This Is the Most Underrated National Park

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Nov 4, 3:00PM EDT

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This Is the Most Underrated National Park — © snowpeak / Flickr

Woodrow Wilson signed the bill that created the National Park Service on Aug. 25, 1916. Part of the Department of the Interior, today the NPS manages what it calls 423 units, generally known as parks. Across America, they cover 85 million acres. There recently have been battles about the use of park lands for commercial purposes, including companies drilling for oil and gas.

The most underrated national park is Glacier Bay in Alaska, according to a ParkSleepDrive analysis to find America’s most underrated parks — “the great places to visit, without the crowds.” (On the other hand, these are the most visited U.S. national parks in 2020.)

24/7 Tempo reviewed ParkSleepDrive’s list of most underrated parks. The travel blog examined the National Park Service’s 2020 Annual Park Ranking Report, choosing parks with fewer than a million visitors and the highest percentage of “excellent” reviews on Tripadvisor as the most underrated.

Most of the parks at the top of the list are in sparsely-populated states. The top two are in Alaska. Many of the top 20 are in Colorado, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Utah. Some have fewer than 100,000 visitors a year. Glacier Bay, which tops the list, had only 570,000 visitors in 2020. It received almost 93% “excellent” reviews.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is located near the southernmost part of Alaska, south of Yukon and west of British Columbia. It was created in 1925 and expanded in 1978. In total, it covers just over 5,000 square miles, which include tall mountains and glaciers. (As the weather cools, here is the best winter destination in every state.)

Click here to see the most underrated national park

31. Guadalupe Mountains, Texas
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 47.3%

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30. Wind Cave, South Dakota
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 57.0%

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29. Congaree, South Carolina
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 59.0%

28. Wrangell, St. Elias, Alaska
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 59.8%

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27. Gateway Arch, Missouri
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 61.1%

26. Pinnacles, California
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 61.2%

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25. Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 64.4%

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24. Great Basin, Nevada
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 65.2%

23. Everglades, Florida
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 66.2%

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great sand dunes national park... by Christian Collins

great sand dunes national park... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Christian Collins

22. Great Sand Dunes, Colorado
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 72.0%

BBNP2013-21 (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Colin J. McMechan

21. Big Bend, Texas
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 72.5%

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Hickman Natural Bridge (CC BY 2.0) by Sheila Sund

20. Capitol Reef, Utah
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 74.4%

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Aurora (CC BY 2.0) by Malcolm Manners

19. Denali, Alaska
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 76.6%

Petrified Forest Teepees by Mobilus In Mobili

Petrified Forest Teepees (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Mobilus In Mobili

18. Petrified Forest, Arizona
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 76.7%

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17. Kings Canyon, California
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 77.5%

16. Hawaii Volcanoes, Hawaii
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 78.0%

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15. Canyonlands, Utah
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 78.1%

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14. Saguaro, Arizona
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 78.3%

Hiking Talkington Trail in The... by Matt Zimmerman

Hiking Talkington Trail in The... (CC BY 2.0) by Matt Zimmerman

13. Theodore Roosevelt, North Dakota
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 78.4%

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12. Mesa Verde, Colorado
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 78.8%

10. Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 81.5%

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U.S. Route 50 Black Canyon of ... by Mobilus In Mobili

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10. Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 81.5%

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White Sands Moonrise (CC BY 2.0) by John Fowler

9. White Sands, New Mexico
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 82.3%

7. Dry Tortugas, Florida
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 82.9%

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Sunrise on Haleakala (In Explo... by G. Lamar

Sunrise on Haleakala (In Explo... (CC BY 2.0) by G. Lamar

7. Haleakalä, Hawaii
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 82.9%

6. Sequoia, California
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 83.6%

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cedar pass wall (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Christian Collins

5. Badlands, South Dakota
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 86.1%

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4. Redwood, California
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 86.2%

USA - Oregon - Crater Lake (CC BY 2.0) by Terry Ott

3. Crater Lake, Oregon
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 87.1%

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2. Kenai Fjords, Alaska
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 89.9%

Looking Across Glacier Bay by Bud Ellison

Looking Across Glacier Bay (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Bud Ellison

1. Glacier Bay, Alaska
> Pct. “excellent” reviews: 92.9%

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.