Cycling our National Parks - Free Admission This Week

April 18, 2012

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In honor of National Park Week, April 21-29, all 396 U.S. National Parks are offering  free entrance admission. Maybe it's time you checked biking to and through a National Park off your bucket list.

Realizing that not all the National Parks are cycling suitable in April (for example, Glacier has only just started plowing Going to the Sun Road), there are plenty of others waiting for you! You could check out a park near your home and go on a Bike Overnight this weekend (then you can write about it and submit your trip to our blog for others to gain inspiration from). Or perhaps there is one in a region you plan to visit anyway. The National Park Service provides this very cool interactive map for locating National Parks.

Early in the season is often the best time to experience a national park by bicycle and some parks offer car-free days during certain times of the year that make the riding that much sweeter. Other parks have roads suitable for a good cycling time - with limited traffic, such as Arcadia's scenic 45-mile carriage road system, and the Natchez Trace with no commercial trucks and low speed limits. While I couldn't find a simple comprehensive list of these offerings, you can do an " advanced search" " by activity" (choose bicycling!) to find parks that make special accommodations for cyclists. If you want to get a good deal on your park stay, many have special offers to tempt you further.

If you missed planning a trip to your favorite national park this week, not to worry, there are plenty more free admission days to take advantage of. So go on, get out there and enjoy some of the most beautiful places on earth!

Photo of Zion National Park by rockwellrely on Flickr.

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CONNECTIONS is posted by Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling's special projects director and features the cultural, historical, geographical, and human connections created through bike travel. Find out about our award-winning Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.