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From Our Photo Contest: Soak Up the Beauty of America’s National Parks

2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service. Enjoy these standout images submitted by our photo community

Melissa Wiley

August 25, 2016

A coyote peers inquisitively over a snow drift in Yellowstone National Park. Simone Sbaraglia

Sun sets over Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Arizona. Lilly Husbands

Synchronous fireflies flash in harmony in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Radim Schreiber

Visitors to Death Valley National Park in California walk along the edge of massive sand dunes. Jassen Todorov

A clearing storm transforms an overcast day into a dramatic sunset at Cape Royal on the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Jeffrey Johnson

A summer thunderstorm rolls through Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park. Leighton Lum

Moonlight falls on Mount Hayden, seen from Imperial Point in Grand Canyon National Park. James Duckworth

The Milky Way arcs over Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park. Jatinkumar Thakkar

Minutes before sunset, light clings to Sentinel Rock, seen from Cook's Meadow in Yosemite National Park. Daniel Lueders

A stream wanders in an oxbow shape near Liberty Bell Mountain in North Cascades National Park, Oregon. Ben Coffman

Light breaks through clouds in Zion National Park, Utah. Nick DeBarmore

Grooves run through a dry riverbed of the Puerco River in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Aya Okawa

Visitors cast shadows on the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, at sunrise. Jassen Todorov

A brown bear hunts for salmon in Silver Salmon Creek, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. Daniel D'Auria

The Milky Way rises over Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. Manish Mamtani

A meteor flashes across the sky in Joshua Tree National Park, California. Scott Rinckenberger

Stars glitter above formations dating back more than 75 million years in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Erik Fremstad

Chilkoot Trail, a 33-mile stretch of land once traveled by gold prospectors, runs from through temperate rainforest between Dyea, Alaska, and Lake Bennett, British Columbia, in Klondike Gold Rush National Park. Laura DiLallo

Members of the Paiute tribe, whose ancestors inhabited the area surrounding Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah for hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans, claim that its tall, thin spires of rock known as hoodoos are ancient "Legend People" turned to stone. Louis Kamler

Gazing up at ancient trees in Redwood National Park, California Bachir Badaoui

A female grizzly guides her three cubs through Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. Scott Dere

Steam from Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park drifts past the twisted forms of dead trees. Steven Ross

A tributary wraps around itself as it flows through Yellowstone National Park. Aya Okawa

Simple times may be over for the National Parks. Shown here: El Capitan, a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, California. Manish Mamtani, Smithsonian.com Photo Contest Archives

A female badger stay with her kits outside their in Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park. Vito Marrone

A snow storm closes in around Mount Denali in Denali National Park, Alaska. Corrina Lucas

A yellow-bellied marmot yawns while perched in a tree in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Megan Lorenz

The first light of day falls on Mammoth Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park. Vito Marrone

A car trying to escape fast moving fog races down Mount Cadillac in Acadia National Park, Maine. Andrey Antov

Sunrise greets the John Moulton Barn, built by Mormon settlers in the 1890s, in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Michael Faist

One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed the U.S. National Park Service into effect. As a new bureau of the Department of the Interior, its mission was two-part: to make America's natural heritage accessible to all and to preserve it for future generations. Then charged with protecting 35 national parks and monuments, the National Park Service now oversees 412 national parks and monuments spanning 84 million acres across the United States and its territories.

In honor of the centennial, our photo contest community submitted their best national parks shots, ranging from the sweeping sand dunes of California's Death Valley National Park to the star-studded skies of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and snow-covered peaks of Denali National Park, Alaska. Browse more stunning images here, and submit your own using the tag NPS100.

Smithsonian.com's Annual Photo Contest

Browse more stunning images of national parks from our archives, and submit your best shots!

Smithsonian.com's Annual Photo Contest

Also from Smithsonian.com: How Photography Shaped America's National Parks