Pulitzer prize-winning Aquarius novelist Wallace Stegner maintained, “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
Our civic best is comprised of 58 national parks, and 333 national monuments and historic sites. The National Park Service is represented in 49 out of 50 states, the rogue outlier being Delaware, the first state and the only one to go without.
“National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”
Wallace Stegner
In honor of spring, we’ve designated a National Park that suits the spirit of each zodiac sign. Read on to learn more.
If survival is a top priority, peruse our list of the deadliest National Parks here. For a roundup of highlights and superlatives courtesy of a couple that has visited every National Park in the United States, see here.
ARIES (March 21 – April 19)
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Aries is the first-born sign in the zodiac and in 1872 President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act establishing the park as the first of its kind. Volcanic and chock full of big hits, big game, hot springs, and active geysers the similarities between Yellowstone and the impulsive, explosive energy of the cardinal fire sign are plenty. You can always count on Aries to lose their cool, making them the Old Faithful of the zodiac.
TAURUS (April 20 – May 20)
Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Down to work up a sweat but hell-bent on a comfortable come down, Taurus folks will find rugged relaxation at Hot Springs National Park. As an Earth sign that goes hard but sometimes struggles to go within, a good long soak in the park’s healing thermal waters is a perfect remedy for what ails the mind, body, and spirit. Float on baby.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 20)
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Gemini reminds us that we all contain multitudes and Great Sand Dunes National Park reveals that Colorado does too. Often associated with snowy peaks and tall pines, the Centennial State is also home to a vast desert. Like any conversation with a Gemini, exploring the dunes is an interesting endeavor prone to leave you lost.
As with the temperment of a Gemini, temperatures at the dunes are extreme, storms are common and there’s little in the way of shelter.
As with the mercurial twins, temperatures at the dunes are extreme, storms are common and there’s little in the way of shelter. Also fitting for the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants air signs, there are no limitations, timed entries, or reservations for visiting the park.
CANCER (June 21 – July 22)
Acadia National Park, Maine
Cancer is the sign of nostalgia and rose-colored rememberings and Acadia National Park with its fishing villages and staggering coastline recalls a time before the ruin of development.
“Acadia touches something inside of us. Beyond just beautiful, the park is an interwoven fabric of meaning.” Sounds like a Cancer sucking on nitrous balloons to me, folks.
The park website whimsically decrees, “Acadia touches something inside of us. Beyond just beautiful, the park is an interwoven fabric of meaning.”
Sounds like a Cancer sucking on nitrous balloons to me, folks.
While Cancer landscape artist Sanford Robinson immortalized the natural beauty of Acadia in the mid-19th century, the park’s network of car-free carriage roads is owed to the vision of another crab; thin-lipped and filthy-rich business magnate John D. Rockefeller.
LEO (July 23 – August 22)
Haleakalā National Park, Hawai’i
Leo governs the heart and is ruled by the fiery light of the sun. In kind and crust, the crater that gives Haleakalā National Park its name is known to natives as the “House of the Sun.” Rising over 10,000 feet above sea level the crater has been a pilgrimage point for centuries, from ancient priests to modern-day spiritual seekers looking for soul clarity and heart mending.
VIRGO (August 23 – September 22)
Zion National Park, Utah
The symbol for Virgo is the virgin/maiden and apropos of this, it is the mighty Virgin River that snakes through Zion National Park. A Mercury-ruled earth sign, Virgo is synonymous with service, sustenance, and deliberate abundance. In-kind and bloom, Zion supports nearly 1,000 native plant species and 124,400 acres of designated wilderness.
LIBRA (September 23 – October 22)
North Cascades National Park, Washington
Libra is the sign of terminal indecision and North Cascades National Park is divided into two ecosystems: a temperate rainforest to the west and a dryer ponderosa pine to the east. The Park also offers myriad day hikes for this flagrantly noncommittal air sign.
Ruled by Venus, there is no one more unrepentantly bougie than Libra (save for a Taurus when they’re in their feels and racking up their credit card debt). The ‘bring me to my fainting couch and coup glass’ people of the scales can justly retire to the Sun Mountain Lodge, sitting pretty and living luxe just outside the park in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains.
SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21)
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Rulers of the eighth house of sex, death, and secrets, Scorpios have no fear of the dark, and dark skies are one of the many qualities that make Joshua Tree National Park worth visiting. If you are hoping to take advantage of the stargazing, plan to visit as close to a new moon as possible and stick to the east side of the park, which is less affected by light pollution than the west.
Add to the fixed stars and dark waters that grievous angel and apex Scorpio Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose in room number 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn.
Add to the fixed stars and dark waters that grievous angel and apex Scorpio Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose in room number 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn, just outside the park entrance. Making good on a late-night pact, Parson’s friends hijacked his remains and delivered them to the Joshua Tree desert where they doused his casket in gasoline and let a match turn their pal to ash, giving live birth to a legendary end.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21)
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Sagittarius is synonymous with the seeker who is always looking to play pirate and go further than the edge and folks it doesn’t get much further than Dry Tortugas National Park. Located 70 miles west of Key West, the park is accessible only by boat or seaplane.
A prominent feature of the park is Fort Jefferson. Once a strategic point of naval defense, the fort was also used as a prison for Union deserters. Perhaps the most famous inmate was Sagittarius Samuel Mudd, the physician who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth and was sentenced to life in prison for his association with the assassin.
CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19)
Olympic National Forest, Washington
Named for a city that seeded the spirit of competitive excellence, Olympic National Park sings to the spirit of progress at all costs, death before second place sign of Capricorn.
Named for a city that seeded the spirit of competitive excellence for generations to come, Olympic National Park sings to the spirit of the progress at all costs, death before second place sign of Capricron.
Rulers of the tenth house of legacy, Capricorn represents the old guard and old growth and this park is home to trees that date back to the time of the Crusades. Ever on their proverbial grind with an eye on ascent personal, fiscal, and otherwise, sea goats will appreciate the diversity of this park that offers the opportunity to rise from shoreline to rainforest to alpine peak.
AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18)
Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Aquarius is the zodiac’s outlier. As they often feel like aliens, this fixed air sign requires a fair amount of space and solitude making the remote wilderness of Denali National Park pure bliss bait. Home to the tallest summit in North America this park is accessible only by a single road, a rugged individualism water bearers will resonate with.
Here I go again on my own, getting high AF on altitude and the smug superiority of self-reliance? An Aquarius poem.
As the Denali website chest bumps/maintains, “Our goal is to provide visitors with the means of self-reliance and self-discovery; to encourage hikers to find what appeals to them rather than following specific routes…the path you choose in the backcountry will be your own.”
Here I go again on my own, getting high on altitude and the smug superiority of self-reliance? An Aquarius poem.
PISCES (February 19 – March 20)
Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
Pisces is a mutable water sign and over a third of Voyageurs National Park is comprised of water. The park’s pristine inaccessibility ensures crowds are a nonissue, making it a perfect place for a Pisces to escape, skinny dip, and cast off the psychic detritus and codependent attachments that so easily affix to their care bear hearts and vapor cloud minds.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, a “girl’s guide” to strip clubs, and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.
