Top 10 Most Visited National Parks
The rugged coast of Acadia National Park in Maine drew more than 2.2 million visitors last year, making it the ninth-most-visited park. Photo NPS
With 360 monuments, parks, memorials, and parkways, seashores, and other units around the country, the National Park system offers a little something for everyone—whether you’re looking to cross the country and see some of the fantastic wild places along the way, or considering a visiting a park near you. Last year, the parks saw a whopping 285,579,941 visitors. Scroll down to see the 10 most visited.
If you want to leave the car at home, check out Amtrak’s new . This user-friendly tool helps you find parks near Amtrak stops. According to the site, more than 150 parks are accessible by train. Currently, the company is featuring 56, with a focus on the northeast.
10 Most Visited National Parks in 2009
1. (TN/NC): 9,491,437
2. (AZ/UT): 4,348,068
3. (CA): 3,737,472
4. (MT/WY): 3,295,187
5. (WA): 3,276,459
6. (CO): 2,822,325
7. (OH): 2,589,288
8. (UT): 2,580,081
9. (ME): 2,227,698
10. (MT): 2,031,348
(I’m particularly partial to #1, Great Smoky, after learning that it’s one of the most diverse places anywhere—in 12 years biologists have identified 900-plus new species, including more than 200 slime molds, 23 bee species, 42 beetles, and 78 algae. Read “” by Kurt Repanshek in our July-August issue.)
For anyone interested in the top 10 most visited National Park units in 2009, . Blue Ridge Parkway is number one, with 15,936,316 visitors (or 5.58% of NPS total visits for the year), followed by Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Great Smoky.
 Isle Royale. Photo NPS |
For those who would rather avoid crowds, consider a trip to the 10 least visited national parks:
10. (SC), home to the continent’s largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest: 122,970 visitors
9. (NV), hot desert valleys meet mountain ranges with peaks soaring above 13,000 feet: 84,974
8. (AK), at over 13 million acres, this is the largest unit in the National Park System: 59,966
7. (FL), these seven islands are known for bird and marine life, and legends of pirates and sunken gold: 52,011
6. (WA), jagged peaks, deep valleys, cascading waterfalls, and over 300 glaciers: 26,972
5. (MI/MN), accessible only by boat or seaplane, offers great paddling, shipwrecks in Lake Superior, and: 14,653
4. (AK), craggy ridges, glacier carved valleys and fragile flowers: 9,975
3. (AK), volcanoes, glaciers, wild rivers and waterfalls: 9,711
2. , chain of mountainous islands clothed in tropical rainforest, is ringed with rugged cliffs, glistening beaches, and biologically rich coral reefs: 3,242
1. (AK), half a million caribou migrate through, their tracks crisscrossing sculpted dunes that lie 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle: 1,879