Let’s start with the genuine shockers: Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion do not even break the top 10 in a brand-new ranking of U.S. national forests. Can we even rely on a list that puts these amazing locations in the middle of the pack? We’ll let you decide.
In event of National forest Week 2024, an online travel guide business called Travel Lemming released its updated list of best U.S. national parks for 2024. The group determined each park’s overall ranking based on its average ranking across seven categories: crowds, evaluations, weather, cost, jobs, accessibility, and biodiversity.
We’ll talk about more about methodology later. In the meantime, let’s get to the rankings.
Travel Lemming’s Ranking of the U.S.’s 63 National Parks
- Shenandoah National Park
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Olympic National Forest
- Terrific Smoky Mountains National Forest
- North Cascades National Park
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Channel Islands National Park
- New River Gorge National Park
- Everglades National Park
- Redwood National Forest
- Cuyahoga Valley National Forest
- Saguaro National Forest
- Huge Bend National Forest
- Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
- Death Valley National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Mount Rainier National Park
- Zion National Forest
- Kenai Fjords National Park
- Haleakalā National Park
- Capitol Reef National Forest
- Sequoia National Forest
- Yosemite National Park
- Grand Teton National Park
- Carlsbad Caverns National Forest
- Canyonlands National Park
- Dry Tortugas National Park
- Biscayne National Park
- Indiana Dunes National Park
- White Sands National Park
- Pinnacles National Forest
- Mammoth Cave National Park
- Arches National Forest
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Badlands National Park
- Congaree National Forest
- Kings Canyon National Forest
- Glacier Bay National Park and Maintain
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Acadia National Forest
- Crater Lake National Forest
- Katmai National Park and Maintain
- Denali National Park and Protect
- Scared Forest National Park
- Glacier National Park
- Entrance Arch National Park
- Fantastic Sand Dunes National Forest and Protect
- Hot Springs National Forest
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forest
- Voyageurs National Park
- Guadalupe Mountains National Park
- Mesa Verde National Park
- Excellent Basin National Forest
- Wrangell-St. Elias National Forest and Preserve
- Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
- Island Royale National Park
- Theodore Roosevelt National Forest
- Virgin Islands National Park
- Wind Cave National Forest
- American Samoa National Park
- Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
- Kobuk Valley National Park
Where does your favorite park fall on the list?
(Source: NPS) Methodology Travel Lemming describes its approach rather extensively, detailing all 7 classifications and how they calculated a rating for each one.
For example, they thought about how crowded parks are by dividing the total leisure check outs in 2023 by the variety of square acres. They identified a “reviews” ranking by taking the typical user-review score from several sources, consisting of Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.
They likewise considered typical month-to-month temperature level and precipitation, plus the possibility for severe weather to determine each park’s “weather condition” ranking, and they calculated cost in part by digging up the National forest Service’s reports on total visitor costs per park.
A brand-new classification added in 2024 is “tasks.” Travel Lemming states it calculated each park’s tasks score by looking at the number of jobs each park produces. This is an attempt to assess how considerably the park economically benefits the neighborhood around it.
For ease of access, the researchers looked at how easy or tough it is to access the park. This category most likely pulled the general ranking down for stunning parks that need a helicopter or ferry to gain access to, like Alaska’s remote Kobuk Valley National forest, which came in last place.
The final category that added to this year’s national forest ranking is biodiversity. Travel Lemming provided a score in this classification based on the overall variety of types present in each park.
What do you believe? Will you select your next national park experience based upon this ranking?
Can we trust a ranking of U.S. national parks in which Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion don’t even break the top 10? We’ll let you choose.