The Most Visited Park = Great Smokey Mountains National Park Photo Credit: Billy Hathorn via Wikimedia Commons
The Most Visited Park = Great Smokey Mountains National Park | Photo Credit: Billy Hathorn via Wikimedia Commons | Cover Photo: Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

When talking about the Wilderness, Teddy Roosevelt once remarked, “The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.” However, with a record 307.2 million people visiting our national parks in 2015 alone, it’s hard for one to argue that such solitude still exists in many of our National Parks.

In one way, such high visitation rates serve as a blessing for our NPS, which currently includes a backlog of maintenance costs that amount to nearly 12 billion dollars. Most likely, the more awareness citizens have about the value of their parks system, one would think more funds will ultimately be allocated to their upkeep.

Related: Obama Nearly Double’s Public Land He’s Protected | Adds 1.8 Million Acres Of California Desert

However, for those of us who search for the freedom of which Theodore Roosevelt spoke, it’s a definite curse that begs the question, do we need to expand the National Parks Service reach?

Grand Canyon
Photo Credit: Julius Reque via Wikimedia Commons

In the meantime, you might want to avoid these 10 national parks from June to August. 

Here Are The Top 10 Most Visted National Parks

  1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park – 10,712,674
  2. Grand Canyon National Park – 5,520,736
  3. Rocky Mountain National Park – 4,155,916
  4. Yosemite National Park – 4,150,217
  5. Yellowstone National Park – 4,097,710
  6. Zion National Park – 3,648,846
  7. Olympic National Park – 3,263,761
  8. Grand Teton National Park – 3,149,921
  9. Acadia National Park – 2,811,184
  10. Glacier National Park – 2,366,056

 

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