Tips & Tricks: USA National Parks

During COVID-19 we visited two national parks and a handful of state parks with noticeable differences from the times we’ve visiting prior to COVID-19.

As the world starts to reopen, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about recommendations when traveling to national parks like Zion and Joshua Tree since COVID-19. Sometimes it can be unclear what the current protocols are (and it varies from park to park). We are sharing our top 5 tips when traveling to national parks this summer and beyond!

Before You Go

Tip #1: Set a reminder to purchase shuttle or park entry tickets in your calendar.

Most national parks these days require you to pre-purchase a shuttle ticket (i.e. Zion) or entry fee (i.e. Red Rock State Park in Vegas). They can be purchased online, typically a few days in advance as they open slots to capacity control. Check out the national park you are visiting and be sure to set an alarm or calendar invite in your phone to lock in your ticket!

Tip #2: Plan for weekdays or low traffic times (if possible):

As most people when traveling during COVID-19 and as cities start open up, there are still large amounts of people who are opting for outdoor activities. This means national parks can get extremely crowded. Our recommendation is to plan a trip for a week day like Wednesday (if you have the ability to take work off) which may have less traffic. Alternative hacks we’ve found are to arrive at “off” times than most travelers. When we have arrived at national parks towards 12 PM or later, the morning rush has usually passed and it’s less busy.

Tip #3: Download AllTrails to plan your day.

We use typically use the app AllTrails to plan our itinerary for the day. The app will have the length of trail, reviews from other hikers, and usually comments from people who recently visited the hike. This was an easy way for us to know what COVID-19 protocols were for different trails.

Day of your Trip 

Tip #4: Be flexible with your itinerary as you may experience unforeseen closures.

As always, be flexible when you travel. You may get to a national park and a section of the park is closed off due to a number of factors including 1) social distancing guidelines (i.e. the area is too small for hikers to safely visit) 2) damage or rock falls or 3) limited service. All three of these happened to us!

Tip #5: Bring gallons of water in the car.

At parks that are possible to bring your car, be sure to pack lots of water! This will help reduce having to use public and shared water fountains. However at this time, most national parks have kept these open for hikers and travelers in case you run out.

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Have you visited a national park since COVID-19? What other tips do you have for travelers?

Looking for more travel tips? Check out our favorite apps here or explore more travel tip blog posts. 

Traveling during COVID-19? Here are more ways to prepare for the unexpected during uncertain travel seasons.

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