Get into National Parks for Free

The USA’s National Park Service turns 99 tomorrow, and to celebrate they’re waiving the fees in a bunch of national parks and related sites such as national monuments. That’s August 25, 2015–and yeah, that’s tomorrow. Not a ton of warning (and it IS a weekday), but there are two other fee-free dates left in 2015: September 26 (National Public Lands Day) and November 11 (Veterans Day).

Some fees are still charged. Here’s the starred note from the NPS page:

Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.

This might be a good time to check out this list of participating parks to see what parks in your state will let you in for free.

Personally, I have mixed emotions about the fees. Seems like we have already paid for all of these things with tax dollars, of which we must pay obscene amounts to the IRS. Then again, user fees are the most fair way to pay for park services because the folks actually using the place are footing the bill.

Either way you slice it, I like free stuff. So check out the free days and get outdoors!

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.