Discounted Senior Parks Passes
Sixty-two (and up) is the right age and August the right month to enjoy the best deal the federal government has to offer: the Senior Pass to Federal Lands.
America the Beautiful Passes open the gates to over 2,000 federal recreation sites spanning all 50 states plus many American territories.
For $10, you — and a carload of up to four people — enjoy lifetime access to America’s most extraordinary places. In them is enough scenery to awe you for the rest of our life.
Who do you think started preservation of those places?
Not Theodore Roosevelt but President Ulysses S. Grant, who made Yosemite our first national park in 1872. National Parks — think Denail, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone — remain the stars of our system.
Less crowded but equally remarkable places are included in the same measly price. Think National Wildlife Refuges like Chincoteague … National Monuments, like the controversial Bears Ears … National Forests, like Daniel Boone in Kentucky and Finger Lakes in New York … National Grasslands like Thunder Bay in Wyoming and Midewin Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois … and National Rivers, like the Missouri National Recreational River.
So, too, are recreational lands managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation.
But seniors get this great deal only through August 28. Thereafter, senior discounts end, and you’ll pay the standard price of $80.
Go to a park or refuge in person to get the pass in a moment. Online or mail application can take months. Find your location at https://store.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/PassIssuanceList.pdf