How to Explore National Parks Without Spending a Dime
As fall paints the national parks with vibrant colors, they become ideal places to enjoy the changing foliage. Yet, entering these parks can be pricey, sometimes over $30 per park, especially the well-known ones like Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Yosemite, which charge $35 per vehicle. But there are ways to explore without the hefty cost. Some parks admit elementary school students for free, and there are options like discounted passes and annual passes that offer great savings.
Annually, the National Park Service (NPS) designates a few dates during which it exempts the entrance fees at all its sites that typically require payment for admission. “The fee-free days provide a great opportunity to visit a new place or an old favorite, especially one of the national parks that normally charge an entrance fee,” says NPS.
Make sure to note these dates on your calendar for next year, as they signify the eagerly awaited national park free days. Starting with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 15, the year’s lineup unfolds. On April 22, National Park Week starts, urging everyone to explore. Then, August 4 marks the Great American Outdoors Act anniversary, spotlighting conservation. September 23 celebrates National Public Lands Day, perfect for outdoor appreciation. Lastly, come November 11, Veterans Day offers free access in honor of veterans.
It’s important to note that during free-entrance days, only admission fees are waived. Activities with associated fees, such as camping, boat launch reservations, or guided tours, will still require payment.
More national park freebies and discount opportunities
Fourth-grade students can get a free pass for their fourth-grade year and the following summer (until August 31). To get one, visit the Every Kid Outdoors website and download a printable voucher. This pass is for U.S. fourth-graders (or equivalent in homeschooling).
If the park charges per vehicle, the pass covers people in a private non-commercial vehicle accompanying the pass owner. Now, if the park charges per person, the fourth-grade pass owner can bring up to three adults for free, as well as other kids under 16 in the group.
By volunteering for 250 hours with federal agencies in the Interagency Pass Program, you can request a free pass. This pass will be valid for 12 months from the date it’s issued. The program includes six key federal agencies: the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
If you’re currently part of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force, Reserve, or National Guard, you can receive a free Annual Pass for U.S. Military. Just visit a federal recreation site in person and show your ID to get it. This pass covers both you and your dependents for free entry.
Some people might also be eligible for a Military Lifetime Pass. Veterans and Gold Star Family members who can prove their eligibility can obtain this pass, which lasts a lifetime.
If the free options aren’t right for you, there’s still a great way to save on park entrance fees. The America the Beautiful Annual Pass costs $80 and gives you discounted access to national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and more.
Most Popular National Parks In America
50. Great Basin National Park
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Located in Nevada, Great Basin National Park has both warm desert valleys and mountains that reach up to 13,000 feet. Visitors can see fossils, caves, rock formations, and even a glacier. Thanks to its wide elevation range, the park is home to a large spread of biodiversity, including 73 species of mammals, 238 species of birds, and more than 800 plant species.
49. Guadalupe Mountains National Park
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas has the four highest peaks in the state and protects the world’s most extensive Permian fossil reef, making the park a geologist’s paradise. The Guadalupes were once home to the Mescalero Apache Native Americans, and pictographs from early settlers can still be seen in the park’s caves. At one point, the Guadalupe Mountains were all underwater in the Delaware Sea.
48. Pinnacles National Park
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Pinnacles National Park in California was born after several volcanoes erupted, forming the unique landscape of the park, which is packed with canyons, rock spires, and woodlands. When the park was established in 1908, it was only 2,060 acres, but has now grown to 26,000. Because of hot summer temperatures, Pinnacles is most popular in the winter months.
47. Channel Islands National Park
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The gorgeous Channel Islands National Park in California comprises five islands, each with a unique history. The northern islands were once home to the native Chumash people and eventually European explorers who harvested fish from the channel waters. The unique environment surrounding the islands contributes to a huge amount of biological diversity that represents 1,000 miles of the West Coast of North America.
46. Virgin Islands National Park
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Virgin Islands National Park comprises two-thirds of the island of St. John and almost all of nearby Hassel Island. First inhabited between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago, St. John was home to the Taino people, colonial Europeans, and enslaved Africans. Today the park offers stunning beaches, hikes to what were once plantations when sugar monopolized the economy, a bird-viewing deck overlooking a salt pond, and petroglyphs carved by the pre-Columbus Taino.
45. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
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Located in southern New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park’s 119 caves were born when sulfuric acid dissolved limestone millions of years ago, leaving behind a treasure trove of caverns. The Big Room in Carlsbad Cavern is the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America and takes an hour and a half to cross, according to the National Park Service. Birders from around the globe flock to Rattlesnake Spring to see some of the 300 documented bird species.
44. Voyageurs National Park
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Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota is 40% water, so many visitors navigate the park by boat. The park is known for its spectacular view of the stars, and the aurora borealis is sometimes visible. Moose, wolves, and black bears are just a few of the animals that call the park home year-round.
43. Redwood National Park
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While Redwood National Park in California is famous for the tallest trees on the planet, the park also protects coastline and prairies. Visitors can watch the gray whale migration at the Klamath River Overlook and walk on gray sands at Gold Bluffs Beach with remains from the state’s mining era. Animals including Roosevelt elk, California sea lions, eagles, and banana slugs call the park home.
42. Mesa Verde National Park
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Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado protects nearly 5,000 archaeological sites that have preserved the history of the ancestral Pueblo people. They inhabited the land for almost 700 years, building dwellings into the cliffs and establishing communities before moving away. Visitors can both see and explore several of the cliff dwellings through tours and hiking trails.
41. Mammoth Cave National Park
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Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park is known for housing the world’s longest cave system, which stretches 400 miles. Though famous for its caves, the park also has more than 70 threatened or endangered species that include birds, crustaceans, and fish. It is believed that the first human entered Mammoth Cave 4,000 years ago.
40. Haleakala National Park
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Haleakala National Park in Hawaii is home to a volcano with a 10,000-foot summit, and is the highest point on Maui. Native Hawaiians have lived on this land for more than 1,000 years, making this an important cultural site. According to the National Park Service, many of the legends surrounding Haleakala focus on the demigod Maui, and natives consider the summit to be the place where Maui snared the sun in order to slow its passage through the sky.
39. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
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The canyons and rock spires at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in western Colorado can reach a surface temperature of up to 120 degrees. Many of the desert creatures that call the park home use ephemeral pools in rocks as their main water source. Some of the canyon’s formations are up to 500 million years old, and contain sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous stones.
38. Petrified Forest National Park
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Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona is home to the gorgeous Painted Desert and Crystal Forest, where petrified logs shine with quartz crystals. The site in the park known as Newspaper Rock contains more than 650 petroglyphs between 650 and 2,000 years old. The landscape of the park features mesas and buttes created by erosion.
37. Big Bend National Park
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Big Bend National Park in Texas offers spectacular views of the Chihuahuan Desert landscape as well as the Rio Grande. Visitors to the park can even enter Mexico through the park’s Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry. Big Bend has more species of birds, bats, and cacti than any other national park in the United States.
36. Biscayne National Park
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Biscayne National Park located just next to Miami is an ocean-lover’s paradise, with crystal clear waters, colorful coral reefs, and more than 500 species of reef fish. Visitors also have the chance to spot manatees, sea turtles, and pelicans. Though the park comprises several islands, 95% of the park is actually water.
35. Kings Canyon National Park
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Kings Canyon National Park in California boasts giant sequoia trees, a tall granite dome with sweeping views, and a marble cavern known as Crystal Cave. Because the park has an elevation gradient of more than 13,000 feet, it plays host to around 1,300 plant species and 300 animal species.
34. White Sands National Park
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The park is aptly named, featuring wavy white sands over nearly 300 square miles in New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin. This is the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, and the park preserves a major part of it. Visits can include the park’s historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Lucero Ranch on the shore of Lake Lucero and the White Sands Missile Range Museum and Trinity Site, where in 1945 the first atomic bomb was tested.
33. Wind Cave National Park
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Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is famous for its rare boxwork cave formations that consist of paper-thin intersecting lines of calcite. Other unique formations include popcorn, frostwork, dogtooth spar crystals, and flowstone. Exploration of the cave began in 1881 when brothers Jesse and Tom Bingham discovered a small hole in the ground, which was the cave’s sole natural opening.
32. Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
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Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado is famous for the tallest sand dunes in North America, that stretch 30 miles across. The park is also home to five alpine lakes, forests, meadows, and grasslands. Popular activities in the park include sand sledding and sand boarding as well as horseback riding and swimming in the Medano Creek.
31. Gateway Arch National Park
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Unlike many other national parks, the Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri is located in a major city and isn’t focused on preserving wildlife. The park contains the 630-foot Gateway Arch monument and St. Louis’ Old Courthouse. The courthouse was where the first two trials of the landmark Dred Scott case were held in 1847 and 1850. The arch is the nation’s tallest monument.
30. Canyonlands National Park
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Utah’s Canyonlands National Park features a unique landscape of canyons, mesas, and buttes formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Even though the park is considered a desert, its high elevation gives it a varying climate; temperatures here can fluctuate as much as 50 degrees in a day. This, combined with the low annual rainfall, make the park a perfect home for drought-resistant plants such as cacti, yuccas, and mosses.
29. Lassen Volcanic National Park
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Each rock at Lassen Volcanic National Park in California is a result of a volcanic eruption, given that the park has been volcanically active for 3 million years. The world’s four volcanic types—shield, composite, cinder cone, and plug dome—are all present at the park and located in close proximity to each other. Park visitors can also check out the park’s several fumaroles, mud pots, and boiling pools.
28. Theodore Roosevelt National Park
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Located in North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s dominating feature is the badlands, which are colorful, rolling hills consisting of rock that are millions of years old. Erosion and other natural processes like lightning strikes and prairie fires continue to shape the badlands today. The park is of course named for the U.S. president who first came to the Dakotas in 1883 to hunt bison.
27. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home to the Kilauea Volcano and periodically erupting Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa has the most mass of any mountain on Earth, occupying a volume of about 20,000 cubic miles. The park was created to preserve the natural setting of both Kilauea and Mauna Loa, as well as the Big Island’s native plants and animals.
26. Crater Lake National Park
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Crater Lake National Park in Oregon was formed when a volcanic eruption at Mount Mazama triggered the collapse of a tall peak, forming the deepest lake in the United States. The crater, also known as a caldera, is 5 to 6 miles long and 3,900 feet deep, making it the seventh-deepest lake in the world, the National Park Service reports. Because the lake doesn’t have any inlets or outlets, the water comes entirely from precipitation, giving it a clear blue hue.
25. Everglades National Park
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Everglades National Park is of such biological importance that it is also a World Heritage Site, International Biosphere Reserve, and Wetland of International Importance. The park protects rare and endangered species, including the manatee, American crocodile, and Florida panther. Bird watching is a popular activity in the park, with blue herons, bald eagles, and red-shouldered hawks to spot.
24. Saguaro National Park
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As its name suggests, Saguaro National Park in Arizona protects giant saguaro cacti, a symbol of the American West. The average lifespan of one of these cacti is 125 years old, and it produces sweet fruits. The park is also home to a variety of animals, many of which can only be found in the southern part of the state, including kangaroo rats, roadrunners, and horned lizards.
23. Sequoia National Park
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Sequoia National Park is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park in California and was the first park established to protect a living organism: its native sequoia trees. Since World War II, Sequoia and Kings Canyon have been administered jointly. In 2014, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep were reintroduced to the park for the first time in 100 years as part of a recovery effort for this endangered species.
22. Death Valley National Park
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Death Valley National Park in California and Nevada is home to the driest, lowest, and hottest spot in North America. The park was once home to a variety of different people, including the Timbisha Shoshone Native Americans, Chinese workers, the Basque people, and Japanese American internees, according to the National Park Service. Today, visitors can experience the park’s sand dunes, salt flats, and a dry lakebed known as the Racetrack Playa.
21. Badlands National Park
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The striking landscape of Badlands National Park in South Dakota contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. At one point, it was home to the rhino and saber-toothed cat. The Badlands were formed nearly 70 million years ago by erosion and deposition of sediment when an ancient sea was located where today’s Great Plains are. Erosion will eventually entirely erase the Badlands.
20. Capitol Reef National Park
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Capitol Reef National Park in Utah is famous for the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic monocline extending almost 100 miles and considered a “wrinkle on the earth.” The fold was formed 50 to 70 million years ago as a warp in the Earth’s crust, and erosion has exposed the fold at the surface. The park has some of the darkest night skies in the United States, so much so that it has been designated an International Dark Sky Park.
19. New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
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New River Gorge National Park & Preserve consists of 70,000 acres along the New River, a whitewater river in southern West Virginia that despite its name is one of the oldest on the continent. From the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, the sides of the valley fall almost 900 feet into the deepest and longest river gorge in the Appalachian Mountains. Visitors can go whitewater rafting or canoeing, rock climbing, bird watching, camping, hiking, or biking along an old railroad grade.
18. Mount Rainier National Park
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Located in Washington, Mount Rainier National Park is famous for housing the most glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. Mount Rainier is the highest volcano in the Cascade Range, and experiences about 20 small earthquakes a year. Some of the animals that visitors regularly spot at the park include mountain goats, ravens, elk, and black bears.
17. Arches National Park
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Arches National Park in Utah lives up to its name and has more than 2,000 natural stone arches, the densest concentration of natural stone arches in the world. These sandstone geological formations are the result of erosion and a thick layer of salt beneath the rock surface. The arches are impermanent, however; the 71-foot Wall Arch collapsed in 2008.
16. Hot Springs National Park
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Known as “The American Spa,” Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas has thermal waters with soothing properties. Typically, hot springs pop up in areas with volcanic activity and are rare in the central part of the continent. These hot springs are situated along a fault on the western side of Hot Springs Mountain.
15. Bryce Canyon National Park
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Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah has the world’s largest collection of hoodoos, pillars of rock left standing after erosion. Bryce Canyon contains a series of natural amphitheaters and bowls, the most famous being Bryce Amphitheater, which is full of the park’s iconic hoodoos. The park is one of three national parks to house the Grand Staircase geological formation, which is a giant sequence of sedimentary rock layers.
14. Shenandoah National Park
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Just 75 miles from the nation’s capital, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia showcases the Blue Ridge Mountains and is home to 90 perennial streams, many of which turn into cascading waterfalls. While many native species have been lost over time, today the park has more than 200 bird species, 50 mammal species, and more than 35 fish species, the National Park Service reports. The park is popular with hikers, with 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the famed Appalachian Trail.
13. Glacier National Park
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Glacier National Park in Montana is responsible for housing streams that flow into the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson’s Bay. Because of this, it has become home to a variety of plants and animals, so much so that it has been designated an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. The park was carved from glaciers dating back 10,000 years, exposing bedrock that has helped scientists understand the Earth’s movement.
12. Yosemite National Park
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Yosemite National Park in California is home to the 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls, the largest waterfall in North America. With 800 miles of hiking, there’s plenty to explore, including enormous granite mountains, such at Mt. Lyell, the park’s tallest point. Visitors can enjoy the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees, the peaceful Hetch Hetchy Valley, and rock formations carved by ancient glaciers.
11. Indiana Dunes National Park
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With 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline for swimming, surfing, and paddling, beachgoers may forget they’re in Indiana. For those interested in hiking and biking, there are more than 50 miles of trails of varying difficulty through dunes, wetlands, forests, and prairies, with a handicap accessible trail at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. Note that the only area with lifeguards present is West Beach—also the only site with a fee—during the summer months.
10. Joshua Tree National Park
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Joshua Tree National Park in California was named after its picturesque, spiky Joshua trees. Mormon immigrants named the trees after the biblical Joshua after noticing that the limbs looked as if they were outstretched in prayer. Many of the park’s animals, including the Scott’s orioles, wood rats, and desert night lizards, depend on the tree for food and shelter. Keys View in the park offers an incredible view of the Coachella Valley, the San Andreas Fault, and San Jacinto.
9. Olympic National Park
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Olympic National Park in Washington has temperate rainforests, glacier-topped mountains, and more than 70 miles of coastline. The park was established in 1938 to protect some of the state’s quickly vanishing forests, and now protects one of the largest remaining blocks of temperate rainforest in the lower 48 states. Visitors to the park can see Mount Olympus, which stands 7,980 feet high, on a clear day.
8. Acadia National Park
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Acadia National Park in Maine protects the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline in the United States, including Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the eastern coast of the country. Granite ridges in the park were formed by glaciers that measured up to 9,000 feet thick, and evidence of their presence is visible throughout the park.
7. Cuyahoga Valley National Park
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Near Cleveland and Akron, Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park preserves the beauty of the Cuyahoga River and showcases the historic route of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Popular attractions at the park include the 65-foot Brandywine Falls waterfall, Beaver Marsh, and the National Park Scenic train. The park is home to an astounding 900 plant species, 194 bird species, and almost two dozen reptile species.
6. Grand Canyon National Park
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Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona is synonymous with its world-famous canyon that is 18 miles wide and 1 mile deep. The park encompasses more than 1 million acres and consists of raised plateaus and structural basins. The Grand Canyon is considered one of the best examples of arid land erosion in the world. It has a rich and diverse fossil record, and the land offers a detailed record of three out of the four geological eras.
5. Grand Teton National Park
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Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming has a rich history beginning 11,000 years ago when nomadic paleo-Indians harvested berries, crafted stone tools, and fished in lakes, leaving behind evidence for historians. The weather in the park can get unbearably cold: The lowest temperature ever recorded was -63 degrees Fahrenheit. The center line of the 2017 solar eclipse was visible from the park, sending it into totality against the backdrop of its glacier-carved landscape.
4. Rocky Mountain National Park
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Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado is home to some of the highest mountains in the continental United States. Sixty mountain peaks measure in at more than 12,000 feet high, making the park a popular destination for hikers. Visitors can fish at more than 50 lakes and streams.
3. Zion National Park
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Zion National Park was Utah’s first national park and is famous for its landscape of giant colorful sandstone cliffs. Around 12,000 years ago, the first people to visit this land tracked mammoths, giant sloths, and camels until those animals died about 8,000 years ago, the National Park Service says. Because of the range in elevation in the park, it has more than 1,000 diverse plant species.
2. Yellowstone National Park
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Yellowstone National Park spans three states: Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. As the world’s first national park, Yellowstone has plenty to offer, including the famed Old Faithful geyser, Mt. Washburn, and the Mammoth Hot Springs. The park is one of the largest nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth, making it home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states.
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee is the most biodiverse park in the National Park system, with more than 19,000 documented species. The Smokies are among the oldest mountain ranges in the world. On average, more than 85 inches of rain falls in the park each year, fueling 2,100 miles of streams and rivers that flow through the park.