US national parks are engaging in 'sunset wars' and it's one war we can get behind

Instagram users can get more than a little competitive when it comes to capturing and sharing the world's most photogenic spots. And it seems national park employees are just as gung-ho when it comes to the 'gram.

Case in point, the recent viral hashtag #parksunsetwars that saw stunning national parks from all over the United States go head to head over who could lay claim to having "the best sunsets in the world."

It all started when Saguaro National Park in Arizona shared a photo on their Instagram account claiming that the sunsets seen over their park were by far the best in the world.

"Ummm, what?! Did you know @saguaronationalpark has the best sunsets in the world? AND, the saguaro, which is an incredible cactus, can live up to 150-200 years old!" the national park's caption read.

But, it wasn’t long before fellow US national park Joshua Tree fired back.

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"A SUNSET OFF? YOU'RE ON @saguaronationalpark" the park retorted, along with a picture of a jaw-dropping sunset at Joshua Tree.

"While your sunsets are nice, you might wanna get your facts straight because ours have been putting in work since day one," they captioned the picture.

Joshua Tree's use of the hashtag #parksunsetwars then inspired an Instagram battle of beautiful pictures from different national parks all over the world.

While no winner of the 'war' was ever picked, Joshua Tree National Park’s media branch chief Kristi Rugg said that the friendly competition was a great way to share "the people's parks" with the public in a fun and inclusive way.

"I think national parks have the best sunsets in the nation and Joshua Tree has some pretty spectacular ones," Kristi said.

"We didn't want it to be just all about us, we wanted to bring the parks to people who can't visit for, whatever reason that is, but we wanted the people to realise that these are the people's parks."

Proving just how inspiring the national parks continue to be for their visitors, Joshua Tree announced the winner of their 2018 #JTNphotocontest just three days ago. The winning picture? A stunning photo of a sunset no less, captured by visitor Chris Olivas.

The winning photo from the Joshua Tree National Park 2018 photo contest