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If you or a friend has visited a National Park in the past five years, odds are you’ve heard about the Passport® Program.  The National Park Passports are huge right now. Signs, posters, and even t-shirts alert visitors of the program, and for good reason, because the Passport Books are changing the way that visitors see the National Parks.

Despite this age of digital everything, we seem to have a craving for and connection with tangible objects.  And while we want to have lots of things, we’re also in an age of minimalism.  The Passport Program is the perfect balance between tangible souvenir and minimalist travel memorabilia.   The Passport program is one book, of varying sizes, which allow you to take something away from every single park you visit.  And it’s not just for the “Big 60.”  This book records every National Historic Site, National Memorial, and even every National Scenic Riverway.   Every park in the National Park System is accounted for!

Which One Should I Buy?

The size Passport you want depends on what you will use it for.  I have the Full-Sized Passport Book, and I will be going more in depth on this one in a minute, but maybe the full-size book isn’t for you.  Maybe you’re an avid backpacker and you’d like a compact book to keep all your stamps in without having to lug around a big huge book.  Or maybe you’re traveling with young kids and want something more kid-friendly.  The Passport Program can support both of these needs. If either of the above sounds like you, I encourage you to check out those books at your nearest National Park. If you’re wanting something that is even bigger than the passport book I have, they’ve got you covered there, too! Check out this expandable Passport!

I’ve been using the Full-Sized book for a few years now. I’m so glad I decided to get that one over the compact book because I love having a designated spot for each Park. One thing I wish I would have known in retrospect is how quickly the National Parks can change. Since we’ve bought our National Park Passport, so many parks have been added or upgraded to National Park status. I only wish that we had the option to add pages like you get with the Expandable National Park Passport!

Check out the list below as to why I love my National Park Passport so much! Plus, take a peek inside so you can see it for yourself before you buy!

1. The National Park Passport is a Check List!

Kind of like when Pokémon cards were all the rage (I guess they’re back in a new way now…) this Passport lets you Catch ‘em All!  All the parks are split up by region. Each region has a check list of every park listed by state.  You are very easily able to mark off the ones you’ve visited and see how many you have to go.  As a list aficionado, I love being able to cross things off. 

National Park Passport Program - The Check List Page
A peek at the National Park Passport Book. Here’s what a spread looks like on one of their check list pages. We used this page frequently when we visited Boston and Maine during our Honeymoon

2. Your Passport is also a Map!

Whenever I am about to visit a new place, I immediately consult my Passport to find other nearby locations.  When we visited Mammoth Caves National Park, the very first thing I did was grab my Passport to see what other parks were nearby.  We found Lincoln’s Boyhood Home was in Indiana, hardly even a mile out of our way on our route back home.  Without our Passport book, we might not have even thought to check Indiana for places to visit on our trip to Kentucky.  But thanks to the Passport Program, we were quickly able to identify another park to visit. 

This can also be extremely helpful for planning your next trip when you don’t know where you’re headed next.  The maps in this Passport will allow you to look for the areas with higher densities of parks so you are able to hit up more than one. 

National Park Passport Program - Full Map Spread
The map page of the Passport Book allows you to see other parks that are nearby so you can plan on visiting more than one in a trip!

3. Your National Park Passport has a Description and Photo for Every park!

Next to the name of each park there is a short paragraph to explain the significance of each park. This will help you decide if you’re ready to visit a nearby park now or save it for later. The descriptions might also help you get a grasp of the scope of the visit. Is this park one historic home, or is it 12 acres of exploring? Knowing briefly what you’ll find is very helpful in the planning phase.

I also said there was a photo for every park. When you open your Passport for the very first time, you might say, “Kelly, what gives? There are hardly any photos in here!” But don’t worry. There will be photos soon, and that’s another one of my favorite features…

Collecting stamps in my National Park Passport
This is the cancellation stamp page that collects your cancellation stamps from each individual visit to the park. It also has a spot for your collectable stickers so each park will have a colored image along with the description of the park.

4. It is Two Collections in One!

Not only do you get to collect cancellation stamps at every single park, which are completely free, but you will also have the option of collecting the Annual Park Stickers. Each year, the passport program releases a sticker pack that highlights a park from every region. These stickers have designated spots in your Passport book next to every description, giving your book full-color photos of the places you’re visiting.

Sticker Packs

By purchasing a sticker pack, you’re helping to support the parks and the Passport Program, which keeps this resource available to visitors. Not only is it a fun way to give back, but it is another tangible thing you are able to purchase when you visit a park that doesn’t take up any additional space.

National Park Stickers in my Passport
This is the spot where the selected “park of the year” has it’s collector’s sticker. Most of the time, the featured park is celebrating some sort of anniversary or milestone the year it is selected.

When we visit a new park, I love to look for featured sticker pack for the park we are visiting. Almost every park has at least a few prior years of stickers, and some parks have every sticker that has ever been released. Each trip, not only do I get to look forward to adding a new cancellation stamp to my book, but I also get to look forward to getting a new set of stickers to go with it.

The National Park Passport Program is a very inexpensive, very space-friendly way to keep mementos from every park you’ve visited on your journeys.  It not only serves as a souvenir, but as a guidebook, too!  If you haven’t yet jumped on the Passport bandwagon, what are you waiting for?  This easy-to-use book will change your National Park Experience forever! 

Cancellation stamps collection
There is a spot in the back of each regional section where you can add extra cancellation stamps. This is useful when the same park has more than one stamp available.

Explore the National Parks!

Check out these other posts from the National Parks to start planning your trips today!

Two Hours at the Grand Canyon

Two Days in Yosemite

National Parks of St Louis

Five National Parks you Need to Visit on Route 66

Two Days in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

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11 thoughts on “National Park Passport Program: Why National Park Visitors Love It!

  1. I finally got my passport too however we had visited so many National parks before I did, so I guess we will just have to visit them again, lol. I love going to national parks and seeing all the great things this country has to offer.

    1. You can also write letters to the visitor center asking a park ranger to send you a stamp! Everyone who I sent a letter to replied and gave us a stamp from our visit! You can find the mailing address on their website, and then include a self-addressed, stamped envelop and mail it off to them! It can take about a month to hear back, but they will provide you with a stamp! (…or you can just visit them all again like you said. That sounds like fun, too!)

      1. I plan to do this for my own passport book. When you ask for a stamp, do you tell them the date you were there and they customize the date on the stamp? Or do they just use the current date of stamp?
        Thanks!
        Crystal

        1. Hey Crystal! When I ask for a stamp, I tell them the date I visited and most of the time park rangers are happy to send you a stamp with the date you visited.

  2. This is so cool!! I’d heard about it but never knew it was more than just the stamps. I definitely like this stamp/sticker combo!

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