Hi. I found this NY Times article about visiting our most popular national parks this summer informative. No doubt a number of forum members can add their own tips and updates on this subject. Please stay away from politics to keep this thread travel-focused.
This article reminded me that I’d like to visit the Great Smoky Mountains some day. I plan to visit Yellowstone (as part of a small tour group) and possibly also visit Bar Harbor and Acadia this summer.
Valerie, thanks for the article.
Yes, many of the parks now require reservations. Reduced services will effect everything. If you do go, the best thing to pack is a lot of patience.
In 2020 we visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton and had a wonderful time even though there were still Covid restrictions and limitations.
In 2021 we did the Mighty 5 Utah parks, each one different from the others.
Last year, I tried to put together a Glacier National Park trip, but I just couldn't get the lodging to work with it's short tourist season.
I sure hope you’ve already been looking at availability. We have been told our Crater Lake National Park is closing the only trail down to the water for repairs so that won’t be available for years starting in 2026 and there will be limited services in the park. The Newbury National Monument here is going to have limited services. We’ve also been warned that even though our NFS campgrounds are by reservation, there currently are not the funds for campground hosts which means there will be no one to monitor the reservations.
Good advice to pack a lot of patience and I’m telling myself that I’m going to need to be flexible.
The Yellowstone visit is a Road Scholar tour so RS booked the lodgings well ahead of time.
For the Acadia visit I’ll be staying in Bar Harbor as I don’t own a car and don’t want to rent one. So no campground reservation will be needed, but thanks for the FYI.
That’s a shame about the limited services and the only trail down to the water being closed at Crater Lake National Park.
Crater Lake NP has had to postpone the trail repairs and boat dock repairs until 2026-2027, because of the funding being on hold. So, this year the Cleetwood Cove Trail will be open once the trail is cleared and maintained to standard. Boat tours may happen but probably starting later than normal this year.
Valerie, you will be good to go for Yellowstone. For some reason they have enough budget to start some new road projects and finish others so, so far that will be the biggest issue. The hotels, dining facilities, general stores and gas stations are all run by concessioners so are not subject to federal budget cuts. So far Yellowstone has not announced any impacts of any cuts on services.
Interesting they interviewed Dan Wenk who was transferred from Yellowstone in 2018.
Leonard….Looking at the online pictures of the current rockfall damage to the Cleetwood Cove trail and dock, I’m not sure I would advise anyone to go down there this year either.
I love our National Parks, but the truth is that I have been avoiding many of them for the past few years due to crowds. I like timed entry. I had a great visit to Rocky Mountain National Park last fall and their timed entry and shuttle systems work.
There are almost always state parks or National forests near National Parks that can sometimes provide excellent alternatives. The other thing to remember in very popular parks is that the vast majority of tourists don’t wander more than a quarter to a half mile away from their cars. Hike in just one mile and there is a huge difference.
Excellent points Carol. Here in Calif we have so many great state parks (e.g. Birney Falls S/P). And there are a few ignored national ones (e.g. Lassen N/P).
Valerie, as with almost all of the national parks, you may be too late to get lodging in Bar Harbor for this summer. Especially since you say that you don't want to drive. There is a shuttle bus with several stops in Bar Harbor that will take you to many of the sites in Acadia and around the area. It's called the Island Explorer and you can see the routes on-line, then you could try to find lodging somewhere close to one of the stops. Since you said that you would "possibly" visit this summer, I suggest that you start looking at lodging right away. It might determine whether you go or not.
Pam, thanks for that encouraging update about the current state of affairs at Yellowstone!
Naalehuretiree, I made a refundable reservation at an inn in Bar Harbor as I began sorting out the details of my probable visit. I plan to take the Island Explorer shuttles and also take a 3 1/2 hour narrated bus tour of Acadia NP and take two different types of cruises (one including puffins - if they cooperate!) which Acadian Nature Cruises offers.
I really want to visit Acadia again because I haven’t been there in many decades and I’d like to explore it much more then I had the chance to do while camping there with my parents as a teenager.
I thought I would throw in a real recent story concerning staffing levels.
A friend of mine who is a vet visited Saguaro NP in Tucson recently and received his lifetime free pass for being a vet at the park. His friend 2 days later was not able to get this pass because a live person to verify the ID was no longer working, only machines were available to dispense passes and so the free vet pass was not available at that park that day.
Toby, thanks for that recent story about Saguaro NP. I’m sure that a number of forum members are interested in updates about various national parks.
Kind of done with National Parks, to be honest. Too many people, too many RVs, too expensive, too regulated and constricting, too commercialized, on and on. However, I'm finding that some of the lesser visited parks are still enjoyable. For example, the magic of Canyonlands National Park is fantastic and highly recommended.
Kelson,
I agree that many national parks are "over-visited" and that does impact the experience there. But remember, there are 63 national parks, plus national seashores, national historic parks, national preserves, to name a few. Not all of them are heavily visited, but they are all special. We have had good experiences visiting many of the California State Parks as well. Some here in California are more popular than others, but fortunately for us we can visit almost any time of year, and can do so in long weekend-type trips. I believe every state has its own gems. (Arizona, Oregon and Washington for sure!) Don't give up on these special places!
For example, the magic of Canyonlands National Park is fantastic and
highly recommended.
Agreed! We've hiked Island in the Sky, Horseshoe Canyon and Needles units and give that park a 10 although IITS was much busier last spring than we'd previously experienced. We had Lathrop trail almost all to ourselves but just parking at some of the other trailheads and overlooks was a real challenge.
We also did parts of the Bear Ears region on that trip and found it wonderfully free of crowds although that's not surprising given it's such a big area and so remote. The view from Muley Point is pretty awesome; you can see all the way to Monument Valley! We had House On Fire (in Mule Canyon; highly recommend) almost all to ourselves too, and Valley of the Gods was a very scenic (if very bumpy) drive. It was also easy to include Natural Bridges and Hovenweep National Monuments to the mix. The Sand Island Petroglyphs Panel is near tiny Bluff (where we stayed) and contains carvings ranging from 300 to 3,000 years old. Anyway, lots to see in the area with the exception of hordes of other humans. :O)
