"You can only fill your car with one person per seat belt."

In Northern Virginia the Expeditions and Suburbans and Tahoes hold 8 people. That's EIGHT PEOPLE using the resources of ONE Park Pass. We've witnessed this firsthand. Even if an 8-person filled vehicle is coming to spend an afternoon at Great Falls NP at a mere $20 daily pass, it's still an overload on resources.

The NP's affected by the change in fees include Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion. These parks are already among the most overcrowded.

This isn't rocket science. Our National Parks deserve respect, and proper admission fees.

So, yeah, it's simply human nature to take advantage of the "free."

You must know different people than I do. That is NOT "simply human nature" to skirt the rules, especially somewhere so special and valuable as a national park. That's like stealing from the food bank donation box!

However much it may annoy you. and that seems to be a lot, they are still complying with the rules, which you did not. Our National Parks also deserve adequate staffing.

Our National Parks deserve respect, and proper admission fees

Make them more expensive and keep the riff-raff out? Is that what you mean? Isn't it important that they are as accessible as possible for as many people as possible? Overcrowding is a different, and important, issue.

I think the $80 annual park pass is a grand bargain. I agree the pass price could/should be increased and/or tiered, including asking international visitors to pay a surcharge (tho, IMO, not the nearly X4 one that has been established for 2026).

The NP's affected by the change in fees include Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion. These parks are already among the most overcrowded.

Because they are among the most popular with domestic and international visitors. No surprise there. Many of the parks you named are now using reservations systems which have been largely successful in metering visitors to reduce overcrowding. The full list from this year:

• Acadia National Park
• Arches National Park
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Glacier National Park
• Haleakala National Park
• Mount Rainier National Park
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Shenandoah National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• Zion National Park
• Muir Woods

https://www.earthtrekkers.com/nation...-reservations/

I don't understand your pique with 8 people entering the park on one daily pass. It's not nor was it intended to be a "cover your plate" fee. It's also not disrespectful or an example of getting something for nothing.

Just for information for any future visitor to the DC area, Great Falls is managed by two separate National Park Service sites which require two separate admissions. Great Falls Park is on the Virginia side and the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical National Park is on the Maryland side. Of course if you have an annual pass you don't have to pay twice, at the present time, even if you have 8 people in your vehicle. You will get a reduced admission if you enter on foot, bicycle, or horse back.

This has nothing at all to do with "keeping the riff-raff" (Your terms) out. This has everything to do with carloads of people taking advantage of one person's park pass.

I'm happy to purchase two passes so that DH and I can access the parks. Our NP are woefully underfunded, and access to them is being abused.

Nobody's "taking advantage". Those are the rules and they are following them.

There are only "Individual" park passes, not vehicle hang tags. I'll repeat myself again here, but NPS needs to revamp its fee structure.

They are not breaking the rules BUT the rules are stoooopid! Eight people should not be allowed in using one pass -- ridiculous.

Fair enough. I looked at the "rules" and found: "Each Annual Pass admits pass owner and passengers in a non-commercial vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas; and pass owner + 3 adults, not to exceed 4 adults, where per-person fees are charged. Children under 16 are always admitted free." Still, we've witnessed 3 vehicles with more than 20 adult persons entering our local NP, taking over multiple picnic tables and barbeque pits on numerous occasions this past spring and summer.

Yet, DDog and I were denied admission to "our" park (until I paid) because DH had signed the pass and was not with me.

I agree that rules are incredibly STOOOPID. The NPS really needs to rethink its entry fee structure.

You have no way of knowing how many of those "more than 20" people had their own passes. It's quite possible that several did, and showed them, but they all traveled together.

Just give it up. The NPS seriously needs to reform its entry system.