Higher Prices & Fewer National Park Free Days In 2018 – Plan Now

While you consider your summer vacation plans, you need to adjust your budget if you want to visit our national parks. There are drastically fewer free days and higher fees at many.

1 of 17 raising its entrance fees, Yellowstone National Park, our first national park, is now one of more than 400 parks that are sometimes called “Our best idea.”  National parks that normally charge entrance fees have to adjust for budget shortfalls. 118 of the 417 national parks charge an entrance fee. The other 299 national parks do not

The number of fee-free days have gone from 10 last year to just 4 in 2018. In 2016 there were 16 free days. Lower income families will feel the pinch and may have to reconsider whether they will visit Wyoming’s 4 National Parks. Since the decline of mineral and oil fueling the income for our state, tourism is now our main economic engine. We need to keep visiting Wyoming affordable for working families.

With visitor levels frequently at capacity, there is stress on the parks and on the finances to care for them.

"The infrastructure of our national parks is aging and in need of renovation and restoration. Targeted fee increases at some of our most-visited parks will help ensure that they are protected and preserved in perpetuity.”

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke

 So not only are many of our parks going to be more expensive this year, but the number of fee-free days have been reduced to just 4 in 2018.

 Not only are many National Park fees higher this year, the National Park Service has reduced the number of fee-free admission days to just 4. Plan your visit, Find A Park.

 January 15: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

April 21: First day of National Park Week

September 22: National Public Lands Day

November 11: Veterans Day

 In Wyoming:
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Devils Tower National Monument
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park

Consider an annual $80 America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass for unlimited entrance to more than 2,000 federal recreation areas,

 More than 20,000 people care for our 417 national parks, visit them in the real world, or online at www.nps.gov and on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.