2026 U.S. National Park Access Guide: What Travelers Need to Know

If you’re like us, then you’ve probably already begun planning some trips to U.S. National Parks in 2026. It’s important to note, though, that a lot of changes have been made by the current administration that went into effect on January 1st, especially with the America the Beautiful pass. We’re here to break down all of these changes so that you can confidently know what to expect this year wherever your travels take you.

In a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior on November 25, 2025, it was announced that 2026 would bring “new digital passes, new annual pass artwork, America-first pricing and expanded motorcycle access.”

There are several updates to include resident vs non-resident pricing and benefits. Please note that residents must provide proof through any of the following documents:

• U.S. State or Territory-Issued Driver’s License or State ID
• U.S. Passport (book or card)
• Permanent Resident Card (“Green Card”)

We will break down each of the changes in detail below.

National parks that charge an entrance fee require visitors to purchase either a standard pass, park-specific annual pass, or America the Beautiful pass. You will only need one of these; they do not cover any additional fees needed for timed entry reservations.

This type of pass is recommended if you are just looking to do one trip to a single park. The standard pass is applicable to the park you purchase it at for some duration of 1-7 days.

Another major change to National Park access this year is the non-resident fee to the most frequently visited parks. If you are a non-resident purchasing a standard pass at any of the following parks, anyone aged 16 or older will need to pay an additional $100 fee per person. This is in addition to the standard pass fee for entry.

• Acadia National Park, Maine
• Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
• Everglades National Park, Florida
• Glacier National Park, Montana
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
• Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
• Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, California
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• Yosemite National Park, California
• Zion National Park, Utah

For example, if a group of four non-resident adults were to visit our home park of Rocky Mountain under a standard pass, they would be charged the $30.00 standard entry fee plus $100.00 per person non-resident fee, totaling $430.00 (USD) just to enter the park.

These non-resident fees DO NOT APPLY if entry is being done with an Annual or American the Beautiful Pass.

To get more information about the different costs to enter certain parks, you can use this Entrance Fees by Park page from the NPS.

This type of pass is recommended if you are planning to make multiple trips to one park or one or more trips to a park group. It is applicable to the park you purchased it at, or, the corresponding park group (listed below) for the entire year. Please note that this is not available for all parks.

• Hawai’i Tri-Park Pass: valid at Haleakala National Park, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, and Pu’uhonua ‘O Honaunau National Historical Park
• Southeast Utah Parks Annual Pass: valid at Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, and Hovenweep National Monument
• Flagstaff Area National Monuments Annual Pass: valid at Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, and Wupatki National Monuments
• Northern California/Southern Oregon 4-Park Pass: valid at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Crater Lake National Park, and Lava Beds National Monument
• Oregon Coast Passport: valid at all Oregon state and federal fee sites along the Oregon coast
• Assateague Island National Seashore Annual Pass/Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Annual Pass: valid at Assateague Island National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Annual Pass: valid at Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, and Hume Lake Ranger District of Sequoia National Forest/Giant Sequoia National Monument
• Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot Annual Pass: valid at Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments
• Great Falls Annual Pass: valid at Great Falls area of the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Maryland and Great Falls Park in Virginia

This type of pass is recommended for anyone planning a trip to multiple parks throughout the year. Please see the next section for a more in depth look at the pass.

America the Beautiful is a pass that allows holders access to over 2,000 federal recreation areas across the United States. It covers entrance fees and day-use fees at lands managed by National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers.

Depending on how each site charges their entrance fees, this pass will cover either (1) private vehicle fee or (4) per person fees. The designated cardholder MUST be present in order to use it.

These passes are non-refundable, non-transferable, and cannot be replaced if lost or stolen. Passholders must show valid photo identification with each pass.

There are several types of America the Beautiful passes and costs associated with them. Please see the table below to find which one matches your situation.

TYPE	AVAILABLE TO	PRICE (USD)
Resident Annual Pass	U.S. citizens and residents	$80.00
Non-Resident Annual Pass	Non-U.S. residents	$250.00
Senior Annual Pass	U.S. citizens and residents, 62+ years old	$20.00
Senior Lifetime Pass	U.S. citizens and residents, 62+ years old	$80.00
Military Annual Pass	Current U.S. military and dependents	free
Military Lifetime Pass	Gold Star Family members and veterans	free
Access Pass	U.S. citizens and residents with permanent disability	free
4th Grade Pass	U.S. 4th graders	free
Volunteer Pass	Federal recreation site volunteers with 250 service hrs	free

There are a few ways you can purchase your America the Beautiful passes.

1. In person! This is highly recommended, as you will immediately recieve your pass. Please note that not every NPS site sells these passes. You can verify your location at this link.
2. Order online and receive by mail. In order to do this, you can place an order at the USGS Online Store. We ordered ours on 12/31/2025 and received it in the mail on 01/09/2026. We paid an extra few dollars for FedEx Ground Shipping instead of Standard. Please note that you cannot use any sort of receipt for valid use- you must wait until you receive your physical pass.
3. Get a digital pass online. New this year is the option to get a digital version of your America the Beautiful pass through recreation.gov. This can be saved to your mobile device and used immediately.

When planning your trip to certain parks, it is important to note 1) if they require reservations and timed entry and 2) when that window is. The timed entry system was put in place at more popular parks to attempt to manage vehicle traffic and overcrowding. These reservations and timed entry require additional small fees and are typically made available through recreation.gov on a rolling basis.

The following parks require reservations, timed entry, or both:

• Acadia National Park – Cadillac Summit Road Vehicle Reservations – May 20th – Oct 25th
• Arches National Park – Park Timed Entry – Apr 1 – Jun 6, Aug 28 – Oct 31 (7:00 am – 4:00 pm)
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park – Cavern Entrance Timed Entry – year round
• Glacier National Park – Park Timed Entry for Going to the Sun Rd and North Fork – 2026 TBD
• Haleakala National Park – Sunrise Volcano Summit Permit – year round (3:00 am – 7:00 am)
• Rocky Mountain National Park – Timed Entry – approx May – Oct (9:00 am – 2:00 pm)
• Rocky Mountain National Park – Timed Entry, Bear Lake Corridor – approx May – Oct (5:00 am – 6:00 pm)

Please note that this does NOT include specific hikes in parks that require permits, such as Fiery Furnace in Arches or Half Dome in Yosemite.

If you are unable to aquire the necessary timed entry permits, there are some parks (like Rocky Mountain) where you can enter the park prior to the starting hours and be just fine to go exploring. For example, if we wanted to hike in Bear Lake Corrider this summer without a timed entry permit, we would need to be through the main entry gate AND the Bear Lake Corrider station prior to 5:00 am.

Every year, the National Park Service sites that typically charge entrance fees offer free admission to everyone on specific dates. Beginning in 2026, free entrance will only be permitted for U.S. citizens and residents. Non-residents are expected to pay the normal fees.

The Free Entrance Days in 2026 include:

• Monday, February 16: Presidents Day
• Monday, May 25: Memorial Day
• Sunday, June 14: Flag Day/Trump’s birthday
• Friday, July 3: Independence Day weekend
• Saturday, July 4: Independence Day
• Sunday, July 5: Independence Day weekend
• Tuesday, August 25: 110th birthday of the National Park Service
• Thursday, September 17: Constitution Day
• Tuesday, October 27: Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday
• Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day

It is important to note that the administration has removed Martin Luther King, Jr Day in January and Juneteenth in June as Free Entrance Days. They were replaced with dates like Trump’s birthday and Constitution Day.

This change follows with the trend that the current administration is erasing nonwhite history. In what can be another post entirely, the Trump Administration, through a series of orders, has changed names of public places, censored historical exhibits, and reduced access to public lands.

In an article published on the Center for American Progress website, these acts are outlined in great detail to show just how detrimental this administration has been to our public lands and history.

President Trump has deemed the telling of civil rights histories about women and minorities as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed” and that they foster a “sense of national shame.”

Because of the sentiment above, there has been a wave of censorship to public records, monuments, lands, and internet resources that are meant to alter historical facts and take away from minority communities.

The 2026 America the Beautiful Pass artwork for residents is showcasing portraits of Presidents Washington and Trump, as opposed to the typical nature photo of one of the parks that has been in place since the program’s inception.

Traditionally, the image on the pass is selected via an annual public photo contest administered by the National Parks Foundation and required under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004. For 2026, the contest winner was a scenic shot of Glacier National Park in Montana, but Interior instead put Trump’s likeness on the main resident pass and relegated the Glacier photo to a newly created “nonresident” version.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., arguing that the administration’s decision it violated statutory requirements for the national park pass design by substituting an image that was not from the public contest and by creating pass categories not authorized by statute. The complaint seeks to vacate the Trump-featured design and reinstate the contest winner on the main pass, asserting that the statutory requirement for an annual competition was ignored. This lawsuit is pending in federal court, which has not yet ruled on the legality of the pass design.

Due to the backlash of Trump featuring his face on the America the Beautiful pass, park lovers have promoted covering his image on the pass with stickers. In response to this, the National Park Service has updated policies to discourage pass holders from defacing Trump’s image.

“In a statement to NPR, the Interior Department said there was no new policy. Interagency passes have always been void if altered, as stated on the card itself. The agency said the recent update was meant to clarify that rule and help staff deal with confusion from visitors.” The void if altered rule has always been in place, but the update specifically included the use of stickers due to the grassroots movement taking place.

We lucked out in purchasing America the Beautiful Pass on New Year’s Eve and received a 2025 pass. For anyone with a 2026 pass who wants to protest without voiding it, you may consider purchasing a clear ID card holder that you can place a sticker on instead of the card itself. The card can be removed, un-altered, at park entrances and ranger stations.

One artist who has worked to accomplish this movement to “honor the wild places we love,” is a fellow Colorado resident operating Sage Leaf Studio. She created National Park themed stickers to place on the passes or on clear card holders. She also is donating 100% of all proceeds back to the National Park Service – she announced that she’s already donated $16,000! So if you want to support local and peacefully protest, we find this to be a fine way to do so.

Regardless of the changes beginning this year, it is always important to do your research when planning a trip to the U.S. National Parks. These places are wild and meant to preserve the natural landscapes of this country. Anyone who visits should treat the areas as such and be respectful of the space, wildlife, and rangers.

As a visitor to the parks, you should be well aware of the potential risks, rules, and regulations surrounding these protected lands. You should know what obstacles you may face depending on the time of year you plan to visit. You should acquaint yourself with the Leave No Trace principles so you can leave these spaces beautiful.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the current administration and the policies they are putting in place for federal lands. We aim to stay informed about these changes and how they affect us, those around us, and the history of these places. Above all, we aim to recreate responsibly, and we hope that you do, too.