Reader Participation Day: How Many of the 392 National Park System Units Have You Visited?

We've visited 80 National Park Units so far. Our goal is to visit every national park and as many of the other units as possible.

I've visited 265 so far. Haven't been to Alaska or Hawaii. I have a feeling I'll be doing those last.

I just counted them up the other day. I've been to 73 and I'll hit two new ones this holiday weekend (St. Croix National Scenic River and Apostle Islands). I've been to four in Alaska, but they are the most accessible (Sitka, Kenai, Gold Rush and Denali)...the others there will be tough.

One of my favorite things to do is collect the passport stamps at each park. There is a special book you can buy at any park and stamps are available at visitors centers and some ranger stations all over the country. There are hidden stamps as well. The folks at www.parkstamps.org keep good and careful track.

I came in at 62, which is lower than I'd like but higher than I expected.

Great idea for a midweek diversion!

46 park units so far, 14 of which are National Parks. Like Liz, our goal is to see all the National Parks and along the way catch as many other NPS units as we can.

I think about 50 and since I'm almost 50 yrs old, that's not very good! I'll have to hit more in my next 50 yrs :) But I have visited some multiple times, yet only counted them once. The next one I want to go to most of all is the Dry Tortugas!

I didn't know you could do the passport stamp thing with the parks, thanks for the info! I do the passport book for lighthouses.

We've visited 162. We're leaving today for a two wk trip where we'll get three more.

130 NPS units so far and we're headed for Maui in August and the Boston area in Sept.

I have visited two on your list: the Lincoln Home in IL and Yosemite National Park (which I just visited earlier this month!).

I have also visited one you missed on your list: the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in WI. My husband and I hike it regularly - we can access it just a few miles out of the town where we live.

My ultimate goal is to visit them all!

Bob, interesting thing - if you look at the recent legislation designating the New Ice Age Floods Geologic Trail, it has a specific provision saying it should not count as a unit of the park system. No clue why, as it otherwise seems like it might be involved enough to be a unit.

The national scenic trails are a different story and we've talked about it at the national park travelers club. Seems to me Natchez Trace is not like the other trails. It's more of a historic trail with a few hiking segments managed by the park service. The Appalachian Trail has a lot of federally owned land I believe. Not sure about Potomac Heritage - it may have some federal land too? Otherwise it seems more like the other trails, which are largely volunteer-org managed with oversight from a particular agency such as NPS (e.g., Ice Age, North Country) or USFS (Florida, Pacific Crest).

As for the units, I consider myself at 51 (went to Keweenaw and Isle Royale this weekend). But as you know, the counting of the 391 can get pretty wacky (some units overlap others or are essentially unvisitable) and units that have multiple designations (i.e., park and preserve) are treated as 2 units. Some members at the club try to do something specifically in both the park and preserve portions, but to me it's one big area. The transfer of land to Big Bend in the Christmas Mts., for example, has some debate because the land has been used for hunting. I think NPS noted in a report that continuing to allow hunting would be tricky as it would require congressional designation of a national preserve, making the land acquisition more complicated (NPS would rather just not allow hunting).

My wife and I have done 83 of the units, including 27 National Parks. I also find the counting of the different units to be interesting. For example, you can walk about five miles around the National Mall and pick up about 12-13 indivual units; more if you want to trek across the river. However, if you walk the freedom trail in Boston you will visit 17 different sites, but it counts only once; as the Boston National Historical Park. I do realize that many of the sites in Boston are not maintained by the NPS; maybe that is why they do not count separately. By the way, for what it is worth, I believe that every American needs to walk the Boston Freedom Trail. This walk, and the study of each of the sites, will give a person a true sense of the origins of our country and what we stand for. You can't help but get goosebumps when you stand on the decks of the USS Constitution and realize that the fastenings in the ship were made by Paul Revere. Here is an excellent site about the trail: http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/index.html. Back in DC, the George Washington Memorial Parkway counts as one unit; a few of its units, such as Theodore Roosevelt Island, also count as a unit; but several of its other units, such as the Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima Statue), do not. By the way, if you are in Washington on Tuesdays during the summer, do not miss the Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps War Memorial. It starts at 1900 and consists of a marching concert by the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, the Commandant's Own, followed by a demonstration by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Very moving. Here you can get the full information: http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/parade_sunsetdefault.asp. Here is a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Fi_Ed7ISg

I've visited 80 sites and realize I'm very weak in the eastern and historic sites. Also have worked at three. Will try to add some new on this fall's journey and also revisit a few.

Now comes other questions.

How is visiting defined?
Is it going to the Visitor Center and getting your passport stamped?
Do you have to drive through the main road?
Do you have to do the main activity, such as hiking, snorkeling, walking the battlefield?
Do you have to understand why it became a national park unit?

Danny

Danny,

Hard question to answer. One answer might be that a visit is setting foot on the precise land of the unit. But if that's it, then what about a scenic fly-over or enjoying the sights of that land (without setting foot in it)? I'd tend to be pretty liberal in my definition, but I do think you have to experience the park somehow.

The visitors centers of course are usually located on park property (but not always). I'd tend to say it counts as a visit, but most units are far more than a particular building (but see Klondike Gold Rush NHP in Seattle).

FYI - for some parks, like Dry Tortugas and Isle Royale, you can get a passport stamp for the unit many many miles away from it. I have no trouble saying I don't think that counts as a visit.

You could also ask what constitutes a visit for handicapped people who are unable to visit a site in a typical way, if at all.

I am a rookie compared to most of the other responders. I have been to 11 sites. In May I visited Yosemite and Sequoia NP.What a wonderful experience even though we had a touch of snow and low temps while in Sequoia.
So many Americans don't realize what they are missing.

Have only visited about 20, so I have some catching up to do. But will be visiting Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier Bay over the next 2 months.

16

I've been to 177 units (178 if you count the Oklahoma City Memorial, which was an NPS unit when I visited it). I had planned to hit a few more in July, but my trip to North Dakota got cancelled.

Hmmm, Only 11, but I'm just getting started!! Can't wait to visit more!

I've been to 77 with plans to hit a bunch on a road trip through Arizona in July.

198

To answer Danny's earlier comment, I count any visit where I've done something substantial enough to appreciate the park or site for what it is. In the case of the larger parks, like Yosemite or Denali it's at least several days actually in the woods or on the water. For smaller parks, it's walking the appropriate trail, seeing the right exhibits, etc.

I've taken about 6-8 off my list because I realized I had done the WRONG thing: walked one little nature trail or simply stopped at the visitor's center and tried to count it. I'll have to go back to those places later & do them right.

Bob:

What happened to the National Historic Trails http://imgis.nps.gov/national_historic_trails.html
like the Trail of Tears? and the Overmountain Victory Trail http://www.nps.gov/ovvi/index.htm?

I would like to count them but I can't find them on your list.
Danny

My brother referred me to this site. We had to compare our park lists. Many we visited at the same time, others not. I came up with 83 and counting. Planning to add more when I retire in a couple of years.

I have visited 45 from your list, but it is missing the Oklahoma City National Memorial and the Valor in the Pacific Memorial (Pearl Harbor), both of which I consider units despite Bob's legalistic stance on the matter. Personally I find it offensive that simply because the people of Oklahoma have taken the funding burden off the NPS, that Bob does not consider this sacred site a part of the National Parks system. It is still listed on the NPS site, still has national park signage and displays, and still employs national park rangers.

I found i have visited 43 of the above listed places. Mostly in the west (Ca, Co, Wa, Wy, Mt, SD, NM, AZ, Ut)... because this is mostly where I have lived... Someday I hope to be able to make it out to the Eastern US and see may of the parks out there. I think they are a terrific heritage for our children and all future generations.

jbrown84,

It isn't Bob who is deciding what is an NPS unit. There is simply a list NPS maintains based on its own methods and that list comes up to 392.

Numerous sites are "affiliates," which receive some kind of NPS support but are not units. Apparently the change to affiliate status was at the request of the foundation.

According to the NPS site for the memorial, it is "privately owned and administered by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation." Privately run memorials/parks are almost always considered affiliates and not units. In any case, it's my sense that it was the foundation that wanted to take things over, and in doing so they (perhaps proudly) surrendered their status as a unit.

So it's not Bob's count, it's the count based on what is a unit. Again I'm not sure how some things in the gray area are units and some are not, but privately run memorials are typically not, and it looks like that's the way they wanted it.

I guess a unit is a unit, although sometimes the jurisdiction can be shared. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and there is a particularly varied NPS unit in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Fort Mason, the Presidio of San Francisco, Ocean Beach, parts of Stinson Beach, Alcatraz, the Marin Headlands, Bolinas Ridge, Sweeney Ridge, Lands End, Cliff House, and other sites. The superintendent is also in charge of Muir Woods NM as well as Fort Point NHS, which was an NPS site long before the surrounding Presidio was absorbed. I know a lot of people get confused with actual counts given that Kings Canyon NP and Sequoia NP are essentially the same jurisdiction. I was able to add one to my count because we travelled from Grand Teton NP to Yellowstone NP via the John D. Rockefeller Parkway, and even had breakfast at Flagg Ranch.

I counted 35 by the strict interpretation of named NPS units. I know it doesn't sound like much. Once I got curious and checked out Rosie the Riveter NHP, but only visited the little memorial which is in a city park in Richmond, CA.

Where is the official list of units?

For example, when I look at the National Park web site, I see a separate web page for the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail which has a headquarters and visitor center in Omaha, and it even has its own Junior Ranger program, but it is not on your list. I assume that is because it's not a "unit," so where is the official list of "units"?

I have the official list of NPS units. It includes the areas that are not units and some that count as 2. I do not know how to attch it to this, so I'm going to e-mail it to Bob and see if he can post it so anyone who wants can see it.

130 so far-that's if you count two units I was at before they became NPS units and if you don't count Ok City-worked in 10-if its west of the Mississippi and not in Alaska odds are I've been there

326 and counting. On my way to 392. Next up Voyageurs National Park later this month.
Been to all Hawaii units, but none in Alaska or the territories yet.

Rick -

Very impressive, and if you've yet to visit Alaska, you've saved some of the best for last :-)

My total is 76. Thanks for the list! I've printed it & it's going in the RV. We're retiring next year & hitting the road. This list will be great for areas we plan to visit.

Just counted been to 24 National Parks and 88 total NP units. Pretty cool, just visited Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton and Yellowstone last week. What a wonderful legacy the park system is for current and future generations.

My husband and I have now officially visited 201 National Park Units including 46 National Parks. For us, that means spending enough time in the park to really experience all it has to offer, camping when it is available, and writing a journal entry about our visit. We've also been to the Oklahoma City Memorial and American Memorial Park in Saipan which are not included in the 392. There are a couple of places we haven't counted because we visited them about 40 years ago before we started keeping journals. These need a return visit. Since we started documenting our trips long before the passport program began, we have our journal entries and each park brochure organized into 5 large binders. We'll need a few more binders by the time we complete all 392 units!

I have been very fortunate to visit 380 of the units. In each case I have to be physically present in the unit for it to count. With the additionof the River Raisin National Battlefield Park this week I have 12 more to visit in 2011. 1 unit has no public access. The Hohokum Pima National Monument is off limits. Like Nancy-Ann and her husband, I have binders for all of the official park guides. Most are stamped with the day I visited the unit. Most of the remaining sites are in Alaska. The last site, the Eugene O'Neil House is the site located closest to where I live here in California. I will have a celebration with family and friends when I finish. If there are others who have visited all 393 of the units I would like to hear about them.

If you've made it to 100 or more of the Units, you are eligible to receive a certificate recognizing your accomplishment if you become a Member of the National Park Travelers Club.... you can check our website at www.parkstamps.org for more details on that if you are interested!

Looks like we're at 93 and adding more each summer. I have stamps from almost all of them. The only reason is the park visitor center was not open. I love visiting our country's National Parks. Each one has something unique to investigate and enjoy.

Of the 394 units 1 is not open to the public. This leaves 393 units to visit. I have visited 382 of the 393. I am on my way to Alaska to go to the remaining units there. The last unit on my adventure will be the Eugene O'Neil House. This last one is the closest to where I live. I started this adventure in 1997.