How to Decide Whether to Buy a National Parks Pass

Dear H+A:

My wife and I have lined up a road trip this month to visit at least 3 national parks. I am trying to figure out if it makes sense to buy an annual or lifetime interagency National Parks Pass or just pay the entry fees as we go.

I’ve looked at the National Parks Service website, and the FAQ page alone is 19 pages long. Can you summarize the requirements quickly for me?

For example, I wonder if I need a pass for every person entering the park and whether it matters if one of us (me) is over 62 and eligible for the Senior Pass.

Best regards,

A Faithful Reader

Dear Faithful Reader:

Thanks for your question! The America the Beautiful—The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series (or interagency pass) is generally a great value providing entrance to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites managed by 6 participating agencies, including the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As explained below, however, the answer to your question depends on the total cost of the entrance fees at the parks that you intend to visit within the next year.

You can skip to the Conclusion section for the short answer to your question, but I provide support for my answer in steps 1 through 4 that you and other readers might find helpful if you or they are:

(1) planning to visit multiple national parks within a 12-month period;

(2) driving a single non-commercial vehicle into the park; and

(3) ineligible for any of the free National Parks Passes (for the military, the permanently disabled, 4th graders, and/or volunteers) or park-specific educational waivers.

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1. Add Up the Cost of Entrance Fees at the Parks That You Intend to Visit

First, to decide whether to buy an interagency National Parks Pass, you should add up the cost of entrance fees at the parks that you intend to visit.

There are currently 108 parks out of over 400 National Park Service sites charging an entrance fee. If the parks you’ll be visiting don’t charge entrance fees or you plan to visit them on their Free Entrance Days, you have your answer. For future trips, you might also be interested to know that children under age 16 are always admitted free.

You can use this list of entrance fees by park to add up how much they will cost you without a National Parks Pass. Note that most national parks on the list have 4 different entrance fees for vehicles, people, motorcycles, or park-specific annual passes.

Per vehicle fees range from $5 to $35 and typically apply to a single, private, non-commercial vehicle and include all occupants.

Per person fees range from $7 to $20 and typically apply to pedestrians, hikers, and bikers without a vehicle. A third of park entrance fees apply only on a per-person basis.

Per motorcycle fees range from $15 to $30 and typically apply to 1 or 2 passengers on a private, non-commercial motorcycle.

Park-specific annual pass fees range from $35 to $70.

Depending on the park, the entrance fee may give you access for single or multiple day(s) (for example, compare the fees at Acadia National Park with the fees at Rocky Mountain National Park).

Therefore, assuming that you and your wife plan to drive your car to the 3 national parks, you should use this list of entrance fees by park to add up the per vehicle entrance fees for those 3 parks or, if not available, the per person entrance fees for each park.

2. Compare the Total Cost of Entrance Fees to the Cost of the National Parks Pass

Second, to decide whether to buy an interagency National Parks Pass, you should compare the total cost of any entrance fees for the parks you’ll be visiting in the next 12 months to the cost of a pass. As you’ll quickly see, the math is in your favor if you’re eligible for a senior pass.

For readers eligible for the regular Annual Pass only, the math will depend on which national parks you plan to visit. For example, if you were only going to 2 Colorado parks this year in the example below, it would not make financial sense to get an Annual Pass unless someone in your personal network could use it to visit parks this year, too.

Example of National Park Entrance Fees in Colorado Compared to Interagency Park Passes

NATIONAL PARK	PER VEHICLE ENTRANCE FEE
Rocky Mountain National Park	$35
Mesa Verde National Park	$30
Great Sand Dunes National Park	$25
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park	$30
TOTAL COST	$120

INTERAGENCY PARK PASS	COST
Annual Pass	$80
Annual Senior Pass	$20
Lifetime Senior Pass	$80

You have a choice of the following 3 America the Beautiful (interagency) park passes to purchase if you do not otherwise qualify for the free National Parks Passes:

The Annual Pass (anyone age 16 or older) costs $80 and admits the pass owner/s and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle (or pass owner + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, where per-person fees are charged) for 12 months from the month of purchase, expiring on the last day of that month. Each annual pass can have 2 owners. A “pass owner” is defined as a “[p]erson whose signature is on the back of the Pass.” Note that any two people can sign an Annual Pass–they do not have to be related or married. Photo identification will be requested to verify pass ownership. An Annual Pass allows two motorcycles if “the two people who sign the Pass arrive at the same time on two motorcycles, regardless of the number of people on each motorcycle.”

The Annual Senior Pass (any U.S. citizen or permanent resident age 62 or older) costs $20 and admits the pass owner and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle (or pass owner + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, where per-person fees are charged) for 12 months from the month of purchase, expiring on the last day of that month. The Senior Pass also covers 1 motorcycle. Up to 4 Annual Senior Passes “purchased in consecutive years” may be exchanged at any time for a Lifetime Senior Pass. The name of the account holder will be printed on the card. The Senior Pass is nontransferable, and photo identification will be requested to verify pass ownership. Unlike the Annual Pass, the Senior Pass also provides the pass owner with a discount on Expanded Amenity Fees (such as camping, swimming, boat launching, and guided tours) at many sites.

Animations by Tom Fabre on LottieFiles

The Lifetime Senior Pass (any U.S. citizen or permanent resident age 62 or older) costs $80 and admits the pass owner and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle (or pass owner + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, where per-person fees are charged). The Senior Pass also covers 1 motorcycle. The name of the account holder will be printed on the card. The Senior Pass is nontransferable, and photo identification will be requested to verify pass ownership. Unlike the Annual Pass, the Senior Pass also provides the pass owner with a discount on Expanded Amenity Fees (such as camping, swimming, boat launching, and guided tours) at many sites.

3. Make Any Necessary National Park Entry or Tour Reservations Before Finalizing Your Itinerary

Third, it is important to consider whether entry or tour reservations will be necessary or desirable before finalizing your national park itinerary.

In addition to your park entrance fee or pass, some national parks require a ticketed entry reservation on Recreation.gov. Some national parks also offer a limited number of tickets for tours that need to be reserved and/or purchased in advance on Recreation.gov.

Because some of those reservations need to be made months in advance of your trip, you should consult each individual park’s National Park Service webpage and Recreation.gov for specific details regarding entrance fees, pass acceptance, entry/tour reservations, and opening/closing dates and times before finalizing your itinerary. This list of parks (sorted by name or state) or this National Park Index (sorted by name, activity, topic, or state) might also help your itinerary planning.

4. Buy Your National Park Pass In Person, Online, or By Phone/Mail

Fourth, if buying a National Parks Pass makes the most financial sense, you need to confirm that the national parks that you will be visiting will accept the pass and then decide whether you’ll buy it in person, online, or by phone/mail.

In Person: The fastest and cheapest way to buy your National Parks Pass is in person. You can purchase all of the passes in the America the Beautiful—The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series at staffed park entrance stations, but not all passes are offered or available at every location so take a look at this list or this pdf and then call ahead to confirm availability. The regular Annual Pass can also be purchased in REI stores.

Online: You can order Annual and Senior Passes online at the USGS store. As of this writing, the USGS store advises against ordering a pass online without expedited shipping unless your trip is 4 or more weeks away. There is a $5.00 handling charge for all online USGS store orders. Senior passes purchased online are also subject to an additional $10 processing fee. The regular Annual Pass can also be purchased online at REI or Recreation.gov.

By Phone: You can order the Annual Pass by phone by calling 888-ASK USGS (1-888-275-8747), extension 2. Their hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mountain Time.

By Mail: You can purchase a Senior Pass through the mail using this application. Senior passes purchased through the mail are also subject to an additional $10 processing fee.

To obtain a Senior Pass, you must have photo identification to verify that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident 62 years of age or older, which could include a U.S. State or Territory issued Driver’s License, Identification or Birth Certificate; a U.S. Passport or Passport Card; and/or a Permanent Resident Card (Green Card).

Conclusion

Based on my online research and without knowing your specific details, it is my opinion that your best bet would be to buy an Annual Senior Pass for $20 that would admit both you and your wife in your vehicle. You can decide later if it makes sense to exchange it for a Lifetime Senior Pass.

Instead of wasting money and time ordering online or through the mail, you can consult this list to see if the first national park that you’ll be visiting can sell you a senior pass and then call ahead to confirm availability. Don’t forget to bring photo identification establishing your age and residency.

For those readers who are not traveling with a senior, it generally makes sense to purchase a single Annual Pass for $80 if you will be visiting 3 or 4 national parks within a 12-month period in a single non-commercial vehicle. Just add up the entrance fees using this list of entrance fees by park to confirm that a single $80 pass will be less expensive.

Don’t forget to determine whether park entry or tour reservations are necessary or desirable before finalizing your itinerary.

Thanks again for the question, and enjoy your trip!

Amy

Do you need a national park book for your trip? I thought that these looked good: