By Allie McCreary and Michael Brunson
Visiting America’s national parks is a treasured public pastime. The wetlands of Congaree in South Carolina, the depths of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the vistas provided by peaks in Yosemite in California are iconic American experiences for residents and for people who travel from other countries to vacation.
There are lots of benefits of visiting national parks, or parks in general. Spending time in nature is good for people’s mental health. Moving in the outdoors – walking, biking, running, paddling – benefits people’s physical health. Sharing experiences with others helps build social connections with old friends or newfound ones. Visitors also learn about ecosystems and cultural history, developing their own relationship to the landscape.
National park visitation is growing, with record-high visitor numbers in 2024 across the entire 398-property system, as well as at the 63 formally designated national parks. And there has been a general trend of people gravitating to Instagram-popular parks, and even specific spots within popular parks.
Reductions in federal funding and staffing at national parks means visitors may see longer lines to enter parks or popular locations within them, fewer visitor services and educational programs, and fewer rangers to ask for advice or assistance.
As scholars of parks and recreation, we know crowded conditions make it harder to enjoy national parks. But we also know that if you plan carefully, you can create a great experience.
What gets in the way of fun?
In general, research identifies three main barriers to recreational fun.
One is how confident people are in their own physical abilities and how safe they feel in the park. For example, someone may want to go kayaking in Florida’s Everglades or Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park but doesn’t know where to rent a boat, where to put it in the water, or which stretches of water are best for a beginner.
Another is the presence – or absence – of people to enjoy the space with, or family obligations or relationships that might preclude them from an activity. Culture can also play a role in where people visit and what they do there. For instance, a national park may be a source of escape where individuals seek autonomy and independence. For others, a national park visit can be a focal point for social gatherings and a time to reconnect with family and friends.
Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
There are also external factors, like how much free time a person has for recreation and how easy it is to get to a national park from their home. Someone may live a short drive from a national park but not visit simply because they do not know what they can do there, or how to have a positive experience.
More recently, research has also identified environmental barriers outside visitors’ control. Thin ice or lack of snow prevents many winter activities in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and Maine’s Acadia National Park, just as excessive heat can decrease the attractiveness of summer recreation in parks like the Everglades or California’s Death Valley. Extreme weather events such as inland flooding and coastal hurricanes can block roads and damage parks, posing both physical and logistical barriers in parks such as Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina.
Wildlife habits also affect visitors, who may flock to an area where they can see wildlife. Or they may avoid – or may be restricted from – areas with dangerous wildlife.
Adapting to find enjoyment anyway
If the national park places you want to visit seem too busy, think about your options. You could change your travel dates to a less busy time. People who want to visit Yellowstone in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana could find campground reservations unavailable for some weeks but plentiful for other weeks – or they could choose to stay in a local hotel instead of camping.
You could try a different park or activity. For example, an angler who typically visits Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee to fish for trout may find that some streams are warming and no longer support this activity. They might go fishing elsewhere or stay in the Smokies and bird-watch, hike or read by a stream.
If you really want to visit during a busy time, you can also simply change your expectations, like not expecting Old Faithful to be a quiet place with only a few visitors.
Park personnel often seek to manage visitor numbers to protect the park from too much traffic, but also so everyone who visits can enjoy the experience. For example, implementing reservations for Acadia’s Cadillac Mountain at sunrise means at least some people get a relatively serene experience, as opposed to lots of people having an overcrowded experience.
Park staff also design park amenities so roads, boat ramps, trailheads and parking are in useful locations that work well for the number of visitors expected. And park workers provide advance information for visitors, in brochures and on websites, charge fees for entry, conduct tours or other programs at the location – and ticket or arrest people who are in places or doing activities they’re not supposed to – to reduce the effects of overcrowding.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Planning is key
We have found that the most effective way for people to have the park experiences they want, and enjoy them as much as they hope, is to plan ahead.
Planning can include looking at parks’ websites for ideas and considering the best time to visit – both for your own schedule and what you want to do.
Understanding the weather and climate of the region will help you determine what to bring, but also what conditions will be like if you’re hiking, paddling or driving.
Advance preparation definitely includes finding lodging – and making reservations whenever possible. If reservations aren’t possible, see whether you can increase your chances of finding a place to sleep when you arrive by choosing lesser-visited parts of the park or identifying nearby backup options, such as state parks and private campgrounds, that might provide a break from the crowds.
And you can make sure you’re prepared for whatever you’re going to do, whether it’s getting used to walking long distances before a big hike or learning about local flora and fauna before you arrive.
Thinking ahead also means you can share your itinerary with friends and family – either as invitations to join you or for periodic safety check-ins.
It is also helpful to talk to park personnel. Park staff will have great insights into hidden gems that might be slightly off the beaten path but away from the crowds and able to provide a unique visitor experience. Rangers or other staff can help you determine the best choices for settings and activities that match your abilities, interests, time and needs.
And finally, don’t forget to be considerate of other visitors. Have patience in the parking lots, visitor centers, trailheads and lookout points. Others in the park seek the same awe-inspiring views and heart-pumping recreation activities as you. In many cases, it’s not the number of people but the attitudes and behaviors of those people that can make a place either feel crowded or like a community of like-minded outdoor enthusiasts.
Allie McCreary is Assistant Professor of Parks and Recreation at Auburn University. Michael Brunson is Professor of Practice in Parks and Recreation Management at Auburn University.
JimboXYZ says
Doesn’t matter how much funding for park employees, there is only so much the land that can accommodate. Have you watched the social media videos ? Read the news stories ? There are quite a few where the visitors of the parks end up molesting the wildlife, dumping trash that pollutes the parks. Kayaking the Everglades or some other swamp ? The tourists attacked & killed by alligator (Osceola/Polk county). I just recall all the news stories from living in Nassau county where alligators were sighted in the ocean. Used to ride MTB thru the Egans Creek Greenway there and see alligators all the time sunning themselves on the banks of the trail. Never stuck around long enough to see how hungry they were. I was there for a bike ride for the exercise, not to observe them doing alligator things. If one watched them for a minute, it got quite boring actually. My brother’s wife was more fascinated for curious, isn’t it always the women that are like that ?
Take Tomoka State Park for an example ? There’s one entrance in for daily visitors, the campgrounds probably have their own entrance for those patrons. The booths to collect money or check for annual passes can only handle so much traffic flow in & out. And with Tomoka State Park, there just isn’t a line forming to get into the place. Even a more popular park like the Everglades in Homestead, FL or Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach or any of the several seaside parks in Flagler (Marineland & anything else) & St Johns (Fort Matanzas) counties are hardly overrun. Maybe by those that sandbar the Matanzas Inlet by boat for a given weekend or holiday ?
Deborah Coffey says
Thanks Trump. One more thing you’ve taken away from “We the People.”
Pogo says
@Allie McCreary and Michael Brunson
Good advice.
I’ll take door number three: live vicariously, aka, glad you’re there, thanks for sharing — gotta go, my show is starting.
A perfect example
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Untamed+(TV+series)
Nothing, from my TV tray, was dropped, spilled, coughed up — or spit out — while viewing Mr. Bana, and company. The view was magnificent.
Sherry says
We visited Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks for 3 weeks in May. We personally saw the results of the cutbacks: For example, hundreds of roadside fence posts lying rotting in the snow next to the half built (driver safety) fence. Access to restrooms left with snow blocking the doors. “Outsourced” hotels in the parks beginning at $300 a night for a small “double”. . . breakfast NOT included. . . but the dried out buffet was $25 a head. Overworked rangers at the gates pulling double shifts. Thank goodness we did not need any assistance because there was likely none available. . . and that was “low” season!
Take a good read:
The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has implemented cuts to the National Park Service, leading to a significant reduction in staff through firings and buyouts, closed facilities, and decreased maintenance. While these cuts are real and have impacted park operations, many visitors during peak season may not yet see widespread negative effects due to reservation systems and efforts by remaining staff. However, critics and park advocates warn that the staffing shortages are jeopardizing visitor safety and the long-term health of the parks.
Pogo says
@”… Of one of the oldest and loveliest groves of redwoods, he said (on 15 March 1967), “I saw them; there is nothing beautiful about them, just that they are a little higher than the others.”,,,”
— Ronald Reagan
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/if-youve-seen-one-tree/
“… Reagan had a stubborn streak … and his statements in part reflected his unwillingness to be pushed around by environmental groups.
Eventually, as is often the case, the issue was settled by a political compromise worked out through federal government. In 1968, Congress authorized the creation of the 58,000-acre Redwood National Park, which included 27,500 acres of state parkland as well as 5,000 acres of coastal property in Del Norte and Humboldt counties that were ceded to the state of California by lumber companies; in return, 13,000 acres of Forest Service land in Del Norte County (known as the Northern Redwood Purchase Unit) were transferred to the lumber companies.”
— Ibid
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/if-youve-seen-one-tree/
A preview of casino wheeler dealers like Trump and Fine’s schemes for Florida’s next national park?
Skibum says
Sherry, what a sad (and completely unnecessary) testament to our historic national park system that is… or was until recently, world renowned and which has brought so many trillions of tourists from every corner of the planet to view some of the most beautiful spots on earth.
Your experience reminds me of a news story I saw just one day ago regarding the national guard troops that are deployed to Washington D.C. and are patrolling the capitol mall area. With all of the cuts to the National Park Service, there is not enough people to pick up the accumulated garbage, so now there is trash everywhere, making tourist areas in D.C. look like dumps. No crime to help address, so the idiot in the WH’s efforts and $1,000,000.00 per day to put national guard troops walking around in D.C. after all of his federal employee firings is resulting in those national guardsmen walking around with trash bags, picking up garbage!
What an incompetent mess, a complete waste of federal resources that would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad.
Sherry says
Thank you Skibum!
There is nothing like experiencing the result of political BS “first hand” instead of reading more BS on social media/Fox. Our once magnificent “National Parks” are now suffering from neglect. . . with such huge cut backs, how could it be otherwise? How very tragic for our country!
We’ve been enjoying wonderful Mexico for almost 2 months now. The climate here in the mountains is amazingly cool. The local people are often laughing with their families. Certainly 90% smile and greet you when walking by. We have rented a big house with a tropical garden and a huge heated salt water lap pool, gardener, dishwasher, etc. for less than $80 a night. Great medical care where doctors still even make house calls. Great family owned restaurants at less than half the price in the US. No weekly news of a mass shooting.
The culture here is positive, while in much of the US it is negative. We may not decide to live here permanently because we will not allow trump/Maga to push us out of our own country. But, it certainly has been so peaceful and positive to temporarily “get away” from all the “anger/fear/hate” in the US.
Proof positive. . . let’s cue the ignorant Flagler county “Maga Haters”, who will say hate filled, negative things like “you like shit hole countries better than trump’s America. . . stay there. . . we don’t want you here”.
To the “Maga Haters” in Florida, I say. . . “thank goodness we moved to wonderful Sausalito, CA from Flagler Beach almost 5 years ago”!
OK Maga Trolls. . . you are all cued up. . . Have a fabulous Day!
Sherry says
Here’s a link to a great article from Politico about what is happening, especially in Yosemite National Park. Take a Good Read:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/31/yosemite-feels-the-burn-of-an-understaffed-summer-00522504