I can understand where you are coming from I had put it off for years as well and living aboard now like I do, its harder to go back to North America for holidays when I can visit so many great places in Asia. However, the 5 parks I visited, produced the best shots I have ever taken and the scenary is incredible. You get everything a landscape shooter could want. Extreme weather, strange natural formations, old objects such as barns, great skys,and amazing colors especially from 4:30am-9am then again at 5pm-8pm.

It makes me quite sad to know that some day these formations will be gone. The Landscape Arch is very thin now and will be gone I'm sure in the next 5-10 years. Bryce can't stay that beautiful forever either as the delicate limestone, sandstone and shale are literally crumbling away. Bryce Canyon is the most amazing place I have ever seen and I have been all over the world filling up 3 passports.

thanks for that... inspirational! I really want to go to some local National parks .. have been putting that off for far too long.. Its definitely gone up the priority list for me!

Bryce, Arches, and Antelope Canyon respectively. I also snuck Zion and Coyotte Buttes in on my trip as well. 1400 miles in one week! Craziness, but what an experience it was the photo trip of a lifetime for me and one that I have wanted to do for far too long^^

Nice where are those from?

I hear Olympic National Park is quite a special place. I have seen some great shots with mist and snow storms in the winter time. So many places to visit!

DaveyJ said:
I frankly can't wait to get back to Acadia with my humble but tried and true D90 and shoot some waves coming in at Thunderhole or Monument Cove in Acadia this fall! I have shot even view camera sequences there (Ansel Adams did quite a few of those). Mudridge (please forgive that I have not even come very close to the proper spelling of his name) proved that horses feet left the ground while running with his sequence of horses running which were from stills. I give a lot of credit to kanuck for starting this great thread! I will bring a number of nikon DSLRs to Acadia with me this third week in September. My D300 will be set with the 70-300VR Nikkor. But when I get out kayaking with the Harbor Seals my gear will get smaller and also in a Tamrac 6X velocity case with the D40X as one roll over will cost you a camera. I have had four 35mm go for the final swim. One was when I was in graduate school for environmental science and the purchase at that time of a Minolta XE-7 seemed really extravagant. I even put the tiny D40X with the 18-135 lens in a plastic bag as my sea touring kayak doesn't feel real stable with waves above three foot! But even a cooked lobster with an ocean scene in the background pops as an image with that setting.

Eadweard Muybridge? Honestly, his first name is harder to spell in my opinion. :D His work is pretty cool, I studied his work a little bit over the summer.

Maine is wonderful place, I wish I could go back.

I just checked out kanuck's Vietnam boat ride and it is really worth seeing! Baniff and Jasper are in the right weather and lighting magic. I keep trying to figure out how compact the D3100 is going to be compared to the D40X. However when I spend that kind of money I would take a D90 replacement but I hear the test cameras have been having video issues which must be remedied. When you get at the right place and the right time then it is important to have the right camera and it to be working well. Some of these trips cost enough money to make a camera working properly very critical. I do find that some National Parks are almost better when you visit somewhat off peak traffic. An example would be Crater Lake or Monument Valley. Rarely are top tourist times the time that the defining images of that location shot.

I only been to a few US national parks, but I do like Yosemite and Olympic National Parks best of the ones that I've seen. In Canada, I've been to several, and I'm planning on going to Banff and Jasper in a few weeks, I'll let you know which one I like best after that.

Or maybe this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_macdonald_shots/4661743991/

Wow that sounds like a magical time DaveyJ. Kind of reminds me of trip to South east Asia back in 2008. Bicycles, kayaks, boats, horses,motorcycles I used just about everything to get around to look at all the beautiful scenary of the region. I loved my D40x and probably should have kept it but I had too many bodies and lenses at the time.

This was one of my canoe adventures in Tam Coc Vietnam that year. Beautiful imagery on that trip..

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I frankly can't wait to get back to Acadia with my humble but tried and true D90 and shoot some waves coming in at Thunderhole or Monument Cove in Acadia this fall! I have shot even view camera sequences there (Ansel Adams did quite a few of those). Mudridge (please forgive that I have not even come very close to the proper spelling of his name) proved that horses feet left the ground while running with his sequence of horses running which were from stills. I give a lot of credit to kanuck for starting this great thread! I will bring a number of nikon DSLRs to Acadia with me this third week in September. My D300 will be set with the 70-300VR Nikkor. But when I get out kayaking with the Harbor Seals my gear will get smaller and also in a Tamrac 6X velocity case with the D40X as one roll over will cost you a camera. I have had four 35mm go for the final swim. One was when I was in graduate school for environmental science and the purchase at that time of a Minolta XE-7 seemed really extravagant. I even put the tiny D40X with the 18-135 lens in a plastic bag as my sea touring kayak doesn't feel real stable with waves above three foot! But even a cooked lobster with an ocean scene in the background pops as an image with that setting.

I never photographed anything worthwhile there, but I liked Acadia National Park in Bangor, Maine.

Just in general a nice place. I didn't get a DSLR at that point yet, I was still working with my point and shoot.

DaveyJ I can see where you are coming from, I traded in my 70-200mm VR 1 for the 70-300mm VR lens because the weight was killing me and now I find I shoot the 70-300mm telelphoto much more often. On my recent trip I seemed to only shoot wide angle lenses and I really could have used some filters on my 14-24mm. I am also a huge fan of the 18-200mm VR 1 and I had 2 different copies back when I was shooting DX still. There seems to be sample variation with the lens, but its great and takes care of a lot of shooting needs.

Having photographed very extensively in our national parks I would still rate the 70-300VR Nikkor as the best wildlife lens. I have been with guys (and gals) using the wonderful 200-400 Nikkor but the lens is so big that it does lose versatility. It is also not that good for spontaneous shots. Granted, once you are set to shot.......the 200-400 is great. In my professional opinion it is NOT what I want. It is too expensive, too heavy, and since my shots are often gained from really being out there and doing it I would ALWAYS pick a 18-200VR plus the 70-300VR and start hiking and see what I could see (and photograph)! In Denali heat is rarely much of a factor.
Alaska parks tend to be pretty cold. Good luck to you all in your parks tours and photographing! I have enjoyed the company of other photographers more in the parks than anywhere else. Sometimes you see other shots that have been done that are wonderful and it helps bond us together. Yosemite is another park that I really do think you must see and photograph and enjoy! When there do not miss the chance to take in the Giant Sequoia like at both the Lower and Upper Mariposa stand. You will find depicting them the way your eyes and mind react to them....challenging! probably a good place for a wide angle!

Yes national parks are great and I was lucky to have been able to go. Going to these five parks has been a dream of mine for photography for a very long time. I was a little worried about the heat going in mid summer like I did, but it wasn't bad as long as you are up early and finish around 9:30am then start again around 4pm.

Nice pics everyone. Makes me wish we would have been able to take our trip to Acadia this summer. Maybe next year :(

Yes many people have said that Denali is a special place. I have read about it countless times in Outdoor photographer magazine actually. I'd need a 200-400mm VR lens though so it scares me away haha

I have been in over 250 USA National Parks and monuments. My favorites are in Alaska and in Maine Acadia. The Adirondack Park is very photogenic as well but is not (alas) a National Park. I consider myself fortunate I get to see another National Park! Denali in Alaska is a must see!

nice monty I bet a couple of those would even be nice in black and white.

Monument Valley:

Bryce Canyon:

Mine would have to be the Oulanka National Park in Finland.

Re your posted UAC sunbeam shot above, which looks like it was shot around noon-1PM: where are the people? Were you allowed in there without anyone else? Looks like it. What's your secret? Great photo. What gear do you use?

If you were there when I was, you couldn't see the walls for the crowds. :-)

Thanks geoffm. Yes the weather was touch and go while I was there. I got stuck in a washed out road during a flash flood in Coyote Buttes and this lightning picture caused me troubles as well as my rental car got stuck on the road and I had to rock it front and back to escape back to the highway...

Very nice pics, kanuck. I'm a newbie to this forum and DSLR in general. Just got back last night from Upper Antelope Canyon and Monument Valley. I'm glad I was able to visit UAC, but never again in the summer! We were there Saturday the 7th, and the place was jammed. Paid extra for the photography tour but it made no difference. Guides informed us that the UAC and LAC were closed the day before due to rain, and the LAC was still closed. Result: 3-4 times as many people as there are normally this time of year (45 min in line to park car). I got some decent wall shots (for me) looking up, but that was about it. Literally had to wait in line half way inside like a bathroom que at a sporting event, and I don't mean to allow for photographers setting up ahead of us - claustrophobic. Will go again another year in late fall or early winter. Monument Valley was very nice however. But our weather was too good for the two days there. Wish we had some storms/lightning to capture on digital.

More on the way hopefully^^