A Gen Xer visited all 63 national parks. Here are his 7 favorites — and 6 that didn't impress him.

Although Abbamonte said that a few of the national parks he ranked close to the top of his list of favorites could be interchangeable, he said Yosemite is really something special.

"It is the epitome of what a national park should be," he said. "It's beautiful. It's vast, it's big. It has great hikes, great climbs, great vistas."

Abbamonte said Yosemite's landscapes and sights change "over the course of the day."

Tunnel View, for example, is one of the park's most "famous" vistas. he explained. Depending on what time you visit, it produces various spectacles. One of Abbamonte's favorite times to go is at sunset, when, he added, "you'll get this orange glow over Half Dome."

Abbamonte knows full well that some people may not agree that he put Canyonlands second on his list of best national parks.

But he thinks the distinction is merited because Canyonlands has vistas similar to the Grand Canyon, but it's more compact and easier to navigate.

"It's a more succinct Grand Canyon," he said. "It has specific views and rocks and is just spectacular."

He also loves how accessible it is from Moab, a city in eastern Utah, which is also close to Arches National Park.

"I just love Moab because it's a base camp for those two parks," he said.

Abbamonte loves Arches because of how close it is to Moab and how beautiful the landscape is.

The only reason he's ranked Arches his third-favorite, behind Canyonlands, is because it's slightly more crowded.

Still, sharing the space with other people isn't a huge negative for Abbamonte, who said: "Tourists only go to good places, right?"

Wrangell-St. Elias, ranked fourth on Abbamonte's list, is the biggest national park in the US and one of the most beautiful, he said.

"It's bigger than the country of Switzerland," he said.

Before visiting, Abbamonte said he knew very little about the 13.2 million-acre park that borders Canada. When he went, he also brought along his godson, who was around eight at the time.

"I was a little anxious about hiking with a child, but he had a great time," he said, adding that the park has activities "for all levels."

For Abbamonte, Wrangell-St. Elias epitomizes why Alaska is such a unique place.

"You're hiking on glaciers, and you're looking at glacial rivers — the clearest water you've ever seen in your life. You could just drink right out of the river," he said. "Alaska is just a special place."

On a clear day, Abbamonte said, Crater Lake is "the singular, most beautiful thing in America," beating out other sights like Lake Tahoe and the Grand Canyon.

That's why Crater Lake National Park comes in fifth on his list of favorite parks.

"You can't even believe what you're looking at," he said. "You get to kind of hike around the the rim, and it looks different from different angles and depending on the time of day."

Crater Lake's dazzling quality is weather-dependent.

"It has to be on a good day because otherwise, it doesn't look nearly as nice," Abbamonte said.

"But when it's sparkling," he added, "it's just awesome."

Abbamonte's sixth-favorite national park is one of the most famous natural sights in the US: the Grand Canyon.

"[The] Grand Canyon is amazing, and anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about," he said.

Abbamonte, who went to business school in Arizona, said he's visited the park countless times during different seasons — and walked away amazed every time.

There are several activities on offer, including white-water rafting and camping. Still, one of his favorite — admittedly luxurious — ways to visit the Grand Canyon was via a helicopter that took off from Las Vegas and dropped him off with a picnic and Champagne.

One obstacle to navigate: the crowds. Abbamonte said there are always a lot of people at the Grand Canyon compared to his other favorite parks.

"If you go to the South Rim, especially at a popular time of year, it'll be super crowded, but it's big enough where it doesn't really annoy you that much," he said.

However, Abbamonte added, it's common to have to angle your camera just so to get a photograph without other people in it.

"Zion is a gift," Abbamonte said.

The national park, which ranks seventh on his list of favorites, is home to some of the most beautiful hiking trails in the country, he added.

"Angels Landing — that hike in Zion may be the best hike in America," he said. "There's one called The Narrows where you go through water. It's just awesome. It could be crowded, but if you go at off times, it's a little cooler."

Another perk about Zion is its proximity to another one of Abbamonte's favorite national parks, Bryce Canyon. "You could do, like, a two-for-one," he added.

National parks should have truly exceptional natural beauty, Abbamonte said.

"Of course, my tilt is views and hikes," he said." But there has to be something that you look at and know it's a national park for a reason."

In his view, St. Louis' Gateway Arch, which is 91 acres and faces out onto the Missouri River, doesn't quite pass muster.

"I just feel it should not be a national park," he said. "It's a monument."

While the arch is "very cool to see," it doesn't make the space "national park-worthy."

"If that's national park-worthy, what about the Washington Monument or the Mall in DC?" Abbamonte said.

Congaree National Park in South Carolina is a swampy haven, Abbamonte said.

He added that it's a must-visit for people passionate about biodiversity, especially those who are not put off by close encounters with critters.

But Abbamonte isn't among them.

"If you're into insects and swamp and sweating and getting bitten, it's pretty cool," he said. "But I'm not."

That's why Congaree, southeast of state capital Columbia, ranks 59th on his list of 62 national parks.

Abbamonte said he "went out of" his way to visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park — located southeast of Cleveland — but couldn't tell he was actually in it until he happened across a visitor's center.

"I thought I was just in a neighborhood, and then all of a sudden I saw a visitor center," Abbamonte said. "I was like, 'Oh, I'm here, that's it?'"

A waterfall he came across in the park was "lovely," but otherwise, Abbamonte didn't see anything that justified its national park status.

Abbamonte, who moved to California from New York City three years ago, said he shocked himself by putting Pinnacles so low on his national park ranking.

"Most of the California parks are really good. I just don't see Pinnacles as that," he said.

Abbamonte visited Pinnacles, about two hours southeast of San Francisco, soon after it became a national park in 2013. He was unimpressed, he said.

"I thought the drive into the park was actually more attractive than actually being in the park in terms of scenery," Abbamonte said.

Indiana Dunes, which sits on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, was named a national park in 2019. Shortly after, Abbamonte visited with a well-traveled friend who has also been to every country in the world.

"We were in Chicago playing golf, and I was like, 'Dude, we gotta drive to Indiana to go check this new national park out.' So we do, and we get there, and all it is is a super-crowded beach with a couple of sand dunes on each side," Abbamonte said.

Abbamonte also added there appeared to be a wastewater treatment center and power plants close to the park, which he thought were eyesores.

He was also put off by the heavy traffic they faced getting there. "If you've ever driven from Indiana to Chicago, it's a nightmare," he said.

Abbamonte said he's gotten a fair amount of pushback for putting Hot Springs, a national park in central Arkansas, at the very bottom of his ranking. But that hasn't swayed his opinion.

"It just did nothing for me," he said. "I didn't feel like I was in a national park."

The closest city, also called Hot Springs, came across as overly "touristy," he added.

If he returns to Arkansas, Abbamonte will likely skip Hot Springs and experience a different part of the state. Multiple people have told him that visiting the Ozark Mountains could change his mind about Arkansas, Abbamonte said.