Park facts change: fees go up, reservation systems come and go, and in October 2026 the list itself grew to 64. Here is where our numbers come from.
Sources
- Park list, dates, area and 2025 visits: the National Park Service figures as compiled on Wikipedia’s list of national parks, checked against NPS releases. Visits are recreation visits as counted by the park service.
- Descriptions, weather, activities, coordinates and entrance fees: the National Park Service Data API, which is public domain. Text we quote from it is marked.
- Fee corrections: where the API listed a reservation fee first, we used the park’s own fees page or news release, linked on the park page.
- 2026 rules: NPS pages on nonresident fees, passes and fee-free days, and news reports on reservation systems, linked where used.
- Crowds by month: the park service’s monthly recreation visit counts (IRMA), 2022 to 2025, using the median for each month.
- Weather by month: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals for 1991 to 2020, from the long-term station nearest each park’s main visitor center. We name the station and its elevation on every park’s best-time page.
- Drive times: OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap roads, between airports, cities and visitor centers. These are estimates at normal speeds.
- Gas, groceries and EV charging: OpenStreetMap, as mapped by local volunteers (ODbL).
- Live alerts and forecasts: the park service’s alerts feed, refreshed hourly, and the National Weather Service forecast, loaded in your browser.
Our rules
- We do not invent ratings or prices. Crowd levels and "best months" are calculated from the park service and NOAA figures above, and each page explains how.
- Itineraries use only the hikes and activities the park service lists, with the times it gives.
- Drive times are labeled as estimates; straight-line miles are labeled as straight-line.
- Every page shows when we last checked it.
Sources
- Wikipedia: List of national parks of the United States (area from NPS land resource data, 2025 recreation visits from NPS visitor statistics)
- National Park Service Data API: park descriptions, weather, activities and entrance fees (public domain)
- National Park Service: Entrance Fees by Park
- National Park Service: Nonresident Fees (FAQ)
- National Park Service: America the Beautiful pass types and prices
- National Park Service news release: 2026 fee-free days
- National Park Service: Chiricahua National Monument Becomes America’s Newest National Park (20 Oct 2026)
- Outside: Arches, Glacier and Yosemite drop timed entry for 2026; Rocky Mountain keeps it
- The Points Guy: Mount Rainier drops its 2026 reservation system (2 Mar 2026)
Sources last checked 1 November 2026.