5 Tips for Making the Most of a Road Trip to America's National Parks

Visiting one of America’s 63 national parks is the perfect destination for any road trip, offering travelers the chance to see jaw-dropping scenery, engage with U.S. history and interact with wildlife.

But making the most of a visit to a National Park can require some preparation. The parks can be subject to closures due to weather conditions, like wildfires and snowstorms. And especially during the summer, some of the biggest-name parks can feel like the opposite of "wide open spaces"; Yellowstone and Yosemite each surpassed four million visitors last year, and surveys have shown that a majority of visitors feel the parks are too crowded.

To get an inside scoop on how to best enjoy the parks system, PEOPLE talked to Kathy Kupper, a representative for the National Parks Service (NPS). 

Whether exploring the whole country or just your home state, here are some expert tips to take full advantage of the National Park system. 

According to Kupper, one of the biggest keys to a successful visit to any of the Park Service’s 429 properties — which includes national parks, national preserves, national monuments and national historic sites, among other designations — is doing your research ahead of time, either on the NPS website or mobile app.

“The best place to start your national park visit is online. If you're driving along in the car and you check out the app, it will tell you which parks are closest to you in case you're on a road trip and looking for a nice place to stop and stretch your legs,” she said. “If you're doing a more planned trip and you want to map out your route, we advise checking out nps.gov.” 

“Each park has a detailed list, it has maps, it has suggestions of things to see and do. And it also lets you know of any updates like road closures, or if there happens to be a wildland fire or something like that.” 

Kupper also mentioned that the web pages for some of the more well-known parks also use reservation systems for visits, allowing you to plan your entry ahead of time. Many of the parks also provide information about where to stay, such as the hotels and campgrounds available. 

“You can also search on the website by state, you could search by topic,” she told PEOPLE. “Say you want to visit civil rights sites, or you want to go to parks that have really magnificent star gazing or fossils or lighthouses — you can look at a variety of things.” 

Although you might be using your vehicle to get to there, there’s no reason to stay inside it once you’re in the park. If you’re able to, taking a step away from the road can often give you a much more intimate experience, Kupper says. 

“One thing we'd recommend is whenever possible getting out of the car, because when you go to national parks there's usually the main scenic drive, which to be very popular ... but sometimes there's traffic jams.” 

So instead, she advises, “Get out and stretch your legs and start walking down a trail, you will see very quickly how the crowds tend to die down the further you go. Just getting a half mile down a trail you find yourself having this more personal experience and kind of getting away from what might be a crowd at the overlook or on the road. Yellowstone has over 2 million acres — and the majority of their visitors are going to stay right on that main loop road.” 

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Though it may feel daunting to explore more challenging terrain off the beaten path, Kupper says, "the parks really have something for everyone. You can certainly gauge it to your ability level. If you like to hike or pedal or just relax and picnic or RV in your spare time, you can find that in a national park.” 

Of course, when you do venture off the road, make sure you’re doing so respectfully. Protecting the natural environment — and especially being mindful of wildlife — is essential to keeping the parks around for all to enjoy. 

“You want to follow what we call the ‘leave no trace principles': The national parks belong to all of us and we're all responsible to be good stewards,” Kupper says. “That includes respecting the wildlife. When people get too close or begin to impact their behavior, that is not good for the per -

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son and it's not good for the animal either.”

“Bucket list” parks such as the Grand Canyon, Glacier and Yosemite certainly draw the most attention (and for good reason!), but there are plenty of other sites that are worth a visit. NPS has locations in every state that might be closer to you than you realize.

Though you might not take a cross-country journey to visit one of them on its own, you might instead plan a road trip to see a group of parks in the same area of the country — or perhaps add them as stops to an existing itinerary — to make the visit worthwhile.

According to Kupper, a great example of this is in eastern Massachusetts, where visitors can travel between a number of historical sites related to the American Revolution in Boston, the whaling industry in New Bedford and Salem, and National Seashores on Cape Cod. 

Another example is in New Mexico where the parks encompass American history from “10,000 years up to just a few decades ago,” Kupper says. “It has Capulin Volcano, it has Carlsbad Caverns, it has Petroglyphs, Missions, and then White Sands — where you can sled down the sand dunes. And then Aztec ruins and Chaco, Fort Union, the cliff dwellings.” 

Especially if you plan to adventure outside at one of the National Parks, keeping your car stocked with some outdoor gear to keep yourself safe and comfortable is a must. 

Kupper says that using the 10 Essentials list on the NPS website is a great way to know what to pack, but there are a few items that are especially important.

“Make sure you bring plenty of water for everybody, regardless of time of year, but especially if you're going anywhere in the summer. You always want to make sure that you have layers of clothes, because even if it's summertime but you're hiking up in elevation, it could get colder," she told PEOPLE. “And definitely some snacks, especially salty snacks in case you're sweating and expending energy.” 

Kupper also said that having a paper map and some kind of illumination outside of your phone — like a flashlight — is important in case your battery runs out. 

And because visitors can often encounter long lines entering the park, having some fun games in the car isn’t a bad idea either. 

“If you're waiting to get into the park and the entrance line is bad, you might want to have some sort of things that can help distract or pass time,” Kupper suggested. 

While many NPS locations don’t charge an entrance fee, some of the more popular sites do, which can run up to $35 dollars per vehicle.

But the Parks Service offers a number of deals to make access to parks more accessible and affordable for families. 

“The America the Beautiful Pass Program is a really good tip, especially for people who are visiting multiple parks,” Kupper said. 

The America the Beautiful Pass offers yearlong access to all National Parks — as well as a number of other federal government lands — for $80. But Americans over 62 can get the pass for just $20, and current military personnel, veterans and permanently disabled people can receive it for free.

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Another great deal is the Every Kid Outdoors Program: “If you're in fourth grade you can get a free annual pass to all national parks, and it's good for you and everybody traveling with you,” Kupper told PEOPLE.

And if you are traveling with a kid, a fun way to further engage them is the Junior Ranger and Passport programs offered at most national parks.

“They'll have hands-on activities that the young people can do ... And we even have adults traveling without kids that ask for these booklets because it's a really neat way to immerse yourself in the story of the park,” Kupper said. "When you're in a park, you will see young people and they will have backpacks or vests or sashes, and they will have dozens of junior ranger badges that they've collected.”

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