How many national parks have you visited?

[Skippy918]

12

 

[Disneylover99]

0 in the States.
3 in Canada.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

only 4:
Acadia
Smoky Mountains
Mammoth Cave
Indiana Dunes

 

[bcla]

Wolftrap is a national park with a special designation. There are other national parks with special designations, such as national historic parks, national military parks and national battlefield parks.

It's not officially a "national park" though. It's kind of bizarre, but it was never designated a national park by an act of Congress, which is the requirement to be designated a US national park. It doesn't have an official designation, much like many of the areas in and around Washington DC. But it got an official name change via an act of Congress. Heck - the White House is legally in President's Park.

https://www.nps.gov/places/president-s-park.htm​

President’s Park, as a unit of the National Park Service since 1933, is responsible for the park areas surrounding the White House, including the Ellipse, Sherman Park, Lafayette Park, and the 1st Division Monument.​

But they put Wolf Trap in the "Other Designations" category, which are all located near DC:

https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm​

Other Designations (11)​

Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland
Constitution Gardens, District of Columbia
Fort Washington Park, Maryland
Greenbelt Park, Maryland
National Capital Parks - East, District of Columbia
National Mall and Memorial Parks, District of Columbia
Piscataway Park, Maryland
Prince William Forest Park, Virginia
Rock Creek Park, District of Columbia
The White House and President's Park, District of Columbia
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Virginia​

There's a bit of confusion everywhere, even through official channels. In my area, the management of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (which includes Alcatraz, Fort Point National Historic Site, and Muir Woods National Monument) often refers to themselves as the "Golden Gate National Parks" and their partner nonprofit is the "Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy".

There are also many national monuments in the US that aren't administered by the National Park Service. I would think the best known would be Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, which is part of Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Quite a few are administered by the Bureau of Land Management plus other agencies.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5253570
https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/monuments-ncas

 

[bcla]

I haven't been keeping track, might be fun to see. looking at the posted list -

Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Everglades, Haleakala and Volcanoes, Yellowstone, Indiana Dunes, Acadia, Cuyahoga Valley, Badlands, Zion, Shenandoah, Olympic, Grand Teton, so that's 16. Wolftrap claims it is a national park. Been to a lot of National Monuments also

If you've been to Sequoia National Park, there's a chance that you were also in Kings Canyon National Park. If you came in from Fresno, you would have gone through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park. The first time I visited Grant Grove, it was a detached section of Kings Canyon National Park surrounded by Sequoia National Forest, although that section was extended to the point where it contacts Sequoia National Park.

They operate together, but for whatever reason there are separate visitation numbers kept.

 

[MrsPete]

From that list:
- Grand Canyon
- Redwood
- Mesa Verde
- Rocky Mountain
- Yellowstone
- Gateway National Expansion (St. Louis Arch)
- Great Smokeys
- Badlands
- Wind Cave
- Arches
- Bryce Canyon
- Zion
- Grand Tetons

I can't quite remember whether I have been to Joshua Tree and Death Valley.
I have been to many national battlefields, recreational sites and so forth; for example, the National Mall, the Washington Monument and several others in the DC area.
It's awful that I live so close to Congragee and have never visited. My next national park visit will be to Everglades + Dry Tortugas.

 

[bcla]

I'm thinking of little visited national parks, like North Cascades. My family went to visit the area. I was staying at home because of work, but the rest of my family went to see my BIL. They went to the "complex", although I believe they didn't go to the national park section. I looked up the numbers, and North Cascades gets about 20K visitors per year but Ross Lake NRA gets about a million.

There are also these units where there's basically one management. Golden Gate NRA is in charge of management of several Congressionally designated units like Muir Woods and Fort Point. But part of its boundaries are managed by Point Reyes National Seashore.

Redwood is different in that it's a partnership with California State Parks. I guess there are legally boundary distinctions (and possibly different rules), but when I was there they generally didn't point out any distinctions. They have several of these similarly made signs regardless of who owns the land.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

33 for me.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Currently at 33 - Yosemite, Crater Lake, Olympic, Mount Rainer, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Badlands, Wind Cave, Lassen Volcanic, Denali, Kenai Fjords, Biscayne, Everglades, Cuyahoga Valley, Glacier, Congaree, North Cascades, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Great Smoky Mountains, Carlsbad cavern, Guadalupe mountains, Hot Springs, Joshua Tree, Petrified Forest, Redwood, Saguaro, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Pinnacles, and Indiana Dunes.

We’ve probably been to around a hundred more National Park Sites. Went to Gateway but back when it was still a National Memorial.

 

[adkkev]

30 National Parks in the US. 6 Canadian National Parks.

 

[Skywalker3]

4, maybe 5, but if I did the 5th, I was young and don’t remember….hope to start experiencing many more. I’ll have to ask my in-laws how many they’ve done, I know they’ve seen most of the parks out west. I think their favorite is Glacier. They’ve been there 4 times.
Thanks for the list and thread. Inspiring me to broaden our vacation planning .

 

[georgina]

If you've been to Sequoia National Park, there's a chance that you were also in Kings Canyon National Park. If you came in from Fresno, you would have gone through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park. The first time I visited Grant Grove, it was a detached section of Kings Canyon National Park surrounded by Sequoia National Forest, although that section was extended to the point where it contacts Sequoia National Park.

They operate together, but for whatever reason there are separate visitation numbers kept.

It is confusing. We drove up from Bakersfield for a day trip while we were there for a wedding.

 

[bcla]

It is confusing. We drove up from Bakersfield for a day trip while we were there for a wedding.

In that case it wasn't likely you went through Kings Canyon NP.

I remember the signs from Fresno said Kings Canyon.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

2
Both several times
Arcadia
Gateway Arch
Others virtual
- Katmai - watching the bears fish for Salmon
I’ve watched several webcams of National Parks - it’s not as nice as going but if you can’t go you can still enjoy their beauty !

 

[Kestryl]

Let’s see… Great Smoky Mountains, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Everglades, Biscayne, Zion, Indiana Dunes. So 8.

Indiana Dunes was the most bizarre. I know it’s one of the newer ones. Pretty wild to see some cooling towers from a national park.

 

[bcla]

2
Both several times
Arcadia
Gateway Arch
Others virtual
- Katmai - watching the bears fish for Salmon
I’ve watched several webcams of National Parks - it’s not as nice as going but if you can’t go you can still enjoy their beauty !

Depends on the park. But there's something incredible about walking through the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon or looking up to the crown of a coast redwood.

Also - there's the issue of crowds. Obviously well known places can be crowded. Yosemite Valley can be crazy packed in summer where it's nearly impossible to find a parking space. I also like the places that aren't crowded. When I made the trip to Redwood National (and State) Park(s) I found places that weren't devoid of other visitors, but where crowds were dispersed and I never found any one place I'd consider crowded. My comparison would be the most popular coast redwood grove in the world at Muir Woods National Monument. It's popular because it's close to San Francisco. Been there many times, but the trees are relatively small and there can be a lot of people where parking is difficult. At least before. It was so popular that they instituted a reservation system for parking and buses. But at Redwood NP (and the associated state parks) I found mostly empty parking lots on a Saturday and reasonably peaceful experiences.

But often one can escape crowds by just going further than a parking lot.

 

[luv2cheer92]

4, maybe 5, but if I did the 5th, I was young and don’t remember….hope to start experiencing many more. I’ll have to ask my in-laws how many they’ve done, I know they’ve seen most of the parks out west. I think their favorite is Glacier. They’ve been there 4 times.
Thanks for the list and thread. Inspiring me to broaden our vacation planning .

Glacier has been my favorite so far!!
But there are so many beautiful parks.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

I agree going is better but not everyone gets the chance or opportunity. So it’s nice to be able to look at them live via WebCam which is better than nothing at all but being there would be amazing sadly not everybody can do that for a whole host of reasons!

 

[soccerdad72]

6, with our 7th this month when we visit Volcano National Park.

Fun fact - my sons' elementary school was located inside one of the national parks.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I don't think I have been to any national parks, but I have been to some state parks for sure.

I was wrong.... I HAVE been to a national park. I was unaware that Indiana Dunes was a NATIONAL park until I looked it up just now