Do you want the good news first or the bad news? A new study lists the 10 safest national parks in the United States and the 10 most dangerous. Can you guess which park tops either list?
First the good news. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, which feels more like a landmark, tops the list of safest national parks in the U.S. Now, the bad news. The nation’s most dangerous national park by this study’s metrics is North Cascades National Park in Washington.
Without further ado, here are the rankings (see below for more information about the study’s methodology):
The 10 Safest U.S. National Parks
Gateway Arch National Park
Indiana Dunes National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park
Petrified Forest National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Channel Islands National Park
Haleakalā National Park
New River Gorge National Park
Congaree National Park
Virgin Islands National Park
The 10 Most Dangerous U.S. National Parks
North Cascades National Park
Lake Clark National Park
Denali National Park
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Isle Royale National Park
Gates of the Arctic National Park
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Glacier Bay National Park
Notes on Methodology
To determine these rankings, the company took into consideration factors like fatalities per million visitors, most common cause of fatalities, dangerous animals present in the park (and abundance of the animal within the park), highest and lowest average temperatures, record high and record low temperatures, average number of search-and-rescue (SAR) incidents per year, SAR incidents per million visitors, vertical relief in elevation, whether the park has cell service, and whether the park has Wi-Fi.
Each park received a score per safety factor, and then the company totaled the scores. The highest scores landed parks on the most dangerous list. The lowest scores landed parks on the safest list.
See the full results here.
The post The 10 Safest U.S. National Parks (And the 10 Most Dangerous) appeared first on Outdoors with Bear Grylls.
Outdoors with Bear Grylls
