Dear Bob and Sue: A National Parks Podcast
Adventures in the U.S. National Parks and public lands with Matt and Karen Smith.
Bonus Episode: How much it costs to visit all 62 national parks
It is by far the most frequent question we get from readers and listeners: How much did it cost you to visit all 62 national parks? This bonus episode is essentially a detailed mail bag response to this very question. While we know everyone’s expenses will be different based on where they live, where they stay in and around the parks, how they get there, and how long they spend in each park, in this episode we discuss what it cost us to visit them. We also provide some tips on how to plan a journey to all the national parks and a few ways to save money along the way.
Some topics we discuss include:
- Brief overview on the categories of costs incurred when visiting the parks
- How we planned our journey to all the parks
- How much it cost us to visit all of them
- A discussion of another couple’s accounting of their costs when visiting all of the parks (see link below)
- Some ideas about how to group parks together into a single trip to save on travel costs
- How we find lodging, hikes, and hidden gems along the way
- And more!
Links to more information:
- Map showing the order in which we visited the 59 national parks (We completed our tour in 2012 when there were 59 parks; today there are 62.)
- NPS map of all the National Park units
- Link to the NPS map site with further links to many of the NPS publications
- Blog post where Lauren and Steven provide details of how much it cost them to visit all 62 national parks in 2019
- Where to learn more about our books and travels
- Join the conversation on Facebook - we want to hear from you!
- Check out our Instagram account
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More episodes from Dear Bob and Sue: A National Parks Podcast
26 Death Valley National Park
Despite its not-so-enticing name, Death Valley National Park is one of our favorite destinations, especially in the winter months. Being the lowest, driest, and hottest place in North …
25 Here and There
In this end-of-the-year episode, we talk about many of the topics listeners have suggested to us that aren’t long enough for a full episode. We also …
24 National Park of American Samoa
Little did we know when we cavalierly made the announcement ten years ago that we were going to visit every U.S. national park that we had just signed up for a trip to the Southern …
23 Dories, Ho!: Floating the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon Part 2 of 2
In this second part of our mini-series about floating the Colorado River in a small wooden dory boat, we share stories from our second trip through …
22 Dories, Ho!: Floating the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon Part 1 of 2
For years we’d ask people who’d traveled the world, “What’s the best outdoor adventure trip you’ve ever taken?” To our surprise, the same answer came up time after time: floating the …
21 One Man’s Wilderness: Lake Clark National Park
No state in the Union has more public space than Alaska; nearly 90% of the land is owned by the state or federal government, and amongst the vast, untamed lands are eight national parks. …
How you can listen to this podcast
You can listen to episodes right here on the website, or if you prefer, in a podcast app. Listening in an app makes it easier to keep track of what you’ve already heard, listen without using your data plan and many other conveniences.