Everglades and Great Smoky National Parks have very little in common. The former is a river of grass, home to alligators and crocodiles, and suffers the wrath of frequent hurricanes. The latter houses the highest mountains east of the Rockies and its slopes provide relief from the heat of summer for millions of annual visitors.
What these two parks do have in common is that they are both in the American South. Spanning from Virginia to Florida and across to east Texas and back towards Tennessee, the south is home to a great diversity of landscapes. Swamps, coral reefs, rain soaked peaks, and endless pine forests are all found here.
Of all the regions across the US, the midwest gets the least respect for its landscapes. While much of it can be tedious, such as miles of corn fields and no mountains for hundreds of miles, there is an abundance of natural beauty if you go searching for it.
Minnesota's Lake Superior shoreline, full of rugged mountains, rocky beaches, and powerful waterfalls, is a spectacular destination. Isle Royale National Park lies just a few miles offshore in Lake Superior. The great plains states feature badlands, rolling hills, and towering thunderstorms.
The western United States ranks among the most geologically diverse places on the planet. Between the otherworldly rock formations in southern Utah, the iconic Grand Canyon, Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada, and the towering Cascade volcanoes in the rainy Pacific Northwest, there is no shortage of amazing scenery in the west.