See 'sunset wars' pictures of national parks' amazing skies

To encourage a love of nature, two national parks started the internet’s most wholesome war.

ByRachel Brown
May 23, 2018
7 min read
sunset

Saguaro National Park

Photograph by Jessica Morgan, National Park Service
sunset

Joshua Tree National Park

Photograph by Hannah Schwalbe, National Park Service

It was an innocuous opening salvo: On May 5, an Instagram post boasted that Saguaro National Park has “the best sunsets in the world.” Taking offense, Joshua Tree National Park fired back. The #parksunsetwars had begun.

Screen grab of IG comments

The battle begins: Comments on the May 5 Saguaro National Park post show the initial rift.

National Parks Services

Spontaneous banter between two parks’ social media teams turned into a week-long hashtag challenge, with other national parks—from Grand Canyon to Gettysburg—joining the fray. Initially drawing from their own stock of photos, the official accounts at Saguaro and Joshua Tree soon began reposting the sunset snaps shared by their enthusiastic followers. [Can you fly with a mummified head? Ask the TSA’s cheeky Instagram.]

“We were very happy to show Joshua Tree just how awesome the sunsets out here are,” says Sharlot Hart, acting lead interpreter at Saguaro, who’s had a hand in the campaign. (Her colleague, Lauren Nichols, was the one to make the fateful post; now on leave, “she probably doesn’t even know what she started,” Hart says.)

view from Canyon Junction Bridge at Zion National Park
the Great Fountain Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Bass Harbor Lighthouse in Acadia National Park
Yosemite Falls at night in Yosemite National Park
hikers on Giant Tree Trail in Sequoia National Park
Wizard Island in Crater lake National Park, Oregon
The trail in Grand Canyon National Park
Sunset in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley
sunrise in the middle of the redwood forest in Redwood National Park, California
sea stacks on the Olympic Coast in Olympic National Park, Washington
Snake River and Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
an airboat in the Everglades National Park in Florida
Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
the amphitheater at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Picture Lake and Mount Shuksan in North Cascades National Park, Washington
Delicate Arch in Arches National Park
sand dunes in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida
a ranger holding lanterns in a cave in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Blue Mesa at Petrified Forest National Park
couple sitting on dock watching the sunset in Biscayne National Park, Florida
Mount Rainier in Mount Rainer National Park, Washington
The shore at Virgin Islands National Park
Dark Hollow Falls at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia
Rock Formations at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park
The Everett Covered Bridge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
Sunset in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The submerged boardwalk in Congaree National Park, South Carolina
the Gilbert Ray Campground in Saguaro National Park, Arizona
Paradise Valley in Kings Canyon National Park
Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park
coastline on Lake Superior in Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
humpback whale breaching the water in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
iceberg in Bear Glacier lagoon in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
sunset in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota
Rainbow over a pond in Denali National Park
bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska
Baker Icefield in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska
The footbridge in Hot Springs National Park
Mesa Arch at sunrise in Canyonlands National Park, Utah
a person hiking on a sand dune in Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
a river in Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska
a floodplain in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
sunset in Badlands National Park, South Dakota
St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana
Jewel Cave in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Painted Canyon in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
a rainbow arcing over steam from the lava of Kilauea in Hawaii
Cliff Palace dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Cannonball Concretions in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
people watching a sunset in Haleakala National Park, Hawaii
a rock formation in the Cathedral Valley District of Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
a beach in National Park of American Samoa
Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park
mountains in Lassen Volcanic National Park
the Bear Gulch area in Pinnacles National Park, California
1 of 59
Zion National ParkOne of the most photographed views in Zion National Park, and perhaps all of the parks, is the view of the Watchman from the Canyon Junction Bridge. Although it has been shot endless times, and you are sure to be shoulder to shoulder with other photographers during sunset, it is still something everyone must do when visiting the park. My favorite spot is right at the center of the bridge where the river leads the eye to the Watchman in the background.
Photograph by Jonathan Irish

Saguaro National Park, whose two wings embrace Tucson, Arizona, isn’t one of the big-name parks. But its stunning sunsets more than hold their own against those in Joshua Tree, its bigger California cousin. No public consensus has yet been reached regarding which park does, in fact, have the superior sunsets.

“Just know that we’re right,” says Hart.

Not Just a Pretty Face

Nearby festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach draw extra visitors from the Instagramming crowd to Joshua Tree, and like many NPS officials, they’re trying to make the connection, using pretty pictures to communicate visiting information, fun facts, and safety tips.

“We’re like, ‘Please don’t touch the cholla cactus,’” laughs Kristi Rugg, media branch chief at Joshua Tree. “‘Please be careful when you’re hiking; it gets really hot.’”

sunset

Joshua Tree National Park

Photograph by Glauco Puig-Santana, National Park Service
sunset

Saguaro National Park

Photograph by Nic Perkins, National Park Service

A short trip from major cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Diego, Joshua Tree has seen attendance triple over the last decade. Over three million people are expected to visit this year, Rugg says. But it’s also one of 17 big-name parks whose fees may soon double following a 2017 NPS proposal, intended to provide funds for overdue maintenance, that has raised concerns about accessibility.

National parks have been exhaustively hailed as America’s “best idea,” and modern science only adds another voice to the choir. While three days in nature can give a much-needed break to overstressed brains, even a little green time has health and cognition benefits. Scientists and NPS officials alike have argued in favor of keeping the parks open to all. [Learn how climate change will shape the parks of tomorrow.]

“It’s not all about [the rangers], or the people going into the backcountry,” Hart says. “We’re national parks. We’re the people’s parks. So getting people out to take their own sunset pictures, and have that pride in public lands, is awesome.”

The sunset wars are reaching a détente—“this is a war where everyone wins,” a recent Saguaro post graciously notes—but the rangers aren’t done yet. That post also asks followers to suggest the topic of the next battle.

My vote? #parkstarwars.

sunset

Saguaro National Park

Photograph by Nic Perkins, National Park Service
sunset

Joshua Tree National Park

Photograph by Jesmira Bonoan, National Park Service

LIMITED TIME OFFER

Get a FREE tote featuring 1 of 7 ICONIC PLACES OF THE WORLD

Go Further