![]() ![]() For nearby Chicagoans and Indiana residents in urban areas, the park is a welcome escape for hiking, camping, biking, swimming, kayaking, fishing, and, most of all, birdwatching: More than 350 avian species have been spotted here. Within Indiana Dunes’ 25 miles, you’ll discover a stunning array of terrains, from surprisingly steep dune hikes and pristine Lake Michigan shorefront to prairies, swamps, and marshy wetlands that look more Louisiana than Indiana. When Indiana Dunes was upgraded from a national lakeshore to a national park in 2019, some folks scoffed: How could a beach bookended by power plants with the Chicago skyline looming in the distance be in the same category as Yellowstone? But consider that this sleeper hit-the ninth most popular park in the country, with 3.2 million visitors-boasts more biodiversity than not only Yellowstone, but almost all other national parks. (For example, 2021’s least-visited park, Alaska's Gates of the Arctic, would, hands-down, trounce many of the places on this list if it wasn’t so far north that, you know, polar bears were a serious issue.) Go ahead, make the trek to one of the country’s top scenic treasures and add to the statistics. It should be noted that this is not a list of the best national parks out of all 63, but rather a ranking of the most frequented in terms of tourists.Īmerica’s least-visited national parks are often quieter not because they’re less beautiful or interesting, but because they’re difficult to get to. Using the most recent data available, we've sifted through the 20 most popular national parks-which, in total, saw nearly 300 million visitors last year-and ranked them according to scenic beauty, unique features, accessibility, pure wow factor, and just a little personal bias. And as the pandemic proved the power-and popularity-of the Great Outdoors, our most prevalent parks don’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Just like zodiac signs, there’s a national park for everyone, whether you’re looking to slowly drive past a bison herd, scale colossal mountain peaks, traverse craggy desert expanses, or just straight-up take a great bath. ![]()
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