How To Know If You Qualify For These Free National Park Passes

Most outdoor enthusiasts in the United States are frequent visitors to national parks across the country. While some have a favorite park or two they routinely visit, others maintain a national park bucket list and try to visit as many as they can throughout the country. The majority of those who make numerous visits to national parks throughout the year typically find the annual pass to be a worthwhile investment. However, whether you visit once a year or once a week, one of the biggest mistakes people make when visiting national parks is not realizing they could get in for free.

The National Park Service's America the Beautiful Pass is typically $80 annually. It covers entrance and day-use amenity fees at any public lands managed by the National Park Service, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Given the phenomenal amount of land access granted by this pass, $80 is definitely a bargain. Seniors are even cheaper, with the discounted annual pass costing $20 and a lifetime pass being $80. But, just as there are numerous national park activities you might not know about, there are also several ways to get into national parks for free that you may not be aware of. So, before paying another entry fee or buying another annual pass, you should know if you qualify for these free national park passes.

As one may expect, military service is one way to qualify for a free national park pass. Current military members and their dependents, military cadets, and active reservists all qualify for a free annual pass, although there is a $10 processing fee. Gold Star families, those who are next of kin to a military member who lost their life in the line of duty, and military veterans are also eligible for a free lifetime pass for that same $10 processing fee.

The National Parks Service also offers an Access Pass. This free pass is available to permanently disabled U.S. citizens and permanent residents. This is a lifetime pass without age restrictions, so young and old alike are eligible. A fourth type of free pass is actually available to fourth graders. As part of the Every Kid Outdoors program, U.S. fourth graders are eligible for an annual park pass. This pass runs September through August, to coincide with the beginning of their fourth grade school year and the end of the following summer. A final way to gain a free park pass is by volunteering at a national park. In order to be granted a volunteer park pass, you must tally 250 hours of volunteer work, although these hours do not all need to be completed within a single calendar year.

If you don't qualify for one of the free annual or lifetime passes, you still have the chance to visit national parks for free a handful of times each year. According to the National Park Service, all you have to do to get in for free is show up on one of the half-dozen free entrance days offered by the National Park Service throughout the year. 

Free admission is offered on January 15 to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr; June 19 to commemorate Juneteenth; August 4, which is the anniversary of the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act; September 28, which is Public Lands Day; and November 11 for Veterans Day. Additionally, although the exact dates from year to year, free admission is also granted on the first day of National Parks Week, which typically falls during the third week of April to coincide with Earth Day. All told, these free entrance days, which are honored at every national park facility in the United States, afford everyone the opportunity to take advantage of our national parks at least once in each of the four seasons of the year.