Last year, the National Parks System saw more visitors than ever before. With the record crowds came record problems, and many visitors were turned off by the masses congregated at popular viewpoints. In many ways, the surge in popularity of US national parks is a good thing for the conservation and public lands movements. But for those of us who are looking for a more peaceful experience, the crowds of 2021 were just as much a frustration. In 2022, I’m looking for beautiful places to visit that are far enough off the beaten path, they’ve been overlooked by the masses. Here are my four best parks to visit in the USA in 2022.
1. Dry Torgtugas national park, florida
This tropical national park off the coast of South Florida offers beautiful snorkeling and an island camping experience. What’s more, this park only welcomes about 80,000 visitors each year, compared to Yellowstone’s over 3 million yearly visitors, so you can count on avoiding the crowds.
Dry Tortugas National Park is 100 square miles of preserved coral reefs and mangrove/coral islands situated about 70 miles off of Key West, Florida. It boasts it’s own 19th century military installation Fort Jefferson, which is one of the largest forts left of its kind in the nation. You can explore the fort during the day while taking advantage of the park’s fabled night sky views while you camp out on the beach.
Reaching Dry Tortugas National Park is a trek, which helps keep the crowds away and makes this park one of the best national parks in the USA to visit in 2022. Options to travel to the park include ferry rides from Key West and the mainland, as well as a small commuter airline that operates seaplane trips twice daily to Garden Key.
2. Congaree national park, south carolina
Congaree National Park outside Columbia, South Carolina is one of the USA’s newest national parks and is still relatively unknown. Preserving a towering bald cypress forest that includes some of the oldest and tallest trees in the world, this relatively unknown, small national park includes 25 miles of hiking trails to help you explore the swamplands that make of the majority of this park.
Hike the boardwalk from the visitor center after a heavy rain and see the park fully submerged underwater, a truly surreal experience, or visit in May and June to see cousins of the famous synchronous fireflies of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Still new and relatively unknown, this park sees about 150,000 visitors a year and offers great opportunities to get out into the solitude of nature. Check out my vlog on Congaree National Park to find out more about my experience inside the Congaree swamp.
3. Great basin national park, nevada
This USA national park in eastern Nevada and helps protect part of the Great Basin, the dry, mountainous region in between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountains. Great Basin is known for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines (one of the oldest nonclonal organisms) and for the caves and glaciers on its highest peak: Wheeler Peak.
It’s drastic elevation changes from 5,000′ to 13,000′ also give it unusual biodiversity and is home to 73 different mammal species, over 200 bird species, 11 species of conifers, and over 800 plant species in total. Explore that biodiversity while taking advantage of the parks many camping opportunities, in both developed and backcountry campsites.
Great Basin National Park only receives about 90,000 visitors each year and this combined with it’s many amenities make it one of the best national parks in the USA to visit in 2022 if you’re looking to avoid the crowds.
4. Isle royale national park, michigan
Situated on an island in the middle of the Lake Superior, Isle Royale is often considered the USA’s most remote national park, drawing only 18,000 visitors each year. This is most certainly a result of the park only being accessible by boat or seaplane.
While the trek there may be long, once you’re there, you’ll be greeted by beautiful, rugged shorelines, backcountry hiking and camping, and 400 satellite islands covered in transitional boreal forest to explore by boat. The adventure opportunities here are ENDLESS! And with so few visitors, it’s likely you won’t see anyone else while you’re there and will have experienced something few people get to.
These four national parks offer spectacular natural attractions and stunning landscapes to explore. Yet, they’re off-the-beaten-path status means they experience some of the lowest visitor numbers of any national park in the USA making them perfect for an escape into nature.
Parker Outside 