10 Amazing National Monuments (Including One You Can't Visit!)

Howdy, it's Kyle, talking about 10 great national monuments in the US. A national monument is pretty similar to a national park. It has the same general mission to protect land and preserve nature, but most of these have fewer facilities, less development, and maybe not even a real campground as opposed to national parks. And many of the national monuments, you can just pitch a tent wherever you want and camp anywhere on the ground in the wilderness. So a lot of these are Bureau of Land Management lands that have been organized into a park and it's given a name, but they don't have anywhere near the development of a national park. And as a result, don't have anywhere near the crowds as well. So if you want to see beautiful scenery without the big crowds, check out a national monument. Most of these are in the West where you have just larger open areas, more spectacular scenery, and often large areas were just not good to develop because of just no water. So you also have many more Pueblo and Indian and descendant type archaeological ruins in the southwest. So that's what a lot of the national monuments are, preserving beautiful areas, but also archaeological ruins. So here I want to talk about 10 of the most beautiful ones in the U.S. I'm going to start in Montana and Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument. This is in the northeastern portion of the state and not in the heavily visited part of the state. This is off the traditional national park route. One of my oldest videos talks about road tripping through the Dakotas and Montana and Wyoming to the national parks, but I don't mention Upper Missouri Breaks. The headwaters of the Missouri River are near Bozeman and as the name of this park implies, this protects a large portion of the Upper Missouri River. The word breaks refers to some of the geologic formations you see in the area. It's very similar to the Badlands type landscape just east of there in the Dakotas. And these breaks, like other areas of Badlands, are not uplift, but they are erosionary. Mountains are formed by uplifts and canyons and Badlands areas like this are formed by river erosion. And you do have some strange geologic formations within this park similar to what you might find in South Dakota or even Utah. And this is about as far north as Badland landscape goes in the U.S. The river itself has been protected since 1976 and the area around it has become protected more recently. So there's hiking and camping on the Badlands and there's also paddling along the river. There's a 149 mile wild and scenic river stretch of the Missouri. And there's some really nice geology in this park. You can paddle right through the White Cliffs area and there's a lot of slot canyon hiking in the dry areas. And one of the coolest things about this park is that it goes along the Lewis and Clark Trail. So if you were going through this stretch of the Missouri River, you're going the same stretch they did and you can camp at the same spots they did. So this is a beautiful park in a beautiful state, but not the part of that state that people normally visit. Next I'm going to Arizona and Ironwood Forest National Monument. It's located just west of Tucson. And if people are going to visit Tucson and want to visit natural desert area, they'll probably go to Saguaro National Park just outside of the city. Desert Ironwood is the name of the species of tree. So it's not the same as something generic like petrified wood. And these are the longest living trees in the Sonoran Desert. And Ironwood Forest National Monument is the largest concentration of these desert ironwoods. But why these trees are very important is that these are the most important shade trees for the desert. As you can imagine, shade is a luxury out here and many animals take advantage of it. Ironwood National Monument has the largest number of bighorn sheep in southern Arizona. But you can also find plenty of the more iconic Saguaro cactus in the park as well. There's a nice hike to a spot called Ragged Top and other nice backcountry hiking as well. There's also plenty of wilderness camping being a national monument. And there are some nice petroglyphs as well. However, with it being a national monument, there is some copper mining allowed in there. And this is at the Silver Bell Mine in the Silver Bell Mountains. I think a big part of the issue is that it's not just the physical damage to the land that copper mining does, but also that it uses a lot of water. But either way, for the time being, this is a really nice spot to visit. And if you want to get a little bit off the beaten path, but still see some nice wilderness Sonoran Desert, this is a great park. Next, I'm going only about 150 miles away, but to a very different landscape. That's to the Oregon Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico. This is located just outside of the city of Las Cruces and protects multiple discontinuous mountain ranges, but as one monument. The Oregon Mountains is one of just five mountain ranges in this park. That's why it's called Oregon Mountains Desert Peaks. And the Oregon Mountains are called that because of the narrow peaks and spires that may have looked like organ pipes. And this whole area is just southwest of White Sands National Park, which is clearly visible on the satellite. Most of the geology are granite volcanic features, and that includes several small caves that were used for dwellings by different indigenous groups. And if you visit the park, you can see many different archaeological sites and petroglyphs. And the area between some of these mountain ranges is now the I-25 corridor that was the old Spanish El Camino Real. And this was the main trail that the Spanish used to get up to Santa Fe and Taos, going right between the Oregon Mountains and other desert peaks. And because some of the peaks go up to about 9,000 feet, you do get snow consistently every winter. But yeah, like most other national monuments, Oregon Mountains Desert Peaks is a great way to get away from big crowds if you want to see some beautiful wilderness. Okay, now I'm going to California and Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. And this is located from the coast ranges east, so more inland and way off the beaten path for California. To the west are the But in the middle of all this is just empty wilderness. It's not the most spectacular scenery like you get at Redwood, Yosemite, or Sequoia National Parks, but it is very beautiful. And this is a lot of what wine country would look like if it wasn't ever developed. Most of the park is open foothills, not very wooded, nice and green during the winter, is pretty golden during the summers. And it's worth noting that this is the northern extent of Spanish exploration in North America. The Spanish got about this far north and said, yeah, we're done, we're turning around. But there are many indigenous people living there, primarily Ohlone Indian. And this is where the ancestry on my dad's side of the family started to really take shape. So my dad is a mix of Ohlone Indian and Spanish who were actually Basque. And in fact, our ancestors are the Berryessa. So many things named after Berryessa in that part of the state are named after my ancestors. But like all of the other national monuments I'm going to mention, this is a great place to get away from big crowds, but see some big wilderness, lots of great hiking and backpacking, and again, wilderness camping. So this is a huge area, not often seen, although it is very close to where millions of people live. Now heading to Colorado, I'm going to Browns Canyon National Monument. Unlike many of the other ones, this one is fairly small for a national monument. It's located right near the center point of Colorado. And as such, it's a beautiful area surrounded by many of the state's 14ers. This was designated as a wilderness area in 1976 right along the river, but then a national park for the surrounding lands in 2015. And the main thing this canyon is known for is the Arkansas River that carves it. This is a very steep river along a very steep sided canyon. So you put those two things together where this spot is world renowned for its whitewater rafting. And to go along with that, it's also a gold medal river for trout fishing. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but a gold medal is usually pretty good. I think one of the reasons why this became a national monument is because there was concern this area could potentially become a Disneyland for whitewater. Just a ton of hotels and development become maybe Myrtle Beach on the river, or Branson by the Shoals, or maybe Colorado Dells. But with it being protected, there's certainly going to be a lot less of that. There's still plenty of whitewater outfitting there. There aren't giant multi-day backpacking trails, but there are several regular hiking trails. The longest one is 12 miles, but it is much less visited than some of the other parks in the area that might be national parks or part of the Grand Circle National Park Tour. So yet again, if you want some nice beautiful scenery with smaller crowds, check out Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado. Now going to southern Nevada, I'm going to Gold Butte National Monument. This is located in the far southeast corner of the state, not too far from the tri-state point with Arizona and Utah. In fact, the eastern extent of the park is the state line with Arizona, and the southern extent is the Colorado River, which is also the state line with Arizona. So being right there, it's right along the major National Park Grand Circle route. Although with it not being a national park, it's often skipped over. Although you certainly shouldn't skip it. This is just as nice as some of the national parks in the area. As you would expect in this part of the country, there's lots of beautiful geology, lots of strange formations. There's one area called the Seven Keyholes Slot Canyon. Some nice hiking there. A big wilderness area called the Jumbo Springs. A lot of open space where you're not going to see anybody. And one part of the park is called Little Finland. There are all kinds of strange rock outcrops, although I'm not sure why it's called that. Dry desert mountainous scenery with strange rock outcroppings? Yeah, that sounds like Finland. But something really cool about this park is that it's part of a large wildlife corridor. So from Grand Canyon National Park to Grand Canyon National Monument to Gold Butte National Monument all the way to Lake Mead, it's one large contiguous area of protection. And although I do recommend visiting there, I kind of hope it does stay a little bit off the beaten path and not part of the main national park circuit. If you live in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, it's nice to have a spot like this really close to you you can go to for a day trip. But if it gets overrun with the RVs and national park, Crowda might not be a great spot to go to for locals. So for you watching this video, go to Gold Butte National Monument, but don't tell anybody about it. Now I'm headed out to Nebraska and Scott's Bluff National Monument. This is located just outside of the city of Scott's Bluff, but that's only one word. The National Monument is two words. And this is a relatively small monument located about halfway between the Badlands-Rustmore area of South Dakota and Denver. And being in this part of the country, it does have similar Badlands geology as some of those national parks in the Western Dakotas. And as such, being Badlands, they were carved out like a canyon, this time by the North Platte River. And even though it's called Scott's Bluff National Monument, there are actually two bluffs there, the north one and the south one. There's a road that winds up to the top and there are several trails to nice overlooks of towns in the surrounding Badlands. When you look down to the towns from the top of the bluff, what you're seeing are actually three towns. The town of Scott's Bluff is the largest, although the town of Garing is actually the oldest one. It was founded in 1887 and the town of Scott's Bluff itself was founded in 1900. And going right through this area was part of the Oregon and California trails. This was quite the prominent landmark for a relatively flat area surrounding it. So with it being some interesting geology in an area with historic significance, it became a national monument in 1919. And I like the Scott's Bluff-Garing metropolitan area of about 35,000 people. But yes, Scott's Bluff National Monument, relatively off the beaten path out there in western Nebraska. So we'll take the Oregon Trail from Scott's Bluff all the way to Oregon and Oregon Caves National Monument. And this is in the far southwest corner of the state, just north of the California state line. This is a very heavily wooded area. Check out the satellite image. So you have a ton of water. You combine that with the local geology and you're gonna get some caves. And like most solutional caves, it's based off of limestone. However, the Oregon Caves were carved after the limestone was metamorphosed into marble. And with it being a public park cave, you do have some guided cave tours. You can't just go in there on your own. But there are also some hiking trails on the surface. And again, it's very wooded. President Taft declared this a national monument in 1909, making it one of the oldest ones in the country. And located on there is an old chateau and lodge built in 1934. There is an official campground there, so you can't just camp anywhere you want like most other national monuments. But it isn't just a cave that's protected. The land around it is part of Siskiyou National Forest, which was created in 1905. And the river that goes through the cave is named the River Styx while it's in the cave. And it's the only subterranean river in the U.S. that's part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System. So this is a nice park to visit, even if you don't want to go inside the cave itself, because the surrounding scenery is beautiful. Going one state up, I'm going to Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington. And this one's a little bit different than most, because this is the old security buffer of the Hanford Nuclear Site. So most of the nuclear arsenal in the U.S. military was created right here. However, the nuclear arsenal aspect of Hanford Nuclear Site ended about 50 years ago. The area is now very contaminated. It's not suitable for agriculture or development. Part of the old site is still used for commercial power, but the vast majority of it has been shut down. And it's been undergoing major decontamination for quite a while. So you put all that together and the old security buffer is now the National Monument. It's not spectacular scenery, but it is nice to have. And because of all the radioactivity and contamination, you can go there to hike and visit, but you don't want to live there. And it's a very important spot for salmon to spawn. And also outside of the National Monument is where you have a lot of wine grades being grown. So you can have some nuclear salmon and wash it down with some radioactive wine. Okay, so I joked there, but it is nice to have this Hanford Reach as a National Monument being protected, because again, you can't really grow stuff on there or really have any town on there. And even though it is in the subtle beauty category, I do think it is quite pretty. And just based on where it is, it's somewhere that not a lot of folks are going to visit. And the last one that I'm going to mention is the strangest National Monument in the country, and one you probably cannot visit. And that is the Mariana Trench. Yes, the Mariana Trench is a National Monument. This is the deepest portion of the Pacific Ocean, and it's a trench located just to the east of the northern Mariana Islands. These are U.S. territory, and at the south end of this chain is the island of Guam, another U.S. territory. And this National Monument protects 95,000 square miles of seafloor. But the main reason for this National Monument is to protect many of the submerged volcanoes. There are about 21 undersea volcanic hydrothermal vents. There are also many important reef systems down there. And this is perhaps where life originated on Earth. And check out how obvious the trench is on satellite imagery. It is worth pointing out that the actual deepest part of the trench, called the Challenger Deep, is not part of this National Monument. It's in a different country. And that point is about 36,000 feet below sea level. It's the deepest point on Earth, and it's offshore, and it's part of the territory of the country of the Federated States of Micronesia. And a couple of things pretty funny about this is in the original designation of it, the original actual proclamation document, there's a typo. In it, it's called the Mariana's Trench Marine National Monument. And something else pretty funny about it is that every National Monument has a friends of group. So it makes me smile to see the friends of the Mariana Trench. So yeah, from a visitation standpoint, National Monuments have far fewer visitors than National Parks. And I'm going to go way out on a limb and say you're never going to visit this one. So that was my look at 10 great National Monuments in the U.S. And like I was saying the whole video, if you want to see some beautiful scenery without huge crowds, you can check out one of these or many other National Monuments because there are quite a few. If you enjoyed this video, please give me a thumbs up to let me know you approve and subscribe to this channel if you're interested in learning more about geography from a nerd with no AI voice. But yeah, thanks for watching. Geography King signing out. I would like to give a special thanks to my superior patrons for their support. If you're interested in becoming a superior patron or perhaps an Erie or Huron patron, you can check out my Patreon page. The link is in the description. As always, thank you very much.