From the otherworldly landscapes of Zion to the mangroves and marshes of the Everglades, America's national parks have a timeless beauty. Here we journey through the years to see the USA's great wildernesses as they were then. You'll be surprised by just how much has (and hasn't) changed.

There are 63 dazzling national parks across America today and it all began with Yellowstone, the oldest in the NPS system. This land of geysers, belching mud pots, rainbow springs and waterfalls was established as a national park right back in 1872. This photo was taken shortly before that: here a party of men and their pack train explore the area around Mirror Lake as part of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871.

It's hard to keep count of the incredible wonders folded into Yellowstone National Park. Among them is Tower Fall, a thundering cascade along Tower Creek that's tucked away in the preserve's northeast. The waterfall lives up to its name too: it plunges 132 feet (40m) over craggy rocks scattered with pines. This family gaze upon the impressive beauty spot in 1955.

Grizzly and black bears have made their home in these lands for centuries. Their numbers sadly plummeted through the 20th century – mainly due to hunting and habitat loss – but have gradually increased again in more recent decades. Motorists stop to snap photos of a mother bear with a pair of cubs in this picture from 1957. (Remember to check these modern safety guidelines if you're in bear country today.)

Badlands National Park is legendary for its landscape of colour-striped buttes and rugged pinnacles, and it's instantly recognisable in this photograph, taken around 1950. The land – long the homeland of numerous indigenous tribes – was established as a National Monument in 1939 and as a National Park later in 1978.

Discover more of America's most important National Monuments

The South Dakota park is stellar road-trip country and drivers have been pounding these routes for decades. The Badlands Loop Scenic Byway wriggles through the park, taking in views of twisted rock and wildlife from pronghorn antelope to prairie dogs. In this shot from the 1970s, a RV is photographed out on the open road.

The Grand Canyon remains one of the USA's most iconic beauty spots and it has been protected as a National Park for more than a century. Designated in 1919, the park typically sees around six million visitors each year. This pair visited in the 1940s: they're captured as they gaze over the canyon's red and amber rocks from a soaring vantage point.

While the Grand Canyon's South Rim is the most visited area, the rugged, less touristy North Rim has been luring adventurous travellers for decades. This tour group drink in the view from the North Rim's Bright Angel Point in the 1950s.

Like many national parks, the Grand Canyon has great significance to indigenous peoples including the Hopi and Havasupai tribes. In this 1935 photograph we're treated to a bird's-eye view of a traditional Hopi Eagle Dance being performed at the canyon's South Rim. The dancers wear large, colourful feathers and move in a way that mimics a soaring eagle.

Great Smoky Mountains consistently tops lists of America's most visited national parks, and it's easy to see why. Forests dense with Fraser firs and red maples cover undulating mountains, home to black bears and abundant birdlife. The grand opening ceremony of the park, dedicated in 1940, is captured here.

Hikers find incredible views in every pocket of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, whether it's powdered with snow in winter, or ablaze with orange in fall. This young couple admire the panoramas from the towering pinnacle of Blowing Rock circa 1930.  

These are America's amazing National Historic Landmarks

California's gorgeous Yosemite National Park was a long time in the making. In the late 19th century, Yosemite existed as both a state park and national park, and these beautiful wildernesses were merged in 1906. This historic photograph predates the merge, and shows President Theodore Roosevelt and fabled conservationist John Muir on an expedition in the park in 1903. Captured here is Inspiration Point in the Yosemite Valley.

Soaring, centuries-old trees are among the many great wonders of Yosemite National Park. Modern-day travellers will still find plenty of giants in Yosemite's Mariposa Grove, but one of the most famous has long fallen. The Wawona Tree, known for the tunnel through its base, towered to 234 feet (71m) – it's pictured here in 1918, before it plummeted to the ground in the late 1960s.

From towering trees to waterfalls: Bridalveil Fall is a 620-foot (189m) marvel nestled among giant bluffs in Yosemite Valley. This pair of road-trippers have pulled off California State Route 41 to drink in the cascade in all its glory.

Skyline Drive is Shenandoah National Park's crowing jewel. The legendary road slices through the park, skirting the Blue Ridge Mountains as it beats a 105-mile (169km) path north to south (and vice versa). It was completed in 1939 and a lone motorist is seen here road-tripping the route circa 1945. 

Love this? Follow our Facebook page for more travel inspiration

The mountains and rivers of Glacier National Park have long been sacred to the indigenous Blackfeet tribe and they inhabited the land here for centuries. The Blackfeet Nation ultimately agreed to sell a western portion of their precious land to the US government and that land was designated a national park in 1910. Here tribe members relax around a traditional tipi in the first half of the 20th century.

Today the Blackfeet Nation reservation meets the park's eastern border. Tribe members are pictured here in the early 20th century riding through the region's epic scenery, prior to the park's establishment. The mighty, grass-covered mountains roll out around them.

Halema‘uma‘u, whose apt name means 'House of Everlasting Fire', is a pit crater belonging to the active Kīlauea volcano. The volcano's latest eruption began in December 2020, with the Halema‘uma‘u area consumed by molten lava. In this photo from 70 years earlier, a woman takes in the warning sign at the rim of volatile and unstable Halema‘uma‘u.

These are the world's most dangerous volcanoes

Acadia takes over a glorious slice of the Maine coast, protecting rugged headlands, beaches and the handsome Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. Conservationist George Dorr was vocal about the need to protect this jaw-dropping coastal wilderness, and he is often tipped as the 'father of Acadia National Park'. The area was first protected as Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, and Dorr is pictured here at Huguenot Head along the Beachcroft Path trail.

Post-war, more and more Americans were hitting the open road, and a RV or trailer trip in a US national park offered the ultimate family adventure. This family, snapped in the 1950s, plumped for Grand Teton National Park. They've picked a dreamy waterside spot for a picnic, with panoramas of the jagged Teton Range.

From Jackson Lake to Snake River, Grand Teton's scenic bodies of water have long attracted fisherfolk. Here, in the 1960s, a fisherman tries his luck in shallow String Lake, a natural pool at the base of the Tetons. The thick forest and spiky, snow-dusted mountains make for an idyllic backdrop.

Joshua Tree National Park is famed for the spiny, otherworldly yucca plants that give the park its name. But here its imposing rock formations steal the show. A car is parked up against a hulking slab of granite in this 1950s shot, snapped before the national park was officially established in 1994. 

Here's what America looked like the decade you were born

Wonderfully wild Denali National Park stretches over six million acres in southern Alaska. The park was first established as Mount McKinley in 1917 but in 2015, its name was officially changed to Denali, the indigenous Athabascan people's name for the soaring mountain within park limits. Human habitation of the park dates back millennia and indigenous peoples had long shared their land with wildlife from wolves to bears. A mother bear and her young are captured from above in this shot from the 1980s.

Paradise Inn, a dreamy bolthole within the borders of Mount Rainier National Park, was established in 1916. Since then it's served as a hub for hikers and cross-country skiers from all over the States and beyond. The inn is captured here in the clutches of winter in the 1930s, its gabled roof heavy with snow. A group of winter adventurers are pictured striking out from the lodge too.

Once cross-country skiers take to the trails, dense thickets and fir-carpeted mountains await, all rising from a blanket of crisp snow. A man is captured here skiing in the wilds of Mount Rainier back in 1907.

Check out what family vacations looked like through the decades

Mount Rainier National Park is crammed full of natural spectacles, from meadows bright with wildflowers to the 14,410-foot (4,392m) juggernaut that is Mount Rainier itself. Sadly, though, one of its natural wonders was lost to climate change. The Paradise Ice Caves were a jaw-dropping web of glacial caverns and once one of the park's most popular attractions. They're pictured here circa 1935. A trail still winds towards the area, whose waterfalls and lakes are spectacular nonetheless.

Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906, but its history begins much, much earlier. The park protects the incredible ruined dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people, who made their home here from around AD 600 to 1300. More than 600 structures exist within the site, which is seen here humming with tourists in 1939.

Dubbed a "Land of Giants", Sequoia National Park is best known for its cloud-scraping trees – the towering General Sherman sequoia tree is generally tipped as the largest on Earth. But that's not all the park has going for it. The park comes to life in winter when cross-country skiers, sledders and snowshoers descend on its forested expanse. Tobogganists are captured here on a fun snow day in 1942.

From marmots to mountain lions, Sequoia National Park, established right back in 1890, is home to a bounty of wildlife. In this charming photo from the 1930s, a curious herd of deer investigate a 1920s Buick parked up in the preserve.

These are the world's most beautiful national parks

Established in 1915, Rocky Mountains is another of America's older national parks and its romantic mountain landscapes have long called to hikers and horseback riders. Here a large train of horse riders travel through the park, passing layered peaks and forests thick with fir, spruce and pine trees.

Celebrated for its diverse landscapes, Olympic National Park preserves ancient rainforests, rugged beaches and snow-crowned mountains. It was designated back in 1938, but visitors were exploring its wonders long before then. This nostalgic shot shows drivers travelling around Lake Crescent circa 1921.

Discover these American attractions that no longer exist

The indigenous Klamath tribes have lived in the Crater Lake area for generations – Klamath legend even describes the formation of Crater Lake, as Mount Mazama collapsed dramatically and the resulting caldera filled with rainwater. The tribespeople historically both revere and fear this incredible landscape. A Klamath person looks over the lake in this photograph from the 1920s.

The vast subtropical wilderness that is Everglades National Park was protected under the NPS system in 1947. Its sprawling web of mangrove swamps and marshes – home to alligators and wintering manatees – is perfect fodder for boat rides and fishing expeditions. Here a mother waves off her three young boys as they sail off into the wilds on a fishing trip.

Check out North America's 50 most beautiful attractions

Zion National Park serves Utah's red rocks on a silver platter and it has been welcoming scores of visitors since it was designated back in 1919. The lofty West Rim Trail is still beloved by modern travellers for its sweeping views over Wildcat Canyon. Here horseback riders tackle a nail-biting section of the route circa 1930.

Zion's Angels Landing remains the park's most popular hike and among the most storied in America. It skims above the site's blazing red rocks, complete with chained sections, and grants hikers panoramic views over ancient Zion Canyon. A pair of hikers rest and enjoy the breathtaking views on a hike circa 1930.

Check out the world's most incredible canyons