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National Park Crowd Calendar: How Busy Each Park Is, Month by Month

By The Green Adventures · Updated · How we check

When is each national park busiest, and when can you have it more to yourself? This calendar shows every park, every month, from the park service’s own monthly visitor counts.

Very quietQuietModerateBusyBusiest★ best months
ParkJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVisits a year
Acadia★★★3,951,834
American Samoa★16,575
Arches★★★★1,480,258
Badlands★★1,073,049
Big Bend★★★★531,783
Biscayne★★★★558,044
Black Canyon of the Gunnison★★★★322,343
Bryce Canyon★★★★2,406,417
Canyonlands★★★★805,583
Capitol Reef★★★★1,337,975
Carlsbad Caverns★★★★420,154
Channel Islands★★★★287,274
Chiricahua★★★★66,431
Congaree★★★★246,202
Crater Lake★★542,022
Cuyahoga Valley★★★★2,909,045
Death Valley★★★★1,260,913
Denali★★★486,826
Dry Tortugas★★★★84,849
Everglades★★★★820,109
Gates of the Arctic★★★★11,506
Gateway Arch★★2,335,854
Glacier★★★★3,023,548
Glacier Bay★★★712,319
Grand Canyon★★★★4,789,276
Grand Teton★★★3,530,572
Great Basin★★★★146,974
Great Sand Dunes★★★★465,307
Great Smoky Mountains★★★★12,595,457
Guadalupe Mountains★★★★219,833
Haleakalā★★★★865,213
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes★★★★1,616,144
Hot Springs★★2,560,083
Indiana Dunes★★★2,676,691
Isle Royale★★28,596
Joshua Tree★★★★3,059,872
Katmai★★★34,459
Kenai Fjords★★★412,433
Kings Canyon★★★★697,952
Kobuk Valley★16,996
Lake Clark★★★17,961
Lassen Volcanic★★★★448,875
Mammoth Cave★★★691,423
Mesa Verde★★★★485,304
Mount Rainier★★1,643,852
New River Gorge★★★★1,749,566
North Cascades★★★35,432
Olympic★★★★3,256,422
Petrified Forest★★★★507,956
Pinnacles★★★★329,310
Redwood★★★★542,712
Rocky Mountain★★★★4,169,913
Saguaro★★★★930,638
Sequoia★★★★1,247,717
Shenandoah★★★★1,608,636
Theodore Roosevelt★★★720,344
Virgin Islands★★★★378,435
Voyageurs★★214,190
White Sands★★★★707,290
Wind Cave★★★590,857
Wrangell-St. Elias★★★80,223
Yellowstone★★★★4,631,828
Yosemite★★★4,090,508
Zion★★★★4,854,378

How to read it

Each square shows how busy that month is compared with the park’s own busiest month: busiest is within 20 percent of the peak, very quiet is under a fifth of it. A star marks the months we suggest, where comfortable weather meets smaller crowds. Tap a park for its month-by-month page with temperatures and numbers.

Because each park is compared with itself, a "busy" month at Great Basin is still far quieter than a quiet month at Great Smoky Mountains. The last column gives total visits in a typical recent year.

The biggest swings

Some parks are crowded for a few weeks and empty for the rest of the year:

  • Chiricahua: March sees 5 times as many visitors as July.
  • North Cascades: August sees 5 times as many visitors as October.
  • Crater Lake: July sees 5 times as many visitors as May.
  • Sequoia: July sees 5 times as many visitors as January.
  • Yosemite: July sees 5 times as many visitors as February.
  • Mammoth Cave: July sees 5 times as many visitors as February.
  • Wrangell-St. Elias: July sees 5 times as many visitors as September.
  • Rocky Mountain: July sees 5 times as many visitors as April.

Summer without the crowds

In July, when most parks are at their busiest, these have average highs between 60 and 85°F and the fewest visitors:

  • American Samoa (American Samoa): about 1,250 visits in July, average high 85°F
  • North Cascades (Washington): about 9,282 visits in July, average high 74°F
  • Great Basin (Nevada): about 24,334 visits in July, average high 85°F
  • Wrangell-St. Elias (Alaska): about 28,320 visits in July, average high 70°F
  • Voyageurs (Minnesota): about 45,656 visits in July, average high 78°F
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado): about 51,922 visits in July, average high 82°F
  • Redwood (California): about 76,623 visits in July, average high 67°F
  • Great Sand Dunes (Colorado): about 80,637 visits in July, average high 81°F

Busiest month, park by park

Holiday weekends and free days

Holiday weekends are the busiest days of any month. The 2027 federal holidays:

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, January 18
  • Presidents Day: Monday, February 15
  • Memorial Day: Monday, May 31
  • Juneteenth: Saturday, June 19
  • Independence Day: Sunday, July 4 (observed Monday, July 5)
  • Labor Day: Monday, September 6
  • Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day: Monday, October 11
  • Veterans Day: Thursday, November 11
  • Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 25

The park service’s 2026 fee-free days were February 16, May 25, June 14, July 3 to 5, August 25, September 17, October 27 and November 11, for U.S. residents only. The 2027 dates had not been announced when we checked; see national park free days.

How we made it

We took the park service’s monthly recreation visit counts for 2022 to 2025 and used the middle (median) value for each month, so one odd year (a closure, a flood, a government shutdown) does not skew it. The best months add NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate averages: we favor months with average highs of about 62 to 82°F, little snow and less rain, when at least a third of the peak crowd still visits (fewer usually means roads or services are closed).

Sources

Last checked 1 November 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the least crowded time to visit national parks?

For most parks, late fall through early spring, outside holiday weeks. Desert parks are the exception: they are busiest in spring and quietest in the summer heat.

What is the busiest month in national parks?

July for most mountain and northern parks; March or spring for desert parks like Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Saguaro and Big Bend.

Are national parks crowded on weekdays?

Less than on weekends. Our counts are monthly, so for any month you can beat the worst crowds by arriving early on a weekday.

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