Visits to national sites in Idaho keep rising. Here are the state’s most popular parks

Shaun Goodwin, Jackie Starkey
Updated ·4 min read

Although Idaho has no national parks to call its own, the Gem State is still packed with natural and historical sites. Idaho has five sites maintained and protected by the National Park Service.

Across those five sites, in 2022, Idaho saw visitations increase for the third-straight year, according to the National Park Service’s annual visitation report released in late February.

Despite a drop in visitation at two of Idaho’s five sites, they accumulated a total of 705,126 visitors in 2022, the highest since 2018, when the state saw 751,445 visitors.

Visitation to Idaho national sites

While national park visitation dropped in the early days of COVID-19, Idaho saw a quick rebound in part to former United States Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. Bernhardt directed the NPS to suspend park entrance fees during the pandemic to “make it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks,” according to previous Statesman reporting.

Nez Perce National Historic Park

Nez Perce National Historic Park remained Idaho’s most-visited site for the third-straight year, pulling in 344,517 visitors in 2022 — that number accounts for 48.9% of total visits to Idaho sites in 2022.

Since the historic park’s opening in 1968, last year’s visitation total was the highest in park history. Nationally, it ranked 145th out of 387 NPS sites in 2022. After an abnormally-low visitation total in 2019, Nez Perce has seen a continued rise in attendance through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this painting for the Nez Perce National Historical Park, Nez Perce artist Nakia Williamson imagined the first encounter between Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery and the tribe.
In this painting for the Nez Perce National Historical Park, Nez Perce artist Nakia Williamson imagined the first encounter between Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery and the tribe.

Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve

The second-most visited site was Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, with 237,774 visits in 2022. While still a respectable number, it’s the lowest number of visitors that Craters of the Moon had seen since 2014, when the monument only drew in 214,993 visitors.

Visitation to Craters of the Moon, known for its vast fields of solidified lava flows as old as 21,000 years old, peaked in 1982 at 294,387 visitors.

City of Rocks National Reserve

City of Rocks National Reserve, just two miles north of the Idaho-Utah border, rounded out the top three with a visitation of 83,996 in 2022. The national reserve is best known for its rock climbing and geological study opportunities.

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

Located in south-central Idaho, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument pulled in 25,122 visitors. The site is rich with fossils as common as horses and heavers to the extinct saber-toothed tiger and ground sloth.

Minidoka National Historic Site

Minidoka National Historic Site round out the list with 13,717 visitors, respectively. Less than 100 miles from Hagerman, Minidoka commemorates the 125,000 Japanese natives and Japanese Americans incarcerated in Idaho during World War II.

The rising sun reflects off windows of the Block 22 barrack at the Minidoka National Historic Site on Feb. 19, which was the 80th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which resulted in the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans.
The rising sun reflects off windows of the Block 22 barrack at the Minidoka National Historic Site on Feb. 19, which was the 80th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which resulted in the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans.

National Park Service visitation in the U.S.

Nationwide, the park service says visitation has “essentially recovered to pre-pandemic levels.” The NPS reports holdings contributed $42.5 billion in economic output in 2021, with $20.5 billion spent in gateway communities.

Visits were up by about 15 million in 2022 and “only 6% lower than (the) all-time record year” 2016, which was the NPS centennial year, the federal agency notes.

“People continue to seek a variety of national park travel experiences – to learn about American history and culture, get active, and enjoy breathtaking scenic views,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said, in part, in a Feb. 27 news release. “We’re excited to see our efforts to increase visitation to parks in the off-season and in parks that are less well-known paying off.”

Visitation data from 2022 indicate the most popular was “recreation parks,” accounting for 38% of visits, followed by “historical and cultural parks” and then “nature parks.” The NPS logged nearly 1.36 billion recreation hours at parks last year.

Across the parks system, the Blue Ridge Parkway remains the most popular site at 15.7 million recreation visits. It’s followed by Golden Gate National Recreation Area (15.6 million), Great Smoky Mountains National Park (12.9 million) and Gateway National Recreation Area (8.7 million) in New York and New Jersey.

Hiker is framed at Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Hiker is framed at Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument.