Inspired by a recent trip to Yellowstone National Park, this gallery contains some of the country's most spectacular national parks, as seen from space. Yellowstone's geothermal features are strange enough from the ground, but from orbit they seem even more incongruous (above). The Landsat 7 image below shows Yellowstone Lake and the entire park in false color, which highlights certain features that might not stand out in true color. Water appears dark blue or black, and snow is light blue. Grass fields appear light green, the dark red-and-green is mature forest, and young forest, such as has grown back since the 1988 wildfires, is pink. This collection of 21 national parks and one monument includes many of our favorites we've visited and a few we hope to add to the list someday. Yellowstone National Park Location: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho Established: March 1, 1872 Size: 3,468 square miles Visitors in 2010: 3,640,185 Yellowstone was the first national park in the country, and in the world. Its famous geothermal features -- including the Grand Prismatic Spring (shown above), Old Faithful and more than 200 other geysers -- are fueled by a mantle hotspot. The park's other main attractions are its many large mammal species including grizzly bear, moose, gray wolf, lynx and bison. And of course, the excellent trout fishing. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: GeoEye. Below: NASA.

Everglades National Park Location: Florida Established: May 30, 1934 Size: 2,357 square miles Visitors in 2010: 915,538 The marshy, subtropical Everglades park has 36 threatened or protected species living in it, including the Florida panther, West Indian manatee and American crocodile. The park was created to protect the fragile wetlands that were vanishing as the area was drained for agricultural and residential purposes. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: NASA. Below: USGS.

Crater Lake National Park Location: Oregon Established: May 22, 1902 Size: 249 square miles Visitors in 2010: 448,319 Crater Lake was formed when a stratovolcano called Mount Mazama collapsed during a massive, explosive eruption 7,700 years ago that blew ash 30 miles high and deposited it over much of the Pacific Northwest and parts of southern Canada. The 1,943-foot deep lake is the deepest in the U.S. and took around 740 years to fill. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA.

Kenai Fjords National Park Location: Alaska Established: Dec. 2, 1980 Size: 1,047 square miles Visitors in 2010: 297,596 Alaska's smallest national park, Kenai Fjords contains one of the country's largest ice fields. Harding Ice Field feeds 38 glaciers including Bear Glacier (above), which is the park's largest, and Exit Glacier, the only one accessible by road. The area's fjords are carved by the glaciers as they move downhill away from the ice field. More info at nps.gov Image: GeoEye.

Mount Rainier National Park Location: Washington state Established: March 2, 1899 Size: 368 square miles Visitors in 2010: 1,113,601 The 14,411-foot Mount Rainier is the highest peak in the Cascade Range and the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States. This huge stratovolcano is one of 16 volcanoes in the world identified as particularly dangerous, due to its history of large eruptions and its location just 54 miles southeast of Seattle. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA.

Capitol Reef National Park Location: Utah Established: Dec. 18, 1971 Size: 378 square miles Visitors in 2010: 662,659 Capitol Reef's most striking feature is a nearly 100-mile-long monocline known as the Waterpocket Fold (above). The park gets its name from the dome-shaped cliffs of Navajo sandstone at the northern end of the fold. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: NASA. Below: NASA/USGS.

Death Valley National Park Location: California, Nevada Established: Oct. 31, 1994 Size: 5,270 square miles Visitors in 2010: 984,775 Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the second lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level. It is the hottest, driest place in the country, with an average high of 115 degrees Fahreneheit during July. Temperatures exceeding 120 are not uncommon, and on July 10, 1913, the temperature reached 134. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: USGS/NASA. Below: NASA/USGS.

Glacier National Park Location: Montana Established: May 11, 1910 Size: 1,583 square miles Visitors in 2010: 2,200,048 There were likely around 150 glaciers in the park when it was established a century ago. Today there are 37, and just 25 that are big enough (greater than 25 acres) to be designated active glaciers. Some scientists estimate all of them will disappear by 2030, and others predict this will happen even earlier if current climate trends persist. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: NASA. Below: USG/NASA.

Grand Canyon National Park Location: Arizona Established: Feb. 26, 1919 Size: 1,902 square miles Visitors in 2010: 4,388,386 The Grand Canyon averages 4,000 feet deep and reaches 6,000 feet at its deepest point and 15 miles at its widest. The park includes 277 miles of the Colorado River, which has exposed around 2 billion years of geologic history. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: NASA. Below: NASA.

Great Sand Dunes National Park Location: Colorado Established: Sep. 13, 2004 Size: 130 square miles Visitors in 2010: 283,284 The main dune field in the park is 30 square miles and contains the tallest dunes in North America, with the Star Dune topping the list at 750 feet. Scientists estimate the dunes began forming 440,000 years ago. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: USGS/NASA. Below: GeoEye.

Arches National Park Location: Utah Established: Nov. 12, 1971 Size: 120 square miles Visitors in 2010: 1,014,405 More info at nps.gov The natural arches and bridges in this park (above) and the surrounding area were formed by erosion of the reddish-colored Entrada Sandstone. All of the arches will eventually erode away, and 43 have disappeared since 1970. Rainbow Bridge National Monument Location: Utah Established: May 30, 1910 Size: 0.25 square miles Visitors in 2010: 104,501 More info at nps.gov Though not of a national park, the view of Rainbow Bridge in the satellite image below made it too irresistible not to include in this gallery. Though the official website describes it as the largest known natural bridge, its 234-foot span is a bit shorter than several other formations, including Utah's Landscape Arch and Kolob Arch. Images: Above: NASA/USGS. Below: GeoEye.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Location: Hawaii Established: Aug. 1, 1916 Size: 505 square miles Visitors in 2010: 1,304,667 This park contains Mauna Loa, Earth's most massive volcano, and Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes. The area has also been designated an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA.

Grand Teton National Park Location: Wyoming Established: Feb. 26, 1929 Size: 484 square miles Visitors in 2010: 2,669,374 The Tetons are among the most impressive mountain ranges in the world. Grand Teton is 13,770 feet tall, but more impressively, it abruptly rises more than 7,000 feet from the Snake River plain below. They are the youngest of the Rocky Mountains, but are made of some of the continent's oldest rocks. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA/USGS.

Wrangell–St. Elias National Park Location: Alaska Established: Dec. 2, 1980 Size: 20,587 square miles Visitors in 2010: 73,170 This glacier-ridden backcountry outpost is the nation's largest national park. Just two roads offer access to a small portion of it, and bush pilots ferry visitors into the more remote areas. Mount St. Elias is 18,008 feet tall, making it the second highest peak in the U.S., and eight more of the 16 highest peaks in the country are located in the park. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: NASA/USGS. Below: NASA.

Canyonlands National Park Location: Utah Established: Sept. 12, 1964 Size: 528 square miles Visitors in 2010: 435,908 One of the most striking features in the image above is the circular structure in the northern part of the park known as Upheaval Dome. Scientists still aren't sure how it formed. The two main theories are that it is the result of an asteroid impact or a rising layer of salt known as a salt dome. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA/USGS.

Redwood National and State Parks Location: California Established: Jan. 1, 1968 Size: 208 square miles Visitors in 2010: 418,820 Just 4 percent of the old-growth redwood forests that once covered coastal northern California are left, and nearly half of the remaining redwoods are in the combined Redwood National and State Parks. Some of the park's trees are 2,000 years old, and many are more than 350 feet tall. The park's tallest tree, named Hyperion, is just over 371 feet tall. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA/USGS.

Yosemite National Park Location: California Established: Oct. 1, 1890 Size: 1,189 square miles Visitors in 2010: 3,901,408 Most visitors to Yosemite spend the majority of their time in Yosemite Valley, where the massive granite that dominates the area has been carved and eroded into the park's iconic Half Dome and El Capitan formations. The Valley's U-shape was created by the movement of glacial ice that may have grown as thick as 4,000 feet. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA/USGS.

Bryce Canyon National Park Location: Utah Established: Feb. 25, 1928 Size: 56 square miles Visitors in 2010: 1,285,492 The centerpiece of this park (above), which is named after Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, is a collection of stunningly sculpted cliffs known as the Bryce amphitheater. The thousands of almost people-shaped spires in the amphitheater and the rest of the park are erosional features known as hoodoos. More info at nps.gov Zion National Park Location: Utah Established: Nov. 19, 1919 Size: 229 square miles Visitors in 2010: 2,665,972 Not too far from Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion (below) is Utah's first, and most popular park. Zion's cliffs expose 150 million years of geologic formations known collectively as the Grand Staircase. The park's narrow, steep, water-carved canyons star among Zion's many assets. More info at nps.gov Images: Above: USGS/NASA. Below: NASA.

Shenandoah National Park Location: Virginia Established: Dec. 26, 1935 Size: 307 square miles Visitors in 2010: 1,253,386 Shenandoah is a long, narrow park that runs along a portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Its 105-mile-long, scenic Skyline Drive often has heavy tourist traffic during the fall when the leaves are changing colors. The park also contains more than 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. More info at nps.gov Image: NASA/USGS.