Have you kicked the entrance fee habitat and puchased an annual parks pass?/NPS
Higher entrance fees are spreading across the National Park System. Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Cape Cod, Capitol Reef, Yosemite, Shenandoah. The list of parks that are raising, or have raised, their entrance fees goes on and on.
So, have you purchased your America the Beautiful Pass yet? For 80 bucks, it's a bargain.
A year ago you could get into both Yellowstone and Grand Teton for $25 for an entire week. You could bounce back and forth between the two for that one fee. Beginning June 1, though, it'll cost you $50 if you want to spend time in each over a week's time.
As you can see, if you visit a small handful of parks, you quickly can go through $80 in entrance fees.
So, have you bought your America the Beautiful Pass yet? (Of course, an even better deal, once you turn 62, is the Senior Pass, which is good for the rest of your life, and runs just $10).
Comments
I have always bought an America the Beautiful Pass regardless of the entrance fees. I just hope they still have Golden Age Passes when I turn 62.
I renew my car tabs and buy a parks pass every year. It's just part of owning a car, IMHO. I live within a daytrip of five national parks, and a weekend trip of several more, and I'd feel hamstrung without one. Have there been any rumors of a price increase for the pass, or was the $30 increase a few years ago enough to keep that at bay for a while yet?
I'm going to the Canadian Rockies this summer, and the Canadian parks pass was the sticker shock. Per person, not per car, and their per-park entrance fee is for a day. I'm going to end up buying an annual pass for a week's vacation. Unreal.
I have often got two summer vacations out of one annual pass by just planning next years trip to happen before it expires. $80 seems like the logical choice. I wouldn't doubt it will go up in the near future.
Fee increases have prompted me to avoid NPS units in favor of National Forest lands as much as possible. And it has been much more pleasant not having to deal with jack booted kojaks with backpacks and attitudes to match their weapons.
I usually buy a Northwest Forest Pass which costs $30, but I'm planning trips to Alaska and Utah with visits to the National Parks. I figured out all the fees and I'll definitely save money with the annual pass. Plus having a pass always encourages me to make more stops at places I might skip because of the fees.
"... jack booted kojaks with backpacks and attitudes to match their weapons...." sounds like a photo op to me. Of course, it isn't my way to go pulling on Superman's cape or spit into the wind.
I just don't get it. I always look for the best bargains, but I've never quibbled about fees for parks. As a parkie's spouse, I'm very familiar with how underfunded the parks are by the politicians, and I just don't begrudge them the random fee from me.