Looking to get outdoors? You can visit any national park for free on Veterans Day
The National Park Service is having a free-entry day for Veterans Day, rangers said.
All national parks and monuments run by the National Park Service will be free to visit Thursday, Nov. 11, for Veterans Day. It is the last of six free-entry days in 2021.
“Every national park is part of our collective identity that defines who we are and where we came from as a nation,” the National Park Service said. “They are tactile reminders of the values, the ideals, and the freedoms that our veterans protect.”
About 100 National Park Service sites typically charge entrance fees that range from $5 to $35. Six days a year, visitors won’t be charged a fee.
“The fee-free days provide a great opportunity to visit a new place or an old favorite, especially one of the national parks that normally charge an entrance fee,” park rangers said.
In 2020, many parks temporarily shut their gates to visitors to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Even with that closure, more than 237 million people visited the country’s national parks.
This year, more people than ever have been visiting the most popular national parks. Several parks have consistently shattered visitation records from month to month.
The National Park Service has not announced the fee-free days for 2022 yet, but Martin Luther King Jr. Day was the first free day of 2021.
Other past free days include:
“Throughout the country, every national park provides a variety of opportunities to get out in nature, connect with our common heritage and experience the vast array of benefits that come from spending time outdoors,” Margaret Everson, counselor to the secretary, said in a news release. “Hopefully the fee-free days will encourage everyone to spend some time in their national parks.”