One of our bucket list items is to visit all of the 63 US National Parks.
American Samoa National Park is definitely the furthest park and one of the most challenging to get to from the states. In fact, it was much easier to get to from New Zealand- so we decided to cross it off the list while we are living here. This image (courtesy of wikipedia), shows the location of Samoa and how far away it is from the mainland. It's even a six-hour flight from Hawaii!

We took a long weekend and flew about 3 hours from Auckland to Apia, Samoa. From there, we boarded a small 8-seater plane and flew 30 minutes east to Pago Pago, American Samoa. We crossed the international date line, meaning we left Samoa on a Friday, and 30 minutes later we landed in American Samoa (AS) on a Thursday.

Samoa is made of two larger islands, while AS is one smaller island (with a few much smaller islands dotted around).
Before our trip, I assumed AS became a territory during WW2 as a strategic military location in the Pacific. However, I was wrong. In the late 1800's, AS was a busy port for American, British, and German Sailors. Some skirmishes occurred between these forces, and eventually, an armistice was signed in 1899, splitting the western islands into a German colony, the eastern islands into an American colony, while Britain ceded their claims in Samoa and in return received colonies from Germany, including nearby Tonga. Colonization... what more can I say? Samoans eventually became independent from Germany, but AS stayed as an American territory.
In the early 1900's, American Samoa became an important naval base for the US, which continued throughout the century during the various wars. There remains a base on the island, and a large proportion of American Samoans have served in the US military.
The National Park was created in 1988 and has consistently been one of the least visited parks in the states, given the distance needed to travel. Because of this, and especially after COVID, tourism is fairly scarce, and infrastructure is lacking. However, it is a beautiful island and we really enjoyed exploring it!
We did a few short hikes in the park, as the big hike (Mt Alava summit) was closed.

This park was definitely off the beaten track. We're glad we were able to make the short trip while in New Zealand than from the mainland! It was nice for a weekend, but I think we would have been a bit disappointed if we had traveled all the way from the US.
I have to say, it was nice to drive on the right side of the road again!
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