A national park trip holds a special place in my heart. I love nature, hiking, and wildlife. Often, all three can be found in a national park. Shout out to my dawg, Theodore Roosevelt, for ensuring some of our most beautiful landscapes will never be developed.
Due to this lack of development, however, vacations in national parks come with unique challenges. With the right preparation and research, these challenges can easily be overcome!
Do Your Research
- Determine the best season for your national park trip
- The season can vary depending on what you’re looking for. For example, if you’re looking for mountain hikes, you may be better off visiting parks between June and September. If you’re looking for cross-country skiing, you’re likely better off visiting in winter.
- There will be pros and cons for each season. Peak season may allow you to visit the majority of attractions in a park, but you’ll be visiting them with many more people. Off-season, however, may not allow you to see everything in the park, but there may be significantly less people there.
- Check to see if there are any permit requirements for the park you’re visiting
- Some parks require all visitors to have a permit during peak seasons and others require permits for popular trails. This helps limit traffic and environmental impact as national parks become more popular tourist attractions.
- Find out if the park limits personal car usage
- During peak seasons, some parks require visitors to utilize shuttle buses within their boundaries. This requires a little extra planning in order to maximize your itinerary.
Map Things Out
- Download offline maps
- You are absolutely going to lose cell service at least once during a national park trip. Luckily, Google Maps will let you download maps to use when you’re out of cell service.
- Directions for how to download these maps can be found here.
- Map out what you want to see in advance
- National Parks are HUGE! It’s easy to assume you can stay anywhere within them and hit all the sights you’d like to see. That assumption, however, is often wrong.
- In addition to parks being large, there are often no direct routes between sights. Even if two points of interest are right next to each other on the map, you may need to take a roundabout way to get between them. I went to Canyonlands National Park recently and I made this mistake. I thought I could visit the Needles and Island in the Sky because they were so close to each other geographically. In reality, it was a 2-hour drive between the two districts’ visitor centers.
Prep for Your Trip
- Book well in advance!
- There are limited lodging options within and near national parks. Especially during peak season, these accommodations will fill up. For more popular parks, I also recommend booking any excursions and rental cars ahead of time.
- Pinpoint where you want to visit before you book your lodging!
- This way, you can determine if you need to book more than one accommodation for your national park trip. For example, I’ll be visiting Olympic National Park in September. We will most likely be staying at two separate AirBnbs to reduce the amount of driving time to different attractions.
- Get ready to hike the trails!
- Check out my blog post that lays out how to maximize your hiking experience.
Pack the Necessities
- Reusable water bottles are a must to keep you hydrated
- Bring basic first aid supplies and survival items
- You most likely won’t need these on your national park trip, but it’s better to be prepared for anything that could happen on the trail.
- Layers, layers, layers!
- Weather can frequently change. This could be due to changing elevations, different times in the day, or storms that come out of nowhere.
- I recommend bringing breathable layers, waterproof layers, and some fleece layers.
- Broken-in hiking boots will provide you the support you need to conquer any mountain
- Pro tip: no time to break in hiking boots? Purchase a blister kit for your national park trip.
(This picture was taken with a zoom lens from a balcony)
Once You’re There
- Hike early in the morning in the most popular parks
- Getting up early and hopping on the trails is the best way to beat the crowds! When I visited Zion, I made sure to get on one of the earliest shuttle buses possible. By the time I was leaving the park, I noticed trails had many more people than when I started.
- Grocery shop and pack lunches
- Restaurant options are very limited within national parks. Everyone will be a lot happier with food packed to prevent hanger from ruining the vibe!
- This is also helpful for days when you’ll be spending hours out on the trail.
- Respect wildlife
- It should go without saying, but large animals are dangerous! Never approach the wildlife in parks. Instead, bring a camera with a zoom lens and binoculars. This way, you can enjoy the view while staying safe!
- Leave no trace
- There is nothing more heartbreaking than hiking a beautiful trail full of trash. Respect the planet, respect the parks, and respect other visitors. Pack all of your trash out so that we can continue to enjoy these parks for years to come.
If you utilize the tips I’ve outlined above, your next national park trip can be once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Happy Travels!
XOXO, Mackenzie
