In December 2019 the United States recognized and designated White Sands as the country’s latest national park.

This is the highest honor the nation will give to protected lands, and was only the 62nd time the United States had commemorated a location out of hundreds of specially preserved sites and monuments.

While you’re probably familiar with some of the more popular national parks, you might not know about many of the 11 newest national parks and where to find them.

This park boasts otherworldly hues, especially at sunrise or sunset. The gypsum dunes shift from hot orange to bright white to cool lavender as the day turns to night.

Visitors can go backcountry camping among the glistening dunes, or check out the area's rich flora, such as Dr Seussian soaptree yucca, in the Native Plant Garden.

In the evening, rangers lead sunset strolls, full-moon hikes and meteor shower watching parties.

Must see: The powdery white sands are perfect for sledding. Barrelling down the side of a dune in a plastic snow-saucer (for purchase at the gift shop) is a top activity at White Sands.

When George Lucas first directed the seminal Star Wars here in 1977, Death Valley was still a national monument, the second highest status in that National Parks Service.

Named by gold-rushers passing through in 1849, the great desert and hottest place on Earth carried its monument designation from 1933 until 1994, when it officially became a national park.

Today it remains the driest and lowest place in North America, not to mention the hottest place on Earth with a 134 degree temperature recorded in the shade.

Must see: Badwater Basin is the lowest point on land in the western hemisphere at 277 feet below sea level, and can be reached via a quarter-mile long board walk from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.

Like Death Valley, the Saguaro-filled Sonoran desert was protected as a National Monument in 1933 before becoming an official Park in 1994.

Later at the turn of the century, National Geographic named Saguaro the greatest of all National Parks.

That's thanks to the millions of giant cacti – some the tallest in the world at over 50 feet and many of which live for two hundred years – which stand as sentinels in an otherwise barren landscape.

Hiking and driving among them is surreal, and times they seem like they might even move.

Must see: the Signal Hill Petroglyph Trail is a beginner-friendly trail that will take you straight to hundreds of examples of rock art left by the indigenous people who once called Saguaro home.