If your ideal holiday involves boots, bail, and long stretches of open road, there's a route that strings together five of America's headline national parks from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The drive runs roughly 4,200 miles and takes about 68 hours behind the wheel, linking Acadia in Maine, Great Smoky Mountains on the Tennessee–North Carolina border, Rocky Mountain in Colorado, Zion in Utah, and Yosemite in California. Done at a comfortable pace, it's a few weeks of travel — and a sampler of just about every landscape the US park system has to offer.
Start at Acadia, where more than 150 miles of trails wind through a 35,000-acre park of rocky coast and granite peaks. The Beehive Loop is a crowd favourite: just 1.6 miles, but expect two hours and a 450-foot climb up iron rungs and ladders, with views over Sand Beach at the top. Hardened hikers can eye the exposed Precipice Trail. Boston's Logan airport is the practical entry point (about 4.5 hours away), though Bangor is closer.
The longest leg follows — 1,188 miles to the Smokies, the most visited national park in the country. The Appalachian Trail runs 72 miles through the park, a full week's effort unless you start at Newfound Gap and cut it in half. Autumn is the sweet spot here thanks to spectacular foliage, and if you have spare time, detours to Shenandoah and New River Gorge (where you can also raft) add only a couple of hours to the drive.
Next up is nearly 1,500 miles to Colorado, with Nashville, St. Louis, and Kansas City as logical overnight stops. Base yourself in Estes Park or camp inside Rocky Mountain National Park, which packs over 350 miles of trails around alpine lakes and the continental divide. One warning: the park's lowest point sits at 7,600 feet, so give yourself a few days to acclimatise before attempting anything strenuous — Longs Peak is firmly not a beginner's hike.
Zion is a comparatively short nine-hour hop away, with an optional one-hour detour to Arches. The park's red sandstone canyons hold some of the most famous — and most dangerous — trails in America. Angels Landing covers 5.4 miles round trip with 1,488 feet of gain, finishing along a narrow ridge with thousand-foot drops and no guardrails; skip it if heights bother you. The Narrows is a gentler alternative, but check conditions, as it closes regularly for flooding. Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon are both within easy reach if you want more.
Finish with 8.5 hours to California and Yosemite, home of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Yosemite Falls, which drops 2,425 feet in three cascades — reachable via a short paved path. Easy options include the Glacier Point Trail and the Mirror Lake loop, while Half Dome remains a serious 5,000-foot-elevation day hike for the experienced. If you can stretch the trip, Redwood National Park on the Pacific coast adds giant trees and wild beaches another 8.5 hours north.
Go in spring or autumn to dodge dangerous heat, and plan the route in either direction.