Our Mission to Visit All 63 US National Parks

Before You Go: The Essentials Every National Parks Visitor Should Know

Get the America the Beautiful Pass, But Only When It's Worth It

For US citizens, the America the Beautiful Annual Pass costs $80 and gives you (and everyone in your vehicle) access to all 63 national parks, plus hundreds of other federal lands, for a full year. If you're visiting three or more parks in a 12-month window, it usually pays for itself; most parks charge $20–$35 per vehicle for a single entry.

There are a handful of parks that don't charge an entry fee, including Great Basin, Great Smoky Mountains, and Congaree, among a few others. If you're planning to visit any of the free parks, double check that the math still works out to get the pass.

You can buy the pass at any park entrance (i.e., you don't need to buy it ahead of your first park visit), online at store.usgs.gov, or at many outdoor retailers. It covers the vehicle driver and all passengers, not just the pass holder.

Permits and Reservations

Some of the most beloved parks in the country now require advance reservations just to enter. Acadia, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, and Zion all have periods where you need to reserve a timed entry permit weeks or months ahead of your visit.

The general rule: if a park is famous, plan for reservations. Check recreation.gov for the specific park and dates you're targeting. The peak summer window (late June through mid-August) is when things fill up fastest. Shoulder season (mid-April through late May, or September through October) is when you'll have the most flexibility and, often, the best conditions.

If you're planning a big parks road trip, lock in resrevations first and build your itinerary around them, not the other way around.

Best Time of Year by Region

No single answer applies across all 63 parks, but here's the breakdown that will serve most travelers:

Southwest (Utah, Arizona, Nevada): Spring (March–May) and fall (September–October) are ideal. Summers are brutally hot and increasingly dangerous on exposed trails.

Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon): Summer (July–August) gives you the best weather and snow-free high-altitude trails. Expect rain in spring and fall.

Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana): Late June through September, once snow clears from high passes. Late September brings fall color to lower elevations.

Alaska: Mid-June through mid-August, when days are long and wildlife is most active.

Southeast (Florida, Carolinas, Tennessee): Spring and fall for hiking; winter is surprisingly pleasant in parks like Everglades and Biscayne, which are punishing in summer heat and humidity.

Hawaii: Year-round, though trails on the Big Island can close after heavy rain. January through March sees more rainfall on the windward sides of the islands.

How to Plan a National Parks Road Trip

Cluster Geographically

The most efficient clusters for road tripping:

Utah's Mighty Five: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. All five in roughly 10–14 days, doable in a loop from Salt Lake City or Las Vegas.

Alaska cluster: Denali, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias, Glacier Bay, Katmai, and Lake Clark are all within a dedicated Alaska trip. Add Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley if you're going remote.

California cluster: Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree can be connected in a two-week loop from Los Angeles or San Francisco. Add Pinnacles and Channel Islands if time allows.

Pacific Northwest cluster: Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Crater Lake pair well together. Include the Columbia River Gorge between stops.

Rocky Mountain cluster: Rocky Mountain (Colorado), Grand Teton (Wyoming), Yellowstone (Wyoming), Glacier (Montana), and Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota) make a classic mountain West loop.

Texas and Southwest: Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Saguaro can be connected in a week-plus road trip through the desert Southwest.

Gear We Bring to the Parks

Every park demands something slightly different, but this is what stays in the pack across all of them.

Hiking boots with ankle support. Trail surfaces vary wildly between parks — loose slickrock in Utah, wet roots in the Smokies, volcanic rock in Hawaii. A solid mid-cut boot handles all of it.

A quality daypack (25–35L). Big enough for water, layers, snacks, and a camera, small enough to not be a burden on short day hikes.

A reusable water bottle (and water filter). Most parks have water fill stations at visitor centers. A lightweight filter like the Sawyer Squeeze means you can top up from streams on longer hikes without carrying two liters from the trailhead.

Layers, always. Temperature swings between morning and afternoon in mountain parks can be 30+ degrees. A packable down jacket takes almost no space and has saved every single one of our park mornings.

A headlamp. Even when not camping, we're a big fan of sunrise hikes so this comes in handy all the time.

Our Favorite (and Least Favorite) Parks

Not to bring too much negativity into the national parks conversation, but realistically, not everything can be the Grand Canyon. If you're prioritizing which parks to visit (especially if visiting from another country with limited time in the U.S.), we'd recommend focusing on the American Southwest parks, which are unlike anywhere else in the world. Visiting the Utah "Mighty Five" as mentioned above is great starting point as they can be easily clustered together.

In the eastern part of the country, Chris loves New River Gorge and Acadia, which happen to be just about over an hour apart from one another.

The Alaskan parks are also stunning and full of wildlife - at least one of these should make it onto your bucket list at some point.

Now onto the...less interesting. Gateway Arch National Park is literally just the arch in St. Louis, Missouri - a giant, man-made structure. The arch was created to commemorate America's history of westward expanstion, and the site was designated a national park in 2018. This is completely distinct from any other national park, which have always been designated to protect and enjoy the natural beauty of the country.

A couple of other parks that might be worth the visit if you happen to be in the area (but we wouldn't go out of our way for) are Indiana Dunes in Indiana and Hot Springs in Arkansas. Both are fairly small and there's not much to see in the park itself.