Every year, National Park Week is organized with the goal of raising awareness around the country’s parks and forests.
While the pandemic has significantly increased the number of people who started traveling locally and made a goal to visit as many National Parks as possible, the aim of education about what treasures the country has and how they need to be conserved remains.
Related: These national parks are the most expensive to visit
Ever year, the National Park Service (NPS) also marks the start of National Park Week by waiving the entry fees that many of the parks charge its visitors. This year, free admission is available on April 20 while various activities are organized for the length of the week.
Veronika Bondarenko
This is when you can get into Yosemite, Teton and other parks for free
“Love national parks?” the NPS writes in its announcement. “There's a holiday for that! Join us for National Park Week, a nine-day celebration of everything ‘parks.’ Not just about more than 400 national parks nationwide of different shapes, sizes, and types.”
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The entry price of each national park varies (some are free entirely while others only charge for things like parking or camping which would not be waived). Parks like Yosemite in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and Glacier National Park on the border between Montana and Canada’s British Columbia charge a $35 entry fee per vehicle which will be waived on April 20.
The fee is lower ($30 per vehicle) in Florida national parks like Everglades and Gulf Islands National Seashore but, regardless of the individual number, will be waived for the day. One will also not have to pay the lower entry fees for those coming by bike or foot.
National Parks are getting crowded and this leads to higher fees
While the waived fee can help some save some money and take advantage of a national park as a large family, visitors have been reporting that parks can get especially crowded during the free days.
As overcrowding has become a persistent issue even during the regular season, many parks across the country have been trying different things to combat it — from raising entry fees to timing when visitors come in.
At the end of March, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State announced that it will soon start requiring those entering through its Paradise Corridor from the Southeast and Sunrise Corridor from the northeast between May and September to register their visit online.
Earlier in the year, year, Zion National Park in Utah also raised park entry prices from $20 to $35 per night for those wanting to spend the night camping in its Watchman or South Campgrounds.
“Mount Rainier National Park has experienced an approximate 40% increase in visitation over the last 10 years, leading to overcrowding during the summer and damage to fragile ecosystems," the Washington National Park Service said in a statement on the changes. "In 2024, Mount Rainier National Park will implement a pilot timed entry reservation system to improve the visitor experience to the park by reducing wait times, congestion, and resource impacts on trails caused by overcrowding. »
