Using 4th grade free national pass for travel
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Anonymous
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My DS is current 3rd grader. From my understanding, he is eligible to apply for a free national park pass once this school year ended around mid-June 2025. Am I correct? It will give free national park admission access for him & family (his younger sibling & us parents). We live in montgomery county. Anyone has done it? Is that easy application? How long did it take to get the pass? Physical or digital?
We want to take advantage of free national park for summer 2026 summer planning to get it work. Anyone can share your itinerary? They have never been to any national park. Which national park worth the visit or cost the most to enter (to save most money)? |
Anonymous
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It is so easy to find the pass and print it and use it.
Which parks to visit? This is a REALLY broad question... |
Anonymous
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My recollection is that it isn’t even an application, you pretty much just print it from the website and at your first national park entrance, they ask the kid to sign something. I can’t remember if it was a card or just the print out. Anyway, just keep it with you and show it at every entrance. I do recall it being something physical you had to keep and show each time.
Don’t worry about saving the most money. The annual pass for national parks is something like $80 and I think most people will do that, esp in the southwest bc it’s so easy to hit several close by. In other words, you’re essentially saving the cost of the annual pass so it’s not really a matter of getting the biggest bang for your buck. I’m not even sure if the costs vary by park anyway tbh. Just go where you want to go. If you haven’t been to any, look into Utah/Arizona since there are many of the big ones together. |
Anonymous
Most of the big ones I have been to have a $35/car entry fee that's good for a week. It's a nice little thing to save a few bucks on, but not like you are going to save massive amounts. Plus the regular paid annual pass is $80. https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm#CP_JUMP_5088574 |
Anonymous
| We used it last year, but I think it runs August to August, so if your kid is in 3rd grade now, you would not have it until August 2025 (so not helpful for June/July travel this coming summer.) |
Anonymous
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Oh--and we have used it locally (Great Falls, Shenandoah) and we used it at Joshua Tree and Olympic National Park/Mt Rainier.
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Anonymous
| Op here. I have never been to any national parks, so I thought it will cost more than $100 for a family of 4 for one entry, like theme park. I didn't know that it is charged by car. Oh well, got it. |
Anonymous
| It’s valid September through August, so if your kid starts 4th grade in 2025, then it would be September 2025 to August 2026. We used it to visit Yellowstone and Grant Teton , Mt Rushmore national parks. The important thing to print out a paper copy of the pass. |
Anonymous
Yellowstone is this expensive. I think they charge per person cause our family of 5 would have paid 100$ for Yellowstone if we didn’t have the pass. The other parks are cheaper but it adds up and it’s a good opportunity to visit parks anyway. |
Anonymous
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An annual pass that is good for all parks is $80.
So, the free 4th grade pass is great but just a reminder - you are saving $80. |
Anonymous
$80 for a family? |
Anonymous
Yes, from the link above: "Depending on the type of entrance fee charged at a site, covers One private vehicle fee or Four per person fees" At most parks it's per vehicle. |
Anonymous
Nope, Yellowstone is $35 for a private vehicle, good for 7 days. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/fees.htm#spci_D25C69AD-EAEB-3B0D-7A95DAFB11A766CD |
Anonymous
And if you only go to one park it is less. We just went to Mt Rainier and it was $35 for a whole car for the week, |
Anonymous
I don’t think this is true unless you are hiking into the park (in which case everyone over 16 does need to pay admission). Otherwise everyone in the vehicle is covered by a single pass. |