After 37 years of serving as a National Park Service ranger, Tom Haraden knows a thing or two about visiting national parks. We’ll share two of those things, plus ten more. These are 12 tips for the best national park adventure.
1. Slow it down!
If you’ve spent any time in a national park, you’ve probably seen it. Visitors who put on their track shoes and run from one scenic outlook to the next. Squeeze off a selfie and run for the car. In a story posted on Business Insider, Haraden said that’s the first major mistake. He advises tourists to slow down. Instead of bringing a “checklist” bring a book. Sit by a stream, open it, and read.
2. Forget about solitude
National Parks are getting more popular by the year. If you’re looking for quietness, do advance work. Check out park visitation statistics and visit a park that has fewer crowds during your travel time. And if you can, bring your hiking shoes and prepare to penetrate deeper into the park to find fewer folks.
3. Plan your park trip ahead
Lewis and Clark explored the unexplored country. Our national parks are well-traveled and well-written-about. Your first visit to a national park should be to the park’s website. Read up and educate yourself. Find out in advance what you would like to do and see. Make an itinerary for your visit. At the same time, don’t be so inflexible that you miss an unexpected adventure—a chance to go off your plan’s beaten path. And be sure to have a backup plan in case circumstances change.
4. Bring your own hydration
It’s best to hit the convenience stores outside of the park to grab bottled water. Some national parks don’t even sell the stuff inside the gate. The “master plan” of the park system is to stop all sales of water in single-use plastic bottles by 2032. Some parks have already adopted that standard. But getting caught without water in the park can be uncomfortable, even deadly.
5. Don’t forget your personal needs, based on your activities
Your mother always told you to dress in layers. That way you can warm up or cool off as circumstances change. Plan on getting out of the RV in the park? The weather just might change—best to prepare with a jacket. Going to hike a trail? If there are chances of meeting up with a bear, do you have bear spray? Hang on! See tip 3—check the park’s website to find out if the park even allows you to have bear spray. We’ll be talking about this in a future article. The point is, whatever your activity, bring the gear, clothing, or stuff you need for it.
6. Don’t be a “Touron”!
This one should be sooooo obvious! Every month we publish stories here on RVtravel.com about “tourist-morons” aka tourons, who think it’s cool to cozy up with the critters. Yes, it’s obvious a bison can send you skyward with a hook of their horns. But even those cute, fuzzy, tiny squirrels have a nasty bite. And if you feed them, they could be the loser in the end. They need to be—well—wild animals, not hand-out hangers-on.
7. Get your accommodations WELL in advance – or do this
Plan on staying in a national park campground? They fill up, some even months in advance. It makes it hard to do a spur-of-the-moment trip. But here’s an RVtravel.com insider tip. Many national parks, especially in the West, are next door to Forest Service or BLM-managed lands. You can often find “dispersed camping” on these lands. They don’t have amenities like established campgrounds. But, hey! No long waiting lists.
8. Watch your elevation
The “Colorado Rocky Mountain high” isn’t so great if it makes you sick. Tom Haraden reminds park visitors that while you might think of Montana’s Glacier National Park as a “high elevation” park, there are others. Down in Arizona, for example, the Grand Canyon is much higher than many folks think at 7,000 feet at the South Rim. Altitude sickness can really ruin your trip. If you’re coming from lower elevations, you’ll need to acclimate your body before hitting the park. For tips, click here.
9. Too hot, baby!
A peek at weather statistics reveals things are getting hotter all over. You don’t have to go to California’s Death Valley National Park to find plenty of heat. Again, go back to that trip-planning rule. Check out the forecast for your target park. Come early, or come late in the day if things look dicey. Or come in the shoulder season in spring or fall to avoid trouble.
10. Don’t trust your technology to get you around – bring a map
It’s easy to rely on your cell phone and Google Maps to get around. But cell service in a national park is not a given. Bring a paper map—and know how to use it—or download your online maps for offline use. And if your GPS is working and tells you to take a given road, use that device between your ears. If the road looks questionable, stay off.
11. Ask for help from your friend in the Smokey Bear hat
Park rangers are your friend. Park rangers don’t want to have to call for rescue service. These experienced guides can put you onto a great hiking trail, or keep you away from one that you might not come back from. Never hesitate to ask them for advice.
12. And the most important tip? Be a good steward
America’s first national park, Yellowstone, was established more than 150 years ago. Imagine what the place would be like if earlier generations trashed the place, chased wildlife, and dumped plastic water bottles beside the trails. After 37 years of service with the park system, Haraden thinks about future generations of park visitors. What kind of example will we set? It’s not just the grandkids that can learn something from the Junior Ranger program. Explore. Learn. Protect.
For an expanded view of Tom Haraden’s 12 tips for the best national park adventure, click here.
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR NATIONAL PARK TRAVELS…
##RVDT2406
Great advice above. All of it should be common sense, but sometimes common sense isn’t so common.
Great advice that we follow as we truly enjoy the National Parks! We spend from 7-10 days at each park to fully absorb the beauty each park has to offer.
We have recently completed the “Mighty Five” Utah NP’s, all during the early spring shoulder seasons. Zion, Arches, and Bryce were certainly busy, but very manageable! Thoroughly appreciated the timed entry at Arches to facilitate parking spaces available.
The “master plan” of the park system is to stop all sales of water in single-use plastic bottles by 2032. If this is such a good idea, why wait eight years? Why not just post signs NOW?
Totally agree!
If only they could fix recreation.gov to reduce the number of unoccupied campsites that list as 100% sold out.
Every “full” park we’ve stayed at so far this year averaged maybe 30% occupancy. Weekends increased to roughly 75% at best but in several, it was just us in a FF site staring at empty sites with reservation cards saying they were taken.
The Camp Hosts we’ve queried don’t seem to mind as it means less fire pits and toilets to clean at the cost of mindlessly filling out “Reserved” cards for sites that will sit empty. Charging the abusers is appropriate, releasing their site though is needed.
Go out as early as possible after sunrise as you are more likely to have less other tourists visiting the sights at the most popular places. That’s what we found out when we went to Yellowstone.
“Slow it down” is easier said than done when one has a work & family life with limited vacation time. Retired now, so we can slow it down, but I remember family vacations years back and having only 1 to 3 days available to spend at any given park. The goal was to see as much as possible.
As in most aspects of life, “get off the beaten path” and “taking the path less traveled” are good advice. But when it comes to our National Parks (and wild public spaces in general), DO NOT get off the beaten path(s), as the volume of visitors is harmful to delicate ecosystems, and can be dangerous for the visitor. The vast majority of park rescues occur in non-designated areas.
Slow your roll!
a couple of years ago we went to Yellowstone.
just before old faithful was set to erupt 2_tour buses pulled up, unloaded its cargo and everyone hurried off to see it erupt. Within 15 minutes of eruption the buses were gone
those people had traveled thousands of miles and didn’t take the time to wander amongst the other features of our fabulous park
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Very good advice. I especially am drawn to #2, so I avoid national parks unless DW requests my presence. Have a great week, safe travels, and thanks again! 🙂
During a recent trip to Yellowstone we set up camp at the West entrance for almost a week (book in advance) great RV campground close to Park entrance. We don’t have a Toad we use e bikes. So we rented a car for the week very reasonable, we drive a 2009 Winnibago View so don’t feel the need for a toad we either unhook or rent a car for certain occasions. One thing I quickly learned is that to see where all the animals are use Google maps with traffic “on” you’ll quickly discover where folks are pulling over to see that bear or bison herd. Worked great and it’s very consistent as to where the best sightings were.
That’s an excellent tip, Gary. Thanks! Have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com