HikeArizona.COM

The $80 annual pass continues to be the best deal in American outdoor recreation. But now, "this land is for you and me," not them.

Changes to Entrance Fees and Passes in 2026
Beginning January 1, 2026, changes to entrance fees and passes include:

America the Beautiful passes will cover entrance fees for up to two motorcycles.

A new America the Beautiful pass for nonresidents of the US will be available for $250. All other America the Beautiful passes will only be available to US citizens and permanent residents.

Entrance fee free days will only apply to US citizens and residents. Nonresidents will be required to pay entrance fees and applicable nonresident fees.

The following parks will have a surcharge of $100 for each nonresident of the US entering the park: Acadia National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Everglades National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Parks, and Zion National Park.

You will now also be able to purchase your America the Beautiful annual pass on Wreck.gov and store it digitally on your phone.

See the details here: https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm

To read the press release about the changes with full political marketing spin: https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/depar ... ark-access

In 2017, the last proposed fee increase was rejected because it applied to everybody, and US taxpayers didn't like it. (See old discussion here: [ HAZ Forum Post ] )

@chumley
This is almost perfect and I love it.

@chumley
Those $100 surcharges are going to add up to a lot of $$$. I wonder if that revenue will stay with each individual park or get sent back to the swamp.

Just so long as the money generated doesn't go towards any non-NPS funding. Build and maintain new bathrooms, water lines, water spigots, interpretive dance signs, visitor centers that burn down, and everything in between, but never use it for anything else in any other agency or department.

We last had this talk in 2018, I think. It failed. Long overdue.

Now, cue the strawman debaters that will tell us an increase of the entrance fee to twice the current amount will cause tens of millions of underprivileged minority youths to not be able to enter a park after a 3 day drive from Chicago, Atlanta or New York City. Instead, they'll have to go to their local sporting event at a corporate ballpark and pay 3 times the doubled park entrance fee, for their yearly outdoor activity. I just checked the local in-season corporate ball team, "The Eagles", and the cheapest ticket they have is $199 per person, for a single game. Prices go to well over $1,000. Ah, corporate ball.

Jim
Assuming the underprivileged minorities from Chicago are US citizens, their entrance fee will remain the same. Only non-citizens are seeing a fee increase.

Oops. I deleted my rambling paragraph about how citizens should also pay more, hence the part about entrance fees being twice the current amount. That last paragraph makes little sense, since, yes, it is foreigners, only.

Oh, well. US citizens should also pay more. I propose raising the Interagency pass to $120 for FY 2027 and 2028, and $150 for FY 2029 and beyond. NPS entrance fees should be doubled, but the Interagency pass should provide a 40% discount over the regular rate. I thought this 8 years ago, so it isn't just my being nowhere near GCNP.

@Jim
I'm just glad I have my Geezer pass.

@azbackpackr
At least you earned it by virtue of age. Unlike someone I know who's stolen valor includes a fraudulent Military lifetime Access pass. And yes, YOU KNOW who I am talking about, and why I find him so disgusting.

@Jim
Interesting. When I got my lifetime military pass, I had to provide my service information and it validated that info. Curious at how someone gets around that unless they're just straight up using someone else's info.

Happy to have the digital option now, though (although, looks like that's not for another couple of months for the military passes). I travel out of state for work and my pass/hanger are generally in my car and not on me so that's useful.

chumley wrote:Wreck.gov

Parapraxis?

@Pivo
A misspelling I borrowed from @hikeaz

@Jim
Honestly have no idea who you're talking about. Not even the slightest clue. I racked my brain but can't remember anyone fitting that description.