About the Explorers

Thanks for checking out our blog. We hope you will enjoy hearing about our travels as we continue on our quest to visit all 428 National Park Units in the United States. 

If you have been following our quest, you will know that we are getting close to our goal. To date, we have visited 426, taking us from Alaska, to Hawaii and to the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam, plus every state on the mainland. Although we have travelled extensively outside of the United States, the two of us have found there is so much here at home to see you could spend a lifetime exploring! We really encourage everyone to “See America First”!

Your modern-day explorers, Darryl and Kathleen Toupkin

Muir Woods

National Park Units Visited to Date

As of January 2024, we have visited EVERY National Park (63 of 63) and we have visited 426 National Park Units – getting closer and closer to our goal of visiting all 428.

Here are the ones we have finished.

  • 63/63 National Parks
  • 11/11 National Battlefields
  • 4/4 National Battlefield Parks
  • 1/1 National Battlefield Site
  • 74/74 National Historic Sites
  • 63/63 National Historical Parks
  • 3/3 National Lakeshores
  • 31/31 National Memorials
  • 9/9 National Military Parks
  • 4/4 National Parkways
  • 19/19 National Preserves
  • 18/18 National Recreation Areas
  • 2/2 National Reserves
  • 4/4 National Rivers
  • 6/6 National Scenic Trails
  • 10/10 National Seashores
  • 10/10 National Wild & Scenic Rivers
  • 11/11 “Other Designations”

Here’s what we have left to do:

  • 83/84 National Monuments
    • Katahdin Woods & Waters, Maine
  • 0/1 International Historic Sites
    • Saint Croix Island, Maine / New Brunswick

We are so thankful that we embarked on this journey. There are so many places that we would never have visited without having this goal of visiting all the national park units. For sure there are places in Alaska we would never have made it to, and certainly American Samoa and Guam don’t pop into one’s mind when you think of an island vacation. But in fact, both of these were amazing experiences. We loved our visit to American Samoa, as well as to Guam and the nearby islands of Rota, Saipan and Tinian.

Not only have we visited every state, we can now say that we have visited every inhabited territory of the United States. We have had some amazing experiences and have learned so much about our natural world and our history. Even though we are close to our goal, there are many places that we have been that we want to revisit and explore more thoroughly!

We love to share our story – both on this blog and in person. If you have any questions about any places you might be thinking of visiting, please feel free to contact us!

Kathleen & Darryl