Visit national parks for free on Monday

Name: See the National Parks to visit over the summer
Uploaded: 2025-05-23T14:57:58-04:00
Duration: 7 min 36 s
Description: Explore America's national treasures with adventurer Abby Hornacek as she tours the best sites across the country.

See the National Parks to visit over the summer

Explore America's national treasures with adventurer Abby Hornacek as she tours the best sites across the country.

Don’t let August slip away without a visit to one of America’s national parks. On Monday, the National Park Service (NPS) is waiving entrance fees to celebrate the Great American Outdoors Act.

Signed in 2020 by President Donald Trump, the Great American Outdoors Act and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund are contributing $6.65 billion to maintenance and repair projects across national parks.

According to the NPS, this funding has contributed to projects in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and multiple U.S. territories.

YOSEMITE MULES RETURN TO HELP PATROL, CARE FOR NATIONAL PARK THIS SUMMER

"It is supporting more than 180 large-scale infrastructure projects, including extensive improvements to iconic roads in Yellowstone, Shenandoah, Glacier, Theodore Roosevelt, Great Smoky Mountains, and Grand Teton national parks. It has renovated campgrounds in Yosemite, Zion, Mount Rainier, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks and upgraded vital safe and functional water and wastewater, HVAC, and electrical systems in Rocky Mountain, Acadia, and Grand Canyon national parks," the NPS said in a news release.

A forecast for some of the national parks on Aug. 4, Great American Outdoors Day.

The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a beautiful day across the nation to enjoy Great American Outdoors Day. However, parks in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic may see some showers.

A river winds through Yellowstone National Park in 2022. (Robert Ray)

Utah's Capitol Reef National Park (Robert Ray)

FILE - An entrance to Glacier National Park in St. Mary, Montana, on October 19, 2023. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) ( )

Big Bend has lots to explore. (Big Bend National Park)

Acadia National Park boasts nearly 50,000 acres of breathtaking terrain along Maine's magnificent Atlantic Coastline. (Acadia National Park)

The wooden entrance sign to Yellowstone National Park, USA.. (Photo by: Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) ( )

This photo shows Dry Tortugas National Park off Key West, Florida. (National Park Service Photo)

The view inside Death Valley National Park in August, the nation's hottest, driest park located in California and Nevada. (Image: Robert Ray/FOX Weather) ( )

FILE - St Mary Lake and peaks, Glacier National Park, Montana. (Photo by: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) ( )

A proghorn walks along a ridge in Yellowstone National Park in 2022. (Robert Ray)

In the distance, Fort Jefferson stands on Garden Key. Intended as a fort when it was built in 1846, it served only as a prison until it closed in 1874. Dry Tortugas National Park was formed to preserve the area. Dry Tortugas, Florida, USA. | Location: Dry Tortugas, Florida Keys, Florida, USA. (Photo by Philip Gould/Corbis via Getty Images)

The park service report a record 4.86 million visits at Yellowstone National Park in 2021. (U.S. National Park Service)

An aerial photograph of Excelsior Geyser and Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Image)

Many national park-managed sites are free, but some require entrance fees, and high-traffic sites require reservations. The NPS recently announced that it is waiving entrance fees for all parks on certain days of the year.

According to 2024 NPS statistics, the Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain are the top five national parks that charge entry.

The next free entrance day is Sept. 27 to mark National Public Lands Day. The final free day of 2025 is Veterans Day on Nov. 11.