Just one thing: National parks aren’t exactly expensive, right?
During our travels through the US they definitely provided the most bang for the buck, especially given that we had the $80 annual pass. In that context it was actually state parks that were an additional cost for us, though certainly never any kind of substantial cost. The tiniest fraction of our budget. Doing stuff in cities was much more expensive and we didn’t even consider visiting Disneyland, even though we actually stayed a couple of nights in Orlando (to visit the Kennedy Space Center – one of the most expensive things we did - followed by a visit to the neighboring state park, which was very cheap).
We never stayed inside or even just near the parks, so that certainly helped. Our budget of spending between $100 and $150 per night for three people always felt very manageable (mostly AirBnB and so we nearly always had a kitchen to cook food) but I can see how that might be too much for some people.
I think had we wanted to stay closer to the national parks (to explore them more thoroughly instead of basically doing day trips to like twenty of them) we would have spent a bit more on places to sleep (more like $200).
The fun things to do in national parks don’t cost any additional money, at least usually. I guess if you want to ride a mule down to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon? But even that’s more limited by scarcity than price. Maybe there are little costs here and there (like renting bikes in the Everglades) but we definitely spent more on t-shirts about national parks than we did on things to do in national parks. They felt like a real benevolent gift most of the time, expect when there were too many other people, I guess (though since we were one of those too many people we could hardly complain).
I've done a handful of National Park trips in the last year and a half (Yellow Stone, a few in southern Utah).
I would say National Park trips are "expensive" in ways other than the cash it takes to get in. We tried to plan our trips avoiding the major holidays and spring/fall breaks of the local school districts, etc.
- They're overly crowded. It feels like a theme park. Looking at a waterfall and you're standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers. It's crazy.
- Parking is nearly impossible to find. Some days you have to pay for parking and bus into the park.
- Every campground was full. Hotels and BNBs are not exactly cheap in those areas.
We'd ask workers/etc about the traffic and they'd always say stuff like, "oh yeah, this is nothing. You should've seen it X weeks ago!"
So, sure the National Park itself is peanuts to get admission. But it was disappointing in a lot of ways. For those reasons, I would be more interested in paying more dollars to see State parks, if all the other "costs" were "cheaper" :)
If you are going 'second tier' with State parks, just go to National Forests. Where I am you can see amazing waterfalls, ride down nature made water slides, gathers crystals, gather sharks teeth, see breathtaking ancient cedar groves, breathtaking lake views, breathtaking alpine lake views, breathtaking mountain views, see wildlife from mountain sheep to moose to if you aren't careful grizzlies (be smart, National Forests has way less safeguards than National Parks)(the only animal my son never saw on his wishlist was a porcupine, the scariest ever seen according to the kids, not a grizzlie or wolf, no, a beaver in the water while they were swimming), mountainbike/hike. All free.
Most of the National Parks (and National Monuments) are such for good reason but there are definitely alternatives and the most popular parks may have crowds (and restrictions) that make them not worth it at peak times. There are some parks I'd never visit during the summer. Not that all the alternatives are uncrowded. Some Wilderness Areas in particular have almost impossible to come by permits.
Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky is an unknown treasure outside of the state (unless you're a climber). The Red River Gorge has beautiful vistas, old growth hemlock stands, and really cool rock formations. And speaking of entertainment/travel/lodging inflation, primitive and developed camping are still cheap in the area.
I am actually of the opinion that national parks should be more protected or have significant increases in price and/or limited visitors. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park on what happened to be a major holiday weekend. We actually didn't plan on doing so, but we were looking for something to do while already on vacation there and decided to hit up some of the trails on a day we hadn't planned anything. The park was so unbelievably packed it was miserable at some of the popular trails. Hour long bus rides to get to the trail, tons of cars, and tons of hikers. I spoke candidly with some of the volunteers and park rangers there, and they agreed that something needed to be done to limit visitors and were certain it would be coming sooner than later.
Everywhere you could look you could see damage to the park. From people swimming in the mountain lakes, going off trail, cars providing pollution and noise and killing animals, etc. The volunteers at the park were exhausted. And I'm pretty sure someone hit and killed a black bear with a car on the weekend we were there. People were just moving through the park like cattle at the mall.
RMNP has had a reservation system since the pandemic, which I hope they keep for this reason. Aside from Bear Lake the park hasn't been noticeably busier than others the handful of times I've gone since they started it
During our travels through the US they definitely provided the most bang for the buck, especially given that we had the $80 annual pass. In that context it was actually state parks that were an additional cost for us, though certainly never any kind of substantial cost. The tiniest fraction of our budget. Doing stuff in cities was much more expensive and we didn’t even consider visiting Disneyland, even though we actually stayed a couple of nights in Orlando (to visit the Kennedy Space Center – one of the most expensive things we did - followed by a visit to the neighboring state park, which was very cheap).
We never stayed inside or even just near the parks, so that certainly helped. Our budget of spending between $100 and $150 per night for three people always felt very manageable (mostly AirBnB and so we nearly always had a kitchen to cook food) but I can see how that might be too much for some people.
I think had we wanted to stay closer to the national parks (to explore them more thoroughly instead of basically doing day trips to like twenty of them) we would have spent a bit more on places to sleep (more like $200).
The fun things to do in national parks don’t cost any additional money, at least usually. I guess if you want to ride a mule down to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon? But even that’s more limited by scarcity than price. Maybe there are little costs here and there (like renting bikes in the Everglades) but we definitely spent more on t-shirts about national parks than we did on things to do in national parks. They felt like a real benevolent gift most of the time, expect when there were too many other people, I guess (though since we were one of those too many people we could hardly complain).