How many national parks have you visited?

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It’s on my bucket list as well, and my wish is to do one a year, God willing. I’m only up to SIX, but hoping to up my travel after retirement. I’m curious to everyone’s favorite since I’m always thinking about our next trip!

These should be your top 10.
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Glacier
Olympic
Grand Canyon
Grand Tetons.
Sequoia
Arches
Acadia
Mt. Ranier.

Important notes. If you are over 62, purchase your lifetime pass for $80. It pays all your entrance fees for life!!!
If you are not and you're going to visit multiple parks in a trip, just go for the $80 America the Beautiful Pass. It gets you admissions for a year and pays some of your trail fees.

To the ones that will inevitably shout CRUCIFY HIM!!! for leaving off Zion, don't get me wrong. If I could rate the park sans the crowds, it would be top 10. But let's face it. The park is a mess right now. And it was even before Covid. This is one that has been loved to death. And a couple of the less crowded areas are inaccessible right now because the road to them is out. And what's worse is the crowds you get are more interested in a hiking credit for the Gram than genuinely experiencing nature.

 

[bcla]

Important notes. If you are over 62, purchase your lifetime pass for $80. It pays all your entrance fees for life!!!
If you are not and you're going to visit multiple parks in a trip, just go for the $80 America the Beautiful Pass. It gets you admissions for a year and pays some of your trail fees.

To the ones that will inevitably shout CRUCIFY HIM!!! for leaving off Zion, don't get me wrong. If I could rate the park sans the crowds, it would be top 10. But let's face it. The park is a mess right now. And it was even before Covid. This is one that has been loved to death. And a couple of the less crowded areas are inaccessible right now because the road to them is out. And what's worse is the crowds you get are more interested in a hiking credit for the Gram than genuinely experiencing nature.

View attachment 798979

The lifetime pass used to be $10. I remember I paid for my both my parents, and even once when my mom couldn't find her's, I paid for another one. But there is a requirement that the pass holder must be a US citizen or permanent resident. There's also the annual senior pass for $20, where four (with some weird rules) can supposedly be traded in for a lifetime pass.

Also - the senior and disabled (free) passes can only be issued to one person. The $80 annual pass can be purchased by anybody (even foreign visitors) and can be signed and used by two people, who don't need to be related in any way.

As for Angels Landing, it wasn't anywhere that crowded when I was there. A crowd like that just isn't safe, not that it was ever safe to begin with.

 

[JaxDad]

These should be your top 10.
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Glacier
Olympic
Grand Canyon
Grand Tetons.
Sequoia
Arches
Acadia
Mt. Ranier.

Important notes. If you are over 62, purchase your lifetime pass for $80. It pays all your entrance fees for life!!!
If you are not and you're going to visit multiple

parks in a trip, just go for the $80 America the Beautiful Pass. It gets you admissions for a year and pays some of your trail fees.

To the ones that will inevitably shout CRUCIFY HIM!!! for leaving off Zion, don't get me wrong. If I could rate the park sans the crowds, it would be top 10. But let's face it. The park is a mess right now. And it was even before Covid. This is one that has been loved to death. And a couple of the less crowded areas are inaccessible right now because the road to them is out. And what's worse is the crowds you get are more interested in a hiking credit for the Gram than genuinely experiencing nature.

View attachment 798979

Good list! I’ve been to them all except Glacier, and I hope to go there in the next 2-3 years.

I would add Denali, but I’m not sure which I would remove from your list, maybe Acadia…

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

It’s on my bucket list as well, and my wish is to do one a year, God willing. I’m only up to SIX, but hoping to up my travel after retirement. I’m curious to everyone’s favorite since I’m always thinking about our next trip!

My top favorites are probably Capitol Reef, Olympic, Cascades, Zion.

 

[disykat]

From the list above I've been to 25.

 

[monarchsfan16]

11 and adding two more in April. Been to lots of the smaller national sites too. The national parks are national treasures

 

[amylevan]

I’ve been to 12.

It’s really hard to claim a favorite - Glacier maybe? Yellowstone is up there just for the variety and flat out amazing features. Denali? I can’t decide!!

 

[jimmymc]

Ten:

Glacier Bay
Grand Canyon
Saguaro
Death Valley
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Isle Royale
Glacier
Great Smokey Mountains
Grand Teton

Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier have been my favorites, in that order. But I would recommend all of them.

 

[bcla]

11 and adding two more in April. Been to lots of the smaller national sites too. The national parks are national treasures

There are a lot of great places out there, and they're not all national parks per se nor even part of the National Park Service. Especially state parks and the Forest Service.

 

[slo]

Sadly.....not as many as I'd like to see.
That darn WDW gets in the way of me doing other vacations

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I've been to 33 National Parks and dozens and dozens and dozens of National Monuments, National Historic Sites and National Memorials. I LOVE visiting all National Park sites.

I cherish my National Park pass porter and getting the stamps from all of the parks.

My goal is to visit all of the National Park sites, not just all of the National Parks.

Last year my oldest son and I flew to Arizona where we spent two weeks traveling around to lots of National Monuments. Of course, we visited the Grand Canyon for our third time and also visited the Petrified Forest NP and Saguaro NP.

I only added two National parks to my list this year. Back in June, my husband and I visited Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota and Wind Cave NP in South Dakota. Never discount other sites operated by the National Park Service though. On the same trip we went to Jewel Cave National Monument and while I loved Wind Cave, I thought that hands down, Jewel Cave was so much better!

 

[JaxDad]

I've been to 33 National Parks and dozens and dozens and dozens of National Monuments, National Historic Sites and National Memorials. I LOVE visiting all National Park sites.

I cherish my National Park pass porter and getting the stamps from all of the parks.

My goal is to visit all of the National Park sites, not just all of the National Parks.

Last year my oldest son and I flew to Arizona where we spent two weeks traveling around to lots of National Monuments. Of course, we visited the Grand Canyon for our third time and also visited the Petrified Forest NP and Saguaro NP.

I only added two National parks to my list this year. Back in June, my husband and I visited Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota and Wind Cave NP in South Dakota. Never discount other sites operated by the National Park Service though. On the same trip we went to Jewel Cave National Monument and while I loved Wind Cave, I thought that hands down, Jewel Cave was so much better!

We went to Jewel Cave instead of Wind Cave last year and loved it! It was a tough choice, but reviews gave the edge to Jewel. We still greatly enjoyed Wind Cave NP above ground. The adjacent Custer State Park is perhaps the best state park we’ve visited.

You were close to Badlands NP and Devils Tower, the first National Monument. Did you visit those as well or are/were those part of another trip?

 

[RangerPooh]

6 National Parks.

 

[bcla]

I only added two National parks to my list this year. Back in June, my husband and I visited Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota and Wind Cave NP in South Dakota. Never discount other sites operated by the National Park Service though. On the same trip we went to Jewel Cave National Monument and while I loved Wind Cave, I thought that hands down, Jewel Cave was so much better!

There's more than just the National Park Service. If you've got the pass there's a lot more out there than just NPS like Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, and a few others. And Mount St. Helens hasn't been declared a national park, which frankly surprises me. It's still a national monument under Forest Service administration.

I think you mentioned visiting all of the sites. I've heard of maybe one person who managed that. The really hard ones are the super remote places in Alaska that have no amenities, like Kobuk Valley National Park.

 

[adkkev]

[QUOTE="fortwildernessishome, post: 65084524, member: 332812 Back in June, my husband and I visited Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota
[/QUOTE]

Did you visit both the north and south sections of the park?

 

[fortwildernessishome]

We went to Jewel Cave instead of Wind Cave last year and loved it! It was a tough choice, but reviews gave the edge to Jewel. We still greatly enjoyed Wind Cave NP above ground. The adjacent Custer State Park is perhaps the best state park we’ve visited.

You were close to Badlands NP and Devils Tower, the first National Monument. Did you visit those as well or are/were those part of another trip?

Yes, we went to the Badlands and Devils Tower in June, they just weren't new parks for us, as we had visited them on a trip way back in 2007. It was great to revisit them though.

I agree Custer is AMAZING!! We spent a full day there and loved every minute. Custer has to be one of the best State Parks in the Country.

I loved the above part of Wind Cave too. When we first entered the park, we were surrounded by buffalo, so that was fun! We actually drove through Wind Cave NP twice, not counting our visit to the cave. Twice we went to Hot Springs SD to soak in the mineral hot springs and from our hotel had to drive through the park to get there.

Edited to add, one of the surprise highlights of the trip was a visit to the Minuteman Missile National historic site right near one of the entrances to the Badlands. Great visit there!

 

[fortwildernessishome]

There's more than just the National Park Service. If you've got the pass there's a lot more out there than just NPS like Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, and a few others. And Mount St. Helens hasn't been declared a national park, which frankly surprises me. It's still a national monument under Forest Service administration.

I think you mentioned visiting all of the sites. I've heard of maybe one person who managed that. The really hard ones are the super remote places in Alaska that have no amenities, like Kobuk Valley National Park.

Oh there is definitely more than the NPS, but the NPS has my heart!

We visited Mount St Helens on a trip 5 years ago and enjoyed it immensely.

I definitely didn't say that I have visited all of the sites!!! I said that I have been to 33 National Parks and dozens and dozens of other sites run by the NPS. I'm not exactly sure how many, I'd have to sit and count them out!

 

[fortwildernessishome]

[QUOTE="fortwildernessishome, post: 65084524, member: 332812 Back in June, my husband and I visited Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota

Did you visit both the north and south sections of the park?
[/QUOTE]

We did! I liked the north unit the best. Pretty much had the whole place to ourselves!

We spent 2 nights at the Rough Riders Inn right in Medora, so had 2 1/2 days for exploring.

 

[adkkev]

Did you visit both the north and south sections of the park?

We did! I liked the north unit the best. Pretty much had the whole place to ourselves!

We spent 2 nights at the Rough Riders Inn right in Medora, so had 2 1/2 days for exploring.
[/QUOTE]

We liked the north unit best as well. We’ve been to that unit twice. For our first visit in 2019 we stayed south of Medora in an Airbnb which just happened to be a full sizedRV located on a horse ranch. It was in very beautiful countryside.

 

[adkkev]

Glacier and Yellowstone are awesome parks, especially when you get into the backcountry & away from the crowds.

I had the opportunity to spend a week volunteering in Denali NP as a backcountry observer during moose hunting season (stationed on the park boundary to watch for any hunters crossing the boundary & reporting such to the NP rangers).