People seem to like numbers, and hierarchy, so here's a rundown of the leading units of the National Park System in terms of 2011 visitation. The first list combs through all 397 units in the system, while the second looks only at National Park-designated units of the National Park System.
10 Most-Visited Units Of the National Park System in 2011
- Blue Ridge Parkway.....................................15,382,447
- Golden Gate NRA.........................................14,567,487
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park.................9,008,830
- Gateway NRA...............................................7,697,727
- George Washington Memorial Parkway................7,417,397
- Lake Mead NRA.............................................6,396,682
- Lincoln Memorial...........................................5,971,220
- Natchez Trace Parkway...................................5,765,343
- Gulf Islands National Seashore...........................5,501,872
- Delaware Water Gap NRA.................................4,986,700
10 Most-Visited National Parks in 2011
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park...............9,008,830
- Grand Canyon National Park...........................4,298,178
- Yosemite National Park.................................3,951,393
- Yellowstone National Park..............................3,394,326
- Rocky Mountain National Park.........................3,176,941
- Olympic National Park...................................2,966,502
- Zion National Park........................................2,825,505
- Grand Teton National Park..............................2,587,437
- Acadia National Park.....................................2,374,645
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park.........................2,161,185
Comments
Where is Mt. Rushmore on the list. I know we are a "Memorial" not a park but we have around 3 million visitors a year!!!!
Sorry Big Daddy, according to NPS stats, Rushmore counted 2.081 million in 2011, good for 37th in the system...
Where could we see the complete listing of ranking of all the National Parks, sites,NRRA's etc?
Debby, go to http://www.nature.nps.gov/stats/, click on "Reports," then select "ranking report," then select the year you want.
Wow. Hard to believe GSMNP has more than twice the second place visitors. Our parks ROCK!
The Smoky Mountains are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Not surprised that it is amongst the top. It is definitely God's Country.
And the parks are very sadly being loved to death. Congress doesn't seem to care.
I'm not surprised that Great Smoky Mountains is at the top, given two things -- its proximity to major population centers and the fact that it does not charge an entrance fee.
Yosemite suffers from the same first problem -- especially since 90% of those visitors are crammed into Yosemite Valley.