TheWeasel

That should read "not to mention"

TheWeasel

Here's the link I was talking about for the national park visitation statistics: http://www2.nature.nps.gov/NPstats/npstats.cfm

Click on Park by Month and you'll be able to look up visitation totals for every park, broken down by month.

enzian

I'm enjoying this discussion, but Wanderlust now seems to be thinking of visiting Yosemite and Glacier (see post on flying to the national parks). Perhaps he or she is persuaded that the "touristy" parks aren't so bad after all.

happytrailstoyou

Some parks are so huge that even though they are popular it is easy to get lost in them--Olympic National Park, for instance.

Clousie

Agree with Dayle and NeoPatrick. Almost all of our visits to national parks have been in July and August, but go a short distance away from parking lots, photo spots or visitor centers, and you'll feel as though you have the park to yourself.

I HATE crowds, and had some real concerns about Yosemite and Yellowstone, but absolutely loved both parks. You just have to get out and discover the park on your own, and it's easy to do. Spend some time in one spot and do day trips out from there instead of running from one crowd infested park highlight to another. By staying in a park, you can go out at night by moonlight or early in the morning as we did at Yellowstone and get a totally different perspective on the area, and it won't be crowded.

There are LOTS of great state parks (maybe we should start a post for those) that are real gems. Liked Denali SP in Alaska--can look across to Mt McKinley, if it's out. Also Kodrachrome SP in Utah. Lots of parks along the CA, OR, WA coasts.

Have fun.....

wanderlust33

Thank you all so much for your fantastic posts--you've been very helpful with this and other questions I'm researching. Lucky to have ya...

J_Correa

Clousie - your comment "Spend some time in one spot and do day trips out from there instead of running from one crowd infested park highlight to another." reminded me of a little snippet of conversation I heard at Yosemite Falls one time.

I was on the bridge at the base of the falls staring up at the amazing amount of water coming off that cliff. A group of maybe 5 or 6 people walked up and stood by me to see the falls. After about 30 seconds, one person in the group said to the others "OK, so this is Yosemite Falls, what's next on the list?" It was like it didn't even phase her, just a check off box on a list like she was on a savenger hunt. LOL.

utahtea

I'll second Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Also Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona was not busy over the Memorial Day weekend several years ago.

Utahtea

utahlover

Canyonlands for the Southwest...the Needles district this is, the Maze if you really want the most remote in the Southwest. Lassen is very intersting and not so busy.