These Were the Most Visited National Parks in 2022

National parks have always been a wonderful way to see the unspoiled beauty of the United States, and their popularity only grew during the pandemic as travelers looked for nature-driven vacations and ways to explore the great outdoors. But even as the world has opened up again, national park visits continue to rise in popularity. The National Park Service just released data from 2022, and 312 million people visited national parks last year, a 5% increase from 2021. The report also named the 15 most visited parks in the country, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park took the number one spot for the second year in a row.

Not only did Great Smoky Mountains beat out all other national parks for the top spot — it won by a lot. A whopping 12,937,633 people visited the park in 2022, while Grand Canyon National Park came in second with 4,732,101 visitors. That’s a pretty big jump when you see the numbers. Zion National Park wasn’t far behind in third place with 4,692,417 and Rocky Mountain National Park came in fourth with 4,300,424.

The 21 Most Underrated, Crowd-Free National Parks in America

From North America’s largest coral reef to a voyage north of the Arctic Circle

There were some surprises on the list, too. “Many parks with record visitation in 2022 are on what we would call ‘the road less traveled,’” National Park Service director Chuck Sams said in a release. For the past two years, the NPS has been focusing on efforts to get more visitors into lesser-known parks, and it seems their hard work has paid off. Two midwest parks made the list — Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Indiana Dunes National Park — and Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas also snagged a spot in the top 15.

Here is the complete list of the most visited national parks with the number of people who took the time to experience their splendor in 2022: