Most Visited Parks of 2022
This past week the National Park Service released visitation data for all of its national park sites. In total, the National Park Service received 311,985,998 visitors to its 424 national park sites. That’s a staggering number that shows a noticeable rebound towards pre-pandemic era visitation. The data released also includes a top ten list of the most visited parks in the system. All data in this article is straight from nps.gov and the National Park Service:
Blue Ridge Parkway (15,711,004 visits)
The National Park Service has released most visited park lists since 1979, and Blue Ridge Parkway has been the most visited park in 29 of those years. The 15.7 million visits that the Parkway received in 2022 is a bit down from 2021, but I did personally make my first ever trip to the park back in April. So you can mark me down as one of those 15.7 million.
2. Golden Gate National Recreation Area (15,638,911)
Only slightly behind Blue Ridge Parkway in visits in 2022 was Golden Gate National Recreation Area with 15.6 million visitors. Golden Gate happens to be the only other park to be the most visited park in the system in any year as it has topped the most visited list on 15 different occasions. It also holds the record for most visits in a single year when it had an absurd 21,767,176 visits in 1987. The 80s saw a visitation boom at Blue Ridge and Golden Gate.
3. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (12,937,633)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is almost regularly the most visited national park proper every year. It had 12.9 million visits in 2022, which is unsurprising as it is directly connected with the Blue Ridge Parkway and is one of five units to make the top 10 list of most visited parks every single year that the list has been released (along with Blue Ridge and Golden Gate).
4. Gateway National Recreation Area (8,728,291)
Gateway National Recreation Area has only missed being on this list 1 year in its history (1994 being the only year it missed the top 10). I happened to be one of the 8.7 million visits it received this year as I got in some bird watching at the Jamaica Bay district before a New York Mets game in the spring. Multiple districts of the park being located within New York City make it super accessible.
5. Lincoln Memorial (7,825,397)
As more and more memorials and monuments have been added to the Washington D.C. landscape during the 21st century, the many park sites of the city have seen a boom in visitation. The Lincoln Memorial has had an almost yearly presence on this list since the turn of the century. The Lincoln Memorial saw an over 2 million visit increase from last year with 7.8 million visits with COVID era restrictions all but gone, but last year happened to be a rare year where I didn’t visit the iconic park.
6. George Washington Memorial Parkway (7,397,120)
The George Washington Memorial Parkway is another DC area park that makes frequent appearances on this list. In fact, 1989 was the only year that the Parkway didn’t appear on the list when it underwent construction. Unfortunately 2022 was one of the rare years where I didn’t make a visit to Washington DC so I was not one of the 7.3 million visits to the park.
7. Natchez Trace Parkway (6,543,533)
The Natchez Trace Parkway is the fourth of five park sites that have made this list every single year that the National Park Service has released it. The Parkway had a slight increase in visits in 2022 from 2021 with 6.5 million visits.
8. Gulf Islands National Seashore (5,685,155)
The list normally has at least one national seashore every single year with Gulf Islands National Seashore or Cape Cod National Seashore being frequent contributors. For 2022, it was Gulf Islands, which saw a slight increase in visits with 5.6 million.
9. Lake Mead National Recreation Area (5,578,226)
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the final park site that has appeared on this list every single year that the National Park Service has released it. That status may be in trouble in future years, though, as climate change has caused massive droughts in the area forcing the Park Service to close down many areas and services. The park saw an over 2 million decrease in visits from 2021 to 2022 where it had 5.5 million visits.
10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the third and final Washington D.C. park to make the list. Its close proximity to the Lincoln Memorial makes it easy to attract the many visitors who make their way to the nation’s capital.
