America the Beautiful passes

Let’s say you’re planning to visit one of the National Parks. We know you are. You’ll need an entrance pass.

Officially called “America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Passes”, these are a variety of annual and lifetime passes that provide U.S. citizens and visitors an affordable and convenient way to access Federal recreational lands.

These are the pass types we see at the entrance every day. Each pass admits you and all the occupants of your vehicle (ie. your family, friends, co-workers, hitchhikers, aliens, etc)

There is the Annual Pass, currently $80.

The Annual Senior Pass, currently $20, but you need to be old. (Edit from Nancy: Paul is eligible for this card in August!! :)

The Lifetime Senior Pass, currently $80, but you need to be old, and plan to live 4+ more years in order to break-even on the deal.

Really old people reading this might have one of these older Lifetime Senior Pass cards in their wallets. These are no longer available for purchase, but are still valid.

And really really old people might have this ancient Golden Age Passport card. These are no longer available for purchase, but are still valid.

The Access Pass, currently $10, available for people with permanent disabilities.

The Military Pass, free, but you have to be active military or a dependent, a veteran, or a Gold Star family member.

The 4th Grade Pass, free, but you have to be a 4th grader! It gets the entire family into the park for a year! It’s a great deal.

The Volunteer Pass, free, but you have to volunteer 250 hours with the Park Service (or BLM, FWS, USFS, or Army Corps of Engineers). Click here to learn how to find volunteer opportunities with the gummit.

You can read all about eligibility details for each of these passes, and how to purchase them online, here.

Up to 100% of the Pass program's proceeds are used to improve and enhance visitor recreation services.

Note: Most if not all national parks also offer less expensive single-day or multi-day passes, for individuals or groups, vehicles or pedestrians or bikers, etc. If interested, check out your park’s website before visiting.