National Monuments Offer Crowd-Free Alternatives to Record-Breaking U.S. Parks

In 2024, U.S. national parks drew over 94 million visitors, with Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone attracting more than 12 million. National monuments, managed by the National Park Service, provide comparable landscapes and history with far fewer crowds. Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, designated by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 as the first U.S. national monument, features a volcanic rock formation and is near Yellowstone and Grand Teton but sees a fraction of their visitors. Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, established in 2016, preserves North Woods and includes the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station led by the Penobscot Nation; its nonprofit raised $2.7 million last year. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington encompasses over 110,000 acres around the 1980 eruption site, with wildflowers now blooming on Johnston Ridge. Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border offers a fossil quarry with exposed dinosaur bones and canyon scenery. Craters of the Moon in Idaho features lava flows and caves where NASA astronauts trained. Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota preserves quarries where tribes carve ceremonial pipes, with ongoing tribal rights. Effigy Mounds in Iowa has over 200 prehistoric mounds shaped like animals. Scotts Bluff in Nebraska served as a landmark for 19th-century pioneers on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. These sites offer distinct experiences with minimal traffic.