Travel Trivia: What are the least visited national parks?

The U.S. National Park Service estimates that 331 million people visited a national park, monument or site last year. It’s easy to guess the most visited national parks. These are the visitor counts in 2024.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park: (Tennessee and North Carolina) 12.19 million visitors.
• Zion National Park (Utah) 4.95 million visitors.
• Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona) 4.92 million visitors.
• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana) 4.74 million visitors.
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado) 4.15 million visitors.

But what parks are the least visited? The visitor count for the top 5 range from 12,000 to 22,000. Answers here.

– The Travel 100 staff

The top 5 least visited national parks in the United States:

1. Gates of the Arctic National Park (11,907 visitors)
   Located north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, there are no roads, trails or visitors facilites in this 7,167,192-acre park.
   
2. North Cascades National Park (16,485 visitors)
   Visitors can enjoy waterfalls, valleys, rugged peaks and more than 300 glaciers in this national park in Washington, about three hours from Seattle.
   
3. Kobuk Valley National Park (17,233)
   More caribou than people pass through this park 25 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska and only accessible by air. Its known as the land of the living sand dunes.
   
4. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (18,505)
   You’ll need a plane or boat to travel to this 4 million-acre park in Southwest Alaska with wetlands, mountains and volcanos.
   
5. National Park of American Samoa (22,567)
   Snorkle, enjoy the beach and learn about the culture of the American Samoan in Southeast Asia.