What is the #1 national park? These were the 15 most visited in 2022.

Eve Chen, USA TODAY
·2 min read
4

Great Smoky Mountains remains America's most visited national park by a long shot.

Nearly 13 million people visited the park straddling North Carolina and Tennessee last year, according to newly released National Park Service numbers. That's fewer than the 14.1 million who visited in 2021 but still far more than any of the other 62 national parks.

"The 2022 visitation report confirms what we have long known to be true – Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to be a special place for millions of visitors," Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a news release. "We are thinking about what average visitation over the last ten years means for the next ten years and how we will preserve a high-quality visitor experience as well as park resources."

The most parks popular are nearly all household names like Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and America's first national Park, Yellowstone, but there are two that may surprise casual fans.

Cuyahoga Valley and Indiana Dunes both saw more visitors last year than places like Arches and Everglades, which didn't make the top 15.

America's least-visited national parks: These parks are for nature lovers who hate crowds

Quiz: How well do you know America's national parks?

15 most-visited national parks in 2022

  1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 12,937,633

  2. Grand Canyon National Park - 4,732,101

  3. Zion National Park - 4,692,417

  4. Rocky Mountain National Park - 4,300,424

  5. Acadia National Park - 3,970,260

  6. Yosemite National Park - 3,667,550

  7. Yellowstone National Park - 3,290,242

  8. Joshua Tree National Park - 3,058,294

  9. Cuyahoga Valley National Park - 2,913,312

  10. Glacier National Park - 2,908,458

  11. Indiana Dunes National Park - 2,834,180

  12. Grand Teton National Park - 2,806,223

  13. Hot Springs National Park - 2,646,133

  14. Olympic National Park - 2,432,972

  15. Bryce Canyon National Park - 2,354,660

Source: National Park Service

For perspective, the least visited park, National Park of American Samoa, only saw 1,887 recreational visits last year.

Annual visits to Great Smoky Mountains National Park have jumped by nearly a third since 2009. Here's a look at the crowds at Laurel Falls on July 2019.
Annual visits to Great Smoky Mountains National Park have jumped by nearly a third since 2009. Here's a look at the crowds at Laurel Falls on July 2019.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: America's most popular parks include a few you may not recognize

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