Since the pandemic, the number of visitors to many of the country’s national parks has continued to rise. In 2023, the National Park Service (NPS) has reported a grand total of 325,498,646 visitors to both the 63 parks and hundreds of different historical sites across the U.S. The total number is an increase of more than 13 million from the previous year.
But when the numbers are looked at more closely, some parks are clear outliers by visitor numbers. Seeing nearly 13.3 million recreational visitors in 2023, Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina is by far the most popular national park in the nation— so much so, in fact, that it had to urgently take on a number of restoration projects in order to fix some of the degradation caused by higher foot traffic.
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When it comes to the national parks with the lowest visitor numbers, the outliers are predictably located outside of the U.S. mainland. Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic frequently tops lists of the country’s most expensive national parks to visit due to its remoteness (one has to fly from Anchorage to the nearest settlements of Kotzebue or Anaktuvuk Pass by charter plane.)
The least-visited national parks have one thing in common
In 2023, only 11,045 recreational visitors made it to the park, while other least-visited parks include National Park of American Samoa in the South Pacific and fellow Alaska parks such as Lake Clark and Kobuk Valley.
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Michigan’s Isle Royale was the first mainland national park to make the least-visited list with fifth place overall. Only 28,965 recreational visitors (the NPS count does not include its workers or others passing through the parks for work reasons) made it there in 2023, while fellow Michigan park Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore saw nearly 1.6 million visitors.
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Want to go to Isle Royale? Here is how you can
While Isle Royale is located on mainland U.S. territory, its commonality with others on the list lies in its remoteness. Getting to Isle Royale requires taking a ferry from Houghton (an eight-hour drive from Detroit and a six-hour drive from Minneapolis) to the Isle Royale island.
While its location in the middle of Lake Superior attracts those specifically looking to experience untapped forest wilderness, the less-adventurous will be put off as it usually requires a long drive and camping trip of several days. The only other place to stay is the Rock Harbor Lodge motel.
Located a short drive from Isle Royale, but designated as a separate national park due to its unique presence of lava flow and history of Aboriginal copper mining, Keweenaw National Historical Park is another infrequently-visited location due to its remoteness; it registered just 29,221 visitors in 2023.
With 40,351 recreational visitors in the same year, Washington state’s North Cascades National Park is the third least-visited park on the U.S. mainland. Other statistics identified by the NPS included a spike in visitors using certain types of in-park lodging, although overnight visits dropped slightly from the year before.
In total, visitors spent 1.4 billion hours inside the country’s parks, while 20 reported their highest visitor counts on record.
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