Visiting a national park usually conjures up images of “escaping from it all” and “getting back to nature”. There is no doubt that they are the very best places to do just that. Paradoxically, though, many of them can be some of the most crowded, congested tourist destinations in the country. A visit to Yellowstone on a summer Saturday is going to be a long day of driving in traffic, fighting for a parking spot and then elbowing your way through crowds to try to catch a glimpse of whatever natural feature is on the agenda. It isn’t fun and it most definitely isn’t in the spirit of visiting a national park. Battling crowds is expected for a day in Disneyland, but it takes all the excitement and wonder out of visiting a national park.
The “easy” answer is to pack your backpack and head out in to the backcountry. The crowds in most national parks congregate in a very small percentage of the park’s total area. That means places like Yellowstone or Yosemite still have plenty of uncrowded wilderness to explore. But not everyone is ready for backcountry camping. Let’s face it, spending a few days in a true wilderness isn’t realistic if you aren’t a real outdoors person. So what do you do? Here are some tips we’ve learned from visiting 32 (so far) national parks in the U.S.
This should go without saying but these days you never know so please note: this is not literally a survival guide for the national parks. The parks are full of wild animals and dangerous terrain, so if you are backpacking or hiking, you should be properly prepared and this post won’t be of much help. These tips are meant to help make a visit to a national park more enjoyable and less irritating for the more casual visitor. OK, with that out of the way, on to the tips!
Camp (or stay in a lodge) inside the park
Most people are on a tight time budget when they visit a national park. Most Americans don’t get a lot of vacation time, so you often have to make the best of the time you do have. Since there is only so much you can see and do each day, you don’t want to waste time driving in and out of the park. Staying inside the park saves you an hour of driving every day, sometimes more like two hours for the larger, busier parks. It allows you to do things like hiking, kayaking or fishing within a short 5-10 minute drive, or often without having to drive anywhere at all. This means you can get a early start, beating the day crowds and giving you an opportunity to have some awe-inspiring nature all to yourself.
Hike trails that are at least two miles (3.5km) long
The overwhelming majority of visitors to a national park never get more than a half-mile from the main roads. The park service has done a fantastic job giving access to plenty of amazing locations by car. Beyond those highlights, however, there are also plenty of mind-blowing places that require you to get out of the car and hit the trails. Many are well within the reach of a day hiker, and you are guaranteed to leave more and more of the crowd behind with every mile you hike. Sure, you’ll almost always see a few fellow hikers even in the less-crowded parks, but sharing a beautiful scene with a dozen or so hikers is infinitely better than fighting through hundreds of folks fresh off a tour bus to get a clear picture of the Grand Canyon.
Get an early start (and consider an afternoon siesta)
Almost every national park is busiest from around 11am to 4pm. During this time, the folks who stayed outside the park have finally made their way in and the tour buses have all arrived. The main attractions are going to be way too crowded to enjoy and the roads will be full of traffic.However, if you get an early start by getting to the park at 6-7am (again, especially true if staying inside the park), you have time to see something like Old Faithful before the crowds arrive. Additionally, you can get to a trailhead where there will still be parking and you might even have the trail to yourself for a while (bring bear spray!). By the time the masses infiltrate the park, you will be miles from the main roads and enjoying the relative solitude of nature.
Go during “shoulder season”
Another somewhat obvious way to avoid crowds is to just avoid the busy season. However, there’s usually a reason that there are off-seasons in national parks. Winter often completely closes or severely limits access to parks in the western U.S. On the flip side, parks like Death Valley and Joshua Tree have their busiest seasons in the winter, while the off-season occurs during the blistering heat of the summer.Either way, you might not want to deal with the unpleasantries you might encounter during the off-season. The best compromise is the so-called “shoulder” season, the month or two before or after the busiest season of the park. For most national parks in the U.S., that generally means April-May and September-October. Most, if not all, areas of the park will be usually open, although you may have still have snow closures to deal with in higher-altitude parks. The weather will usually be pretty ideal, but maybe a little cooler and more unpredictable than in July. Most importantly, though, the crowds will be smaller (maybe non-existent if you are willing to push the envelope a little bit).
Consider some of the less popular parks
For the most part, the popularity of a park tends to reflect just how amazing and unique it is. There is certainly a reason so many people flock to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon each year. Even so, the national park system has some gems that may not be on most people’s “must-see” list. Some, like Capitol Reef in Utah, are overshadowed by nearby parks with more fame. Others, like Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado or Pinnacles in California, are still relatively new so they don’t have the recognition (and nostalgia factor) of older parks. And there are those which are pretty far off the beaten path, like Big Bend in Texas. If you make the effort, however, you’ll be rewarded with all the amazing wonders of a national park but only a fraction of the usual national park crowds.
