It’s happened to the best of us: you decide you want to go to one of the immensely popular national parks, don’t do enough planning (like get proper reservations), and you end up getting stuck in an hour long line to get into the park. What’s worse, once you get into the park, there’s no parking left at the trailheads.
Sometimes you just want to experience all of nature’s beauty with as few people around as possible. For that I give you our complete list of US national parks, complete with visitation data for the previous year. Some of these parks are less frequented simply because of how remote they are. Others, like Isle Royale and Channel Islands, require booking transportation like a float plane or ferry.
Regardless, we hope this list inspires you to consider those less frequented national parks that offer unique landscapes you can’t find anywhere else. Wander on!
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Misty ridgelines, biodiverse forests, and historic homesteads.
Yosemite NP
Sheer granite walls, thunderous waterfalls, and giant sequoias.
Olympic NP
Temperate rain forest, glacier-clad peaks, and wild coastline.
Joshua Tree NP
Surreal Joshua trees and vast Mojave–Colorado desert landscapes.
Cuyahoga Valley NP
Waterfalls, towpath trail, and rolling forests near the city.
New River Gorge NP & PRES
Sandstone cliffs, whitewater, and an iconic arch bridge.
Mount Rainier NP
Iconic landscapes, trails, and wildlife in protected public lands.
Death Valley NP
Otherworldly badlands, salt flats, and starry night skies.
Biscayne NP
Iconic landscapes, trails, and wildlife in protected public lands.
Wind Cave NP
Iconic landscapes, trails, and wildlife in protected public lands.
Lassen Volcanic NP
Iconic landscapes, trails, and wildlife in protected public lands.
Pinnacles NP
Iconic landscapes, trails, and wildlife in protected public lands.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Steep, shadowy chasm carved by a mighty river.
Wrangell-St. Elias NP & PRES
America’s largest park with sprawling glaciers and peaks.
Katmai NP & PRES
Brown bears fishing at Brooks Falls amid volcanic terrain.
National Park of American Samoa
Coral-fringed islands with tropical rain forests.
Gates of the Arctic NP & PRES
Roadless Brooks Range wilderness and true solitude.
