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What Is A National Park Passport Book?

What Is A National Park Passport Book?

If you enjoy visiting national parks, you’ll love the National Park Passport Book! In fact, these fun little books are the perfect interactive souvenir for national park lovers of all ages. 

Today, we’re learning more about the passports, how to use them, and where to buy one. 

Let’s dig in!

What Is A Passport Book?

A National Park Passport Book is a booklet for the national parks that you can fill with souvenirs. For example, these might include stamps, receipts, stickers, and other souvenirs from each national park. Each park has stamps to be used in the book. Furthermore, many parks have different stamp styles at various park locations. 

The Passport to the Parks program began in 1986 as an interactive way for visitors to experience National Parks, raise money, and collect memories. 

The Benefits of Using A National Park Passport?

The most obvious perk of using a National Park Passport Book is to track your activities and adventures in the national parks. This booklet is certainly an excellent souvenir for national park junkies to fill with stamps and other memorabilia. 

Another great benefit of using one of these fun books is that net proceeds from every sale go to the national parks directly! As a matter of fact, these profits go directly to educational and interpretive programs within the parks. 

Pro Tip: Do you have a dog and wonder which national parks you can visit with dogs? Learn more here.

Image Source: Bismo Beerbelly on Flickr

Where Can You Get One?

You can purchase a National Park Passport book at most national park gift shops, visitor centers, and bookstores. On the other hand, if you prefer to buy online, you can buy a book at eParks store on Amazon

Question: Is It Legal To Ride Ebikes in National Parks? Learn More Here!

How Do You Get Your Passport Stamped?

The National Park Passport Book stamps are called cancellation stamps, and you can find them at many different locations. 

Some parks also have different stamps at each visitor station. In addition, some parks come out with special edition stamps to commemorate special dates, events, and anniversaries. 

Image Source: Marcos Ojeda on Flickr

Which Passport Edition Should You Buy?

There are a few different options for National Parks Passport Books. You can select from the Classic Edition, the Collectors Edition, the Explorer Edition, and Junior Ranger Edition. 

The Classic book is an excellent choice for the casual park visitor. It’s softcover, and its small size will fit in any bag! 

If you need something sturdier, however, the Collectors Edition is a hardcover, spiral-bound book that can handle a little more wear and tear. 

For you national park fanatics out there, the Explorer edition is a larger, weatherproof book. In addition, it has more room to store stamps, receipts, stickers, or whatever else you collect.  

Lastly, the Junior edition is excellent for kids! 

Is Buying A National Park Passport Worth It? 

Buying a passport book is worth it if you enjoy visiting national parks! It’s a fun way to explore the park and collect stamps from different areas.

In addition, it directly benefits the parks themselves. The books are also a great way to get kids involved in the national park experience. Plus, they’re a fun souvenir to look back on all your travels and adventures. 

Image Source: Jasperdo on Flickr

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