Mental Floss

1 Fact About All 63 U.S. National Parks

If these facts don't make you want to grab your hiking boots and hit up your nearest national park, we don’t know what will.

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Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park | tiffanynguyen/Getty Images

Acadia National Park on Maine’s coast is home to the highest peak on the eastern seaboard. Cadillac Mountain rises about 1530 feet from the shore of Frenchman Bay, but you can drive or take the park shuttle to the top if you aren’t up for hiking the incline. From October 7 to March 6, Cadillac Mountain is the first spot in the United States to be bathed in the sun’s rays, making sunrise an especially popular time to visit the summit.

Acadia is just one of 63 U.S. national parks. No park is the same, and each is filled with its own unique—and often surprising—wonders. From Acadia to Zion, the U.S. has some pretty majestic national parks. In the latest episode of The List Show, we’re giving you one fun fact about every single one. Buckle up.

In some parks, you should stop and smell the flowers. In southwest Utah’s Zion National Park, you should stop and search for snails. The Zion snail, which lives in the park and nowhere else in the world, can be found among the flora that grows along wet canyon walls. You might need a magnifying glass, though—Zion snails are less than one-eighth of an inch long. But they do boast the biggest feet of any animal in the kingdom (relative to their body size, of course).

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