For the last several years I’ve pretty much always had what is often referred to as a National Parks Pass or an Annual Pass. The government being the government, of course, they have a rather unwieldy name for it: America The Beautiful The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.
But whatever you call it, it’s a bargain! For $80, it covers the entrance fee to any federal recreation lands. National Parks and Monuments. National Forest and National Grasslands fee areas. COE. BLM. And I’m sure there are some I’m not thinking of at the moment.
I bought my current pass in October of 2018. After spending the first half of October in Connecticut I was heading south down the east coast and decided to spend a few days in Shenandoah National Park. The pass I had at the time had expired over the summer, so when I entered the park I purchased a new one.
This afternoon I went back through my calendar and tried to note all of the parks I’ve visited since that purchase, along with a couple I expect to visit in the next few weeks. Here’s the list, in chronological order:
- Shenandoah National Park
- Mammoth Cave National Park
- Gulf Islands National Seashore
- Petroglyph National Monument
- Valley of Fires National Recreation Area
- White Sands National Monument
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Bandelier National Monument
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- Grand Teton National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Glacier National Park
- Craters Of The Moon National Monument
- North Cascades National Park
- Olympic National Park
- Crater Lake National Park
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Yosemite National Park
- Manzanar National Historic Site
- Death Valley National Park
Not bad for $80!