Great Smoky Mountains remains America’s most visited national park by a long shot.
Nearly 13 million people visited the park straddling North Carolina and Tennessee last year, according to newly released National Park Service numbers. That’s fewer than the 14.1 million who visited in 2021 but still far more than any of the other 62 national parks.
“The 2022 visitation report confirms what we have long known to be true – Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to be a special place for millions of visitors,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a news release. “We are thinking about what average visitation over the last ten years means for the next ten years and how we will preserve a high-quality visitor experience as well as park resources.”
The most parks popular are nearly all household names like Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and America’s first national Park, Yellowstone, but there are two that may surprise casual fans.
Cuyahoga Valley and Indiana Dunes both saw more visitors last year than places like Arches and Everglades, which didn’t make the top 15.
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Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY
15 most-visited national parks in 2022
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park – 12,937,633
- Grand Canyon National Park – 4,732,101
- Zion National Park – 4,692,417
- Rocky Mountain National Park – 4,300,424
- Acadia National Park – 3,970,260
- Yosemite National Park – 3,667,550
- Yellowstone National Park – 3,290,242
- Joshua Tree National Park – 3,058,294
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park – 2,913,312
- Glacier National Park – 2,908,458
- Indiana Dunes National Park – 2,834,180
- Grand Teton National Park – 2,806,223
- Hot Springs National Park – 2,646,133
- Olympic National Park – 2,432,972
- Bryce Canyon National Park – 2,354,660
Source: National Park Service
For perspective, the least visited park, National Park of American Samoa, only saw 1,887 recreational visits last year.