Top Under-Appreciated Parks

NationalGeographic.com has this interesting article listing what the author calls the Top 10 under-appreciated National Park Service properties in the US. Utah's 5 national parks do not make the list. Utah is famous for its national parks and they are well appreciated.

However, two close neighbors are listed.

#1 is Great Basin National Park, which is located a few feet across the border into Nevada. A major access route to the park heads west from Delta, Utah, across our West Desert to the Nevada border. The article offers this introduction to the park:

Feel the urge to climb a 13,000-foot mountain? Want to tour a beautiful cave? Eager to backpack to alpine lakes and through high desert where few others venture? Want to marvel at some of the oldest living things on Earth? All that and more awaits at this park in eastern Nevada...

#4 on the list is Colorado National Monument, located near Grand Junction, not far from the Utah border. National Geographic says this:

The red-rock country of the Southwest is justifiably famous for its spectacular canyons, buttes, spires, and other sandstone formations. Colorado National Monument offers a splendid array of eroded cliffs and pinnacles in an accessible and easily toured location, without the crowds and long-distance drives associated with more famous sites in the region.

Colorado National Monument is just a short drive from Moab, Arches and Canyonlands.

A sidebar to the article lists the most popular parks. Arches, Zion and Grand Canyon make that list.