Category: _National Parks General

Hot Springs National Park

National Park Week 2024: Day 1

To kick off my 2024 National Park Week series, we’re going to a very unique park – Hot Springs National Park!

Instead of just one natural park-like location, Hot Springs National Park bleeds into the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, all of which should be a part of your Hot Springs National Park visit. The rivers of mineral water that flow from the hot springs stream into various spas, hotels, restaurants, and other locations in town.

Come join us at Hot Springs National Park!

Please contact me if you would like to chat about planning a National Park trip.
AdventuresByAnne.com

National Park Week 2024

To celebrate National Park Week last year, I started a series featuring a different national park each day. I’ve always loved the national parks around the country, so I want to share more of them with you and hope you can visit them too.

For this year’s National Park Week, I’ll be featuring more parks that we’ve visited. Follow along on my Park Visits page for a new post each day featuring a new park. Also, subscribe to my mailing list to follow along with emails.

This year, National Park Week is celebrated from April 20 – 28th. To kick it off, the parks that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission on Saturday, April 20, 2024. The National Park Service parks and related entities will host activities all week.

We love the national parks! We’ve been to just over half of the major U.S. ones so far, and honestly, we cannot name one that we didn’t like. It’s hard to pick a favorite. Each one is so different and so cool in its own way. Hopefully, you can learn more about each park and explore them yourself, too.

Visit this NPS page for detailed information on all of the events to celebrate National Park Week. #NationalParkWeek

Monday, April 22nd, is also Earth Day, so check out the Earth Day page for activities to commemorate this. #EarthDay

Visit the NPS site to learn more about the national parks and to plan your visit. Note that some parks require timed entry tickets, so plan ahead.

If you can’t travel to them in person, you can visit the parks virtually! There are many virtual events as well.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about a national park trip. Hopefully, we’ll see you out there!

Pics ©National Park Service

US National Parks 2024 Free Admission Days

For several days in 2024, the U.S. National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. Here are the entrance fee-free dates in 2024:

January 15: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 20: First day of National Park Week
June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day
August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
September 28: National Public Lands Day
November 11: Veterans Day

The first one is this coming Monday in honor of MLK Day!

However, if you can’t make it to one this time, try to go some other time this year. The national parks are such amazing places! We’ve been to over half of them so far and hope to visit the rest soon. The pics above and below are from our trip to Grand Teton and Badlands National Parks, along with many others, during our Fall Cross Country Trip this past Sept.

If you’re planning to visit multiple parks or the same one multiple times this year, don’t forget to check if one of the park passes is right for you.

In addition, some of the more popular parks require you to schedule a timed entry reservation time now for certain days (some are year-round) and times to reduce the line to get in. If you’re planning to visit one of these, make sure to plan ahead and make your reservation before they fill up.

Search the name of the park and check the entry requirements on the National Park Service site. If you need to reserve a time, you will do so on the recreation.gov site. This is the only legit site to reserve any tickets for entries, tours, and even some lodgings for the national parks.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a national park trip.

National Park Pass Change

Starting January 1, 2024, you will no longer be allowed to share a National Park Pass with someone else.

Currently, the passes allow for two signatures on the back, so either person can enter a fee-based U.S. National Park with that pass. They do check IDs. However, that will be changing for any new passes purchased in 2024. There will only be one signature line so the pass is only valid for that person. No more sharing.

If you already own one of the two signature pass cards purchased in 2023, they will still honor it for two people until its expiration date. So, if you think you’ll benefit from getting a National Park Pass and would like to share it with someone, buy your 2023 pass before the end of the year! It’ll be valid for 12 months after purchase.

There are several passes available, some aimed at specific groups such as seniors, military, and even 4th graders. Check this flowchart from the National Park Service to see which one is right for you.

National Park Pass type chart — *(click to enlarge)*

We love the national parks and have gotten an annual pass for many years. It’ll usually pay for itself after 3-4 visits to any of the major parks. I encourage you to get one and visit all of parks too. We still have a bunch left but have already gone to many amazing ones so far!

Feel free to contact me if you want me to help plan your next national park trip.

NPS Honoring Veterans

Today is Veterans Day in the United States. We honor and thank all military personnel and their families.

Many places are offering ways to honor the military. One of them is the US National Park Service. Many national parks have direct connections to the American military—dozens of battlefields, military parks, and historic sites commemorate and honor the service of American veterans.

The National Park Service invites all visitors to remember our veterans by visiting any National Park Service site for free on Veterans Day (November 11).

In addition, they offer a free Military Pass as a way to thank current US military members and their dependents, Gold Star Families, and US military veterans for their support of our country and to encourage them to explore recreational opportunities on their public lands and waters.

For more information, visit the National Park Service Veterans Day page.

Feel free to contact me if you’d like to chat more about a national parks trip. We have been to over half of the major ones in the US so far and plan to get to all of them soon. We do a bunch on our 2023 cross-country road trip (posts coming soon). They’re all beautiful and unique. I encourage you to visit as many as you can.

Plan Your Visit

Even though my National Park Week series has ended, I will continuously go back and add pages for other parks that we’ve visited in the past and for new ones that we’ll visit soon. Keep an eye on my Park Visits page as the list grows.

Hopefully, this has inspired you to visit some of the amazing national park sites yourself. As you begin to research your trip, refer to the National Park Service Plan Your Visit site for lots of useful information. This can help you decide which parks to visit and learn the vital info for your trip.

One thing to consider if you’re planning to visit several parks in a 12 month timeframe is to get an annual pass. Some parks do not have an entrance fee, but the ones that do could range from $10 – $30 approximately per car to enter. Research the parks that you think you might visit and tally up any entrance fees to see if an annual pass would make sense for you. The pass costs $80 USD, so it can be a good deal if you visit multiple parks in a year that charge fees. There are also specific annual passes for military members, senior citizens, 4th graders, and folks with physical disabilities, some of which are free. Visit their Passes page for more details.

You can get some ideas for possible trips on their Trip Ideas page or use their Find a Park search to find a park by location. Also, see if any Events are occurring during your visit.

As always, feel free to contact me if you would like to chat about a national park trip or would like me to help you plan your trip. See you out there!

National Park Week Day 6 – Gateway Arch National Park

To continue the National Park Week series, we’re going to a different type of park!

Did you know that there are National Park Service properties that are not the typical rugged outdoor park? Tons of memorial and monument parks are also under the National Park Service umbrella, such as the Washington Monument and others on the National Mall in Washington DC. One monument that was elevated to national park status a few years ago was the previously named St Louis Arch, now officially called the Gateway Arch National Park.

Let’s learn about this “monumental” park, Gateway Arch National Park!

National Park Week Day 5 – Pinnacles National Park

To continue the National Park Week series, we’re going all the way over to the West Coast!

Today, I wanted to highlight Pinnacles National Park in western California because it is one of the newer national parks and may not be as well known as other California parks, such as Yosemite or Sequoia. We visited here several years ago as part of a Pacific Coast trip and spent an afternoon hiking in the park.

Let’s go hiking at Pinnacles National Park!

National Park Week Day 4 – Saguaro National Park

To continue the National Park Week series, we’re exploring another different landscape.

Last December, we visited Saguaro National Park in southeast Arizona as part of our cross-country trip. Saguaro is home to the huge saguaro cactus, the tall one with multiple arms that you typically think of when you hear about cacti in the American West. Well, there are tons of them clustered together here!

Come with us to the Sonora desert to visit Saguaro National Park!

National Park Week Day 3 – Great Sand Dunes National Park

To continue the National Park Week series, we’re going to climb up instead of down this time.

A few years ago, we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado as part of an epic trip visiting the parks around Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. That is still one of our favorite trips, and this park is one of the most fun parks that we’ve been to so far. Sand sledding! Who knew?!?

Come sledding with us at Great Sand Dunes National Park!

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