These 9 National Parks Receive the Fewest Visitors Per Year on Average (2020)

The view from Dead Dog Hill in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (Photo: Bryan Petrtyl)

With 52.2 million acres, the United States has more federally-protected land designated as national parks than one person could feasibly visit in a lifetime. Factoring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, all of those acres are contained within 60+ officially-designated parks, some of which are instantly recognizable just by name (think Yosemite and Yellowstone).

But while the big wigs like the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains draw in millions of visitors every year, there are some parks out there that are lucky just to bring in a fraction of that. Make no mistake, however: these often overlooked parks are no less spectacular than their more popular counterparts. In fact, just by virtue of attracting less visitors on an annual basis, they are more likely to give nature lovers what they truly desire: that is, a chance to connect with the spirit inhabiting the great outdoors, sans distractions.

If you’re ready to give a little love to a place just waiting to be explored, you might consider trekking to one of the parks on this list. Friends, I give you the nine national parks in the U.S. (and its territories) that attract the least amount of visitors annually on average (per National Park Service data).

1. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (~75,000 visitors/year)

As compared to its counterparts, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve is the largest national park we have — it's not even close — and yet it remains the ninth least-visited of all the nation's federally-protected lands. This place, with its 13.2 million acres in south central Alaska, is the same size as Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks and the country of Switzerland combined, so says the National Park Service. Beyond the volcanoes and the glaciers and the extremely diverse wildlife population, there’s also Kennecott, an abandoned copper mine, just sitting there, waiting to be explored.

Loggerhead Key in Dry Tortugas National Park (Photo: FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)

2. Dry Tortugas National Park (~65,000 visitors/year)

With a name like that, how is this place one of the least visited national parks in the country? Answer: the 100-square-mile park is almost entirely comprised of open water, meaning it is only accessible by boat or seaplane.

Dry Tortugas National Park is about 68 miles west of Key West, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and home to historic Fort Jefferson, which is the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas. Plus, with all the corals, seagrass, shipwrecks, and whatever else is beneath the deep blue sea within the park, diving and snorkeling must be absolutely fantastic.

3. Katmai National Park & Preserve (~44,000 visitors/year)

Another stop in Alaska, this time at Katmai National Park & Preserve, another one of the larger national parks in the U.S. at four million acres or so. Home to thousands of Alaskan brown bears and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes — a landscape created by the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century — Katmai is named after its centerpiece stratovolcano. The park is almost exclusively accessed by plane or boat, according to the National Park Service, but the opportunities for incredible wilderness experiences make getting there worth it.

Remnants of the historic tramway on the World War II Heritage Trail in the National Park of American Samoa (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

4. North Cascades National Park (~26,000 visitors/year)

If you're at all familiar with the psychological thriller video game Alan Wake (okay, that's probably just me), this one is especially intriguing. A few hours north of Seattle, close to the border with Canada, North Cascades National Park features plenty of mountainous terrain, over 300 glaciers, and the glorious sound of cascading waters rushing through forested valleys.

Fun fact: three notable mountains that stand over 9,000 feet in the southern portion of the park include Goode Mountain, Buckner Mountain, and Mount Logan (!!). If camping, hiking, and climbing are your thing, here your cup shall truly runneth over.

5. National Park of American Samoa (~25,000 visitors/year)

The Alaska parks are out there, sure, but do you know where American Samoa is? If you answered “in the middle of the Pacific Ocean” or “nearly 5,000 miles from the U.S. mainland”, congratulations, you get a virtual high five for knowing your geography. It’s not hard to imagine that an island which only saw 20,000 tourists in general in 2018 would also see a lower number of visitors to its one and only national park on an annual basis.

If you did ever make it out to the National Park of American Samoa, however, you would be treated to a tropical paradise brimming with rare plants and animals, coral sand beaches, and wide vistas of land and sea. The park is comprised of land spanning three islands — Tutuila, Ta'ū, and Ofu — almost all of which is covered in tropical rainforest. It also boasts 4,000 acres under the deep blue sea (talk about a diver’s wet dream (pun intended)).

Peering over the waters of Lake Superior from Lookout Louise in Isle Royale National Park (Photo: Joe Ross)

6. Isle Royale National Park (~20,000 visitors/year)

Isle Royale National Park, situated on the largest island in Lake Superior, has been on my radar for quite some time now. I'm guessing the National Park Service is not lying when they describe the island as offering "unparalleled solitude" — it remains the fourth least-visited of the U.S.'s 60+ national parks, as the numbers will show.

Moose, grey wolves, red foxes, beavers, mink, and a host of other wildlife species call the island home, and so too did a community of a little more than 100 people in the late 19th century when the Wendigo Mining Company was in operation. Tip: skip the boat, take the 35-minute scenic seaplane ride.

7. Lake Clark National Park & Preserve (~15,000 visitors/year)

I promise Lake Clark National Park has more to offer you than a fun rhyming name. Take, for instance, the fact that this is another national park in the great state of Alaska — that's reason enough to be excited — and that it features a variety of characteristics not found together in any of the other parks in the state (according to the Wikipedias): the junction of three mountain ranges; a coastline with rainforests along the Cook Inlet; a plateau with alpine tundra on the west; glaciers; glacial lakes; major salmon-bearing rivers; and two volcanoes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

A resident of Lake Clark National Park & Preserve out for an afternoon stroll (Photo: Brian Dewey)

8. Kobuk Valley National Park (~12,000 visitors/year)

A few years back, Kobuk Valley National Park was the least-visited park in the country on an annual basis, but after averaging around 15,000 visitors each of the last four years (2016-2019), it’s crawled its way out of the basement and become just the second least-visited park. A hearty congratulations, indeed.

The fourth Alaskan entry on this list, Kobuk Valley sees about half a million caribou migrate through its largely unspoiled wilderness each year. In addition to the vast expanse of forested and mountainous land that you’re probably picturing, the Delaware-sized park is also home to the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, which are typically only accessible via chartered air taxi from nearby communities, such as Nome and Kotzebue. In other words, when you're here, you're really out there.

9. Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (~11,000 visitors/year)

Last but… oh wait. That cliched phrase actually isn’t going to work here. The least-visited national park (on average) in these here United States is Gates of the Arctic National Park. In perpetual competition with Kobuk Valley for this most prestigious title, Gates of the Arctic comprises a vast wilderness in northern Alaska, located entirely above the Arctic Circle.

At 8.4 million acres, it is the nation’s second largest national park, further distinguishing itself by virtue of the fact that it contains absolutely no roads or trails; it’s simply Mother Nature at her finest.

-LTH

*P.S. To see the eerily-similar 2017 version of this list, just follow this cute little link right here.