacklines (lengths of webbing) between the park’s boulders or rock towers, then challenge themselves to walk across the gap, each now and then hundreds of feet within the air (most of them use harnesses and tethers for safety). Profitable skywalking requires experience and skill, but when that’s not your thing, you can always watch the masters at work at popular routes within the Hall of Horrors and Hemingway areas.

Hot-air balloon in Arches, Utah

Narrate your self rising slowly and silently over this wasteland park’s iconic formations, such as the Landscape Arch and the Marching Males. Floating in a scorching-air balloon presents you a vantage point you can’t acquire any diverse way, says Jimmy Peterson, pilot and owner of Redrock Ballooning. “Will have to you’re hiking, you can perfect see so far,” he says. “However need to you acquire above Moab, you can see the place Arches starts and ends. You acquire all the, grand viewpoint.” 

Peterson usually takes potentialities instantly over the park’s signature features, but riders each now and then acquire an aerial tour over nearby Canyonlands National Park, reckoning on the winds.

(Leer the sound that may sustain Utah’s arches.)

Horseback driving in Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee/North Carolina

There’s a lot to examine in this expansive park straddling the high country along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, from lofty ridgeline vistas to the mountaintop balds brilliant with rhododendrons and azaleas. The very best way to take this all in is via horseback (550 of the Smokies’ 848 miles of trails are start to riders). 

Three stables contained within the park bustle various trips for all experience ranges. Head to the one in flora and fauna-rich Cades Cove to contemplate black bears, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer, or saddle up at Smokemont to jog to a waterfall. Each also provide wagon or carriage rides if you happen to favor traveling within the back of a horse rather than on top of one.

Soaking in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Folk have been soaking within the natural mineral springs of the Zig-Zag Mountains for hundreds of years. This national park, founded in 1921, facilities around two historic bathhouses. Buckstaff Bathhouse, in continuous operation since 1912, presents private whirlpool soaks and massages—apt savor wellness seekers within the 1920s and Thirties may’ve acquired.

(Feeling frazzled? These soothing scorching springs mean you can unwind.)

Quapaw Bathhouse’s Roman-style scorching pools and a corpulent-provider spa, complete with body polish treatments and facials, are decidedly more fashionable. Either way, you’ll gawk why of us have sworn by the springs’ health-boosting properties for generations.