Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska is an epic experience. Seeing a humpback whale breach in the wild is one of the most exhilarating moments possible for nature lovers. These massive mammals swim 3,000 miles from their winter waters near Hawaii and Mexico to spend the summer feeding in the rich ocean waters off the Alaska coast. All the added blubber doesn’t seem to hurt their leaping ability. Photo by Dragana Connaughton (www.sharetheexperience.org).

Say hello to the second tallest mountain in America: Mount St. Elias in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. Standing over 18,000 feet tall, it towers over Icy Bay, which gets its name from the glaciers that run down Mount St. Elias’s slopes. It’s just one of the many amazing natural sights in America’s largest national park. Photo by Bryan Petrtyl, National Park Service.

North Cascades National Park in Washington is home to animals with fins, fur, feathers and scales; but the higher you go, the fewer animals you see. Up in this dramatic and beautiful environment, the mountain goat rules. Thanks to their specialized hooves and body shape, they can easily travel over the cliffs and mountains where few predators will follow. Photo by Andy Porter (www.sharetheexperience.org).

Larger than Switzerland, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska is our nation’s biggest national park. Four mountain ranges run through it, with nine of the 16 highest peaks in the country. Its Malaspina glacier is bigger than the state of Rhode Island, and the possibilities for adventure are endless. Photo by Jacob Frank, National Park Service.