Free entry available at America’s national parks on Aug. 4
Pick a park. Any national park.
They’ll all be free to enter on Monday, Aug. 4, one of the last fee-free dates this year.
And it’s not just national parks like Acadia and Yosemite, but every site within the National Park System that typically requires entrance passes, including Cape Code National Seashore and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Here’s what park lovers should know.
What days can you get into national parks for free?
There are three fee-free dates left this year:
Aug. 4 – Great American Outdoors Act signing day
Sept. 27 – National Public Lands Day
Nov. 11 – Veterans Day
Why are parks free on August 4?
Aug. 4 is the fifth anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act.
The legislation funds critical infrastructure improvements across parks.
“Over 600 projects, ranging from replacing a split-rail fence at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park to rehabilitating a campground at Zion National Park, have been taking place in more than 250 national parks,” the National Park Service shared on Facebook.
Why aren't national parks free all the time?
Some parks are free to enter year-round. Only a fraction of the 433 sites within the Park System charge entrance fees, which go toward supporting the parks themselves.
“At least 80 percent of funding from recreation fees stays in the park where it is collected, and the other 20 percent is used to benefit parks that do not collect fees or parks which generate only a small amount of revenue,” according to the National Park Service’s website.
Travelers can search the NPS site for entry fees by park.