National Park Checklist Map: Track All 63 US Parks on Paper

In this article

1. The short answer
2. Why a Paper Checklist Map Beats an App
3. Where to Get a Free National Park Checklist Map (and What to Print)
4. National Park vs Monument, Preserve and Historic Site
5. What You Can’t Bring or Do in a National Park
6. Mistakes That Ruin a Park Checklist
7. Questions Travelers Ask About Park Checklists

“I just want a free printable national park checklist map so I can see which parks I’ve actually visited.” If you’ve searched that and found only paywalled posters, app sign-ups or ranking videos that skip Olympic and North Cascades, you’re in the right place.

Here you get the practical part: why paper beats an app for a lifelong list, what to print and at what size, how a National Park differs from a National Monument, Preserve or Historic Site, and the rules and banned items that catch first-time visitors out.

The free PDF adds the pieces a web page can’t give you: a US location map, all 63 parks grouped by state, notes space for each visit, and a progress counter with state statistics.

The short answer

To build and use a national park checklist map:

1. Download a free printable PDF with a US map plus all 63 parks listed by state.
2. Print it on A4/Letter (map at 100% scale, no shrink-to-fit) or at A3 for wall use.
3. Tick each park as you visit and date it.
4. Mark the map — colour in or dot each park’s location.
5. Log notes: trails, weather, campsite, highlight.
6. Update the counter: parks visited, parks left, states complete.

Why a Paper Checklist Map Beats an App

A phone tracker is fine until you need it. Then you’re in a canyon with no signal, or your battery died at the trailhead, or the app wants a login you forgot two states ago. Paper does three things an app can’t: it hangs on a wall where you see it every day, it works with zero bars, and it holds the wobbly handwriting of a 7-year-old who wants to date the box herself.

What’s in the 5-page pack

• A US location map showing where all 63 national parks sit, so you can see which ones cluster together on one road trip.
• A state-sorted checkbox list of all 63 parks, not a ranking — so you can scan your own state first.
• Visit-notes lines for the date, who you went with, and one thing you want to remember.
• A progress counter for parks visited out of 63, plus states covered.

Who it’s for

• At 0 parks: find the numbered dot nearest your home airport on page 1, then check the same number on the state list and pencil in a weekend date.
• At 25–35 parks: circle the two Alaska parks with road access, Denali and Kenai Fjords, and book Denali about 6 months out.
• As a family: give each kid a different pen color and let them date and initial the boxes for the parks they were on.

Print specs: sized for US Letter and A4, no login, no email loop. The seven regions use color bands, but each band also has its own tone and pattern, and every park is a numbered dot — so the map still reads fine on a grayscale printer. Download it, print it, put it in the glovebox.

Where to Get a Free National Park Checklist Map (and What to Print)

The fastest option: the 5-page PDF at the end of this page. It has a US map with all 63 parks marked, a state-by-state checklist with a box and a date line for each park, a notes page, and a progress counter. It’s free, and there’s no signup or email wall.

Official sources to cross-check

• NPS.gov park list. The National Park Service lists every unit by state. Filter for “National Park” to confirm the 63.
• The NPS Passport program. Free cancellation stamps at visitor centers give you a dated record that matches your checklist. The passport book itself costs money; the stamps don’t.
• State tourism offices. Many mail free state highway maps that show park entrances and nearby roads. Useful for planning the drive between parks.

Why most printables online are wrong

The count hasn’t always been 63. New River Gorge in West Virginia was redesignated a national park in December 2020, and plenty of printables still show 62 parks. Before you print anything you found elsewhere, scan the list for New River Gorge. If it’s missing, the file is out of date and other details probably are too.

Also check that the list counts parks, not monuments or preserves. Some printables mix them in and balloon the total past 100.

Print settings that work

Setting	Use this
Scale	Actual size / 100% (not “Fit to page”)
Orientation	Portrait
Sides	Single-sided for a wall; double-sided for the glovebox
Paper	Plain letter is fine; 32 lb holds up to pen and coffee

Tip: Print two copies. One goes on the wall at home, one lives in the car so you can tick a park off the day you leave it.

National Park vs Monument, Preserve and Historic Site

The National Park Service manages more than 400 units. Only 63 of them carry the title “National Park,” which Congress assigns by law. Everything else is a monument, preserve, seashore, historic site, recreation area, battlefield, or one of a dozen other designations. All are worth visiting. Only the 63 belong on your checklist.

Four sites people log by mistake

Site	Actual designation
Dinosaur	National Monument
Bears Ears	National Monument
Muir Woods	National Monument
Grand Staircase-Escalante	National Monument (BLM-managed)

A president can create a national monument by proclamation. A national park takes an act of Congress. That’s the whole difference in practice, and it’s why some monuments are larger and busier than some parks.

Hybrid names that confuse people

Three units are both park and preserve, with different hunting rules on each side of the line:

• Denali National Park and Preserve
• Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve
• Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Each counts as one park on your list. So do Sequoia and Kings Canyon, which share staff but are two separate parks, and two separate check boxes.

Marketing names are not designations

Private attractions and some state-run sites use “national park” in their names or ads. Having the words on a sign means nothing. If you’re unsure, check whether the site appears on the NPS list of 63.

Warning: Before you date a box, confirm the site’s designation against the list on pages 2 and 3 — if it isn’t there, it isn’t one of the 63.

What You Can’t Bring or Do in a National Park

“What can’t you bring into a national park?” comes up at every entrance station. The rules are mostly federal, but each park adds its own. Here are the ones that catch visitors out.

Items and activities that are restricted

• Drones. Launching, landing, or operating an unmanned aircraft is banned without a superintendent-issued special use permit, which recreational flyers won’t get.
• Fireworks. Banned in national parks, including sparklers, on any date.
• Metal detectors. Not allowed. Neither is digging for what you find.
• Feeding or approaching wildlife. Prohibited, and most parks set a minimum distance — commonly 25 yards for most animals and 100 yards for bears and wolves. Check the park’s figure.
• Out-of-state firewood. Many parks ban it to stop insect spread. Buy firewood locally or at the park store.
• Pets on trails. Most parks allow dogs only in parking lots, campgrounds, and paved areas. Assume trails are off-limits until the park says otherwise.
• E-bikes off designated routes. They’re allowed where regular bikes are allowed, and not on hiking trails.

Leave everything where it is

You can’t remove rocks, antlers, wildflowers, shells, or artifacts. That includes “just one small piece.” Petrified Forest seizes petrified wood and fossils from vehicles and bags, and rangers do check.

Warning: Taking a natural or cultural object from a park is a federal offense, not a warning-and-move-on situation. Photograph it instead.

Rules that vary park to park

Campfires, alcohol, and firearms are handled differently depending on the park and the state it sits in. Fire bans change week to week in dry season. Firearm rules follow state law plus a federal ban inside buildings.

Check the park’s Laws & Policies page on nps.gov the week before you leave.

Permits people forget

• Backcountry camping permits — often a lottery months ahead
• Timed entry reservations — common in summer at busy parks
• Fishing licenses — issued by the state, not the park
• Wilderness and climbing permits at some parks

Write the permit on your notes page as soon as you book it.

Mistakes That Ruin a Park Checklist

Printing an out-of-date or padded list

Count the lines before you print. If it isn’t 63, it isn’t the list. Section 2 covers the two usual failures — files that stop at 62 and files padded with monuments and preserves — and what to check before you hit print.

Letting a ranking video pick your parks

Ranking lists skip parks constantly. Olympic and North Cascades get left off year after year, even though Olympic ranks among the ten most visited national parks by annual recreation visits (check current NPS figures for the latest ranking). Other lists put Everglades above Redwood or Glacier, which is one person’s opinion dressed up as a fact. The videos also get details wrong — mislabeled mountain photos, odd trail counts. Use the map on page 1 to plan by geography, not by someone else’s top 10.

Not setting your own visit rule

Decide now what counts. Drive-through, parking-lot photo, visitor center stamp, or a hike and a night inside the boundary. There’s no official standard, so pick one, write it at the top of page 2, and apply it to every park. Changing the rule at park 40 means re-checking everything.

Laminating too early

Laminate after your first full trip, not before. Check the state headings, the 63 count and your own rule first. A sealed sheet with an error is a sheet you’ll quietly stop using.

Tip: Fold the pages and keep them in the glovebox, not a drawer at home. A checklist you can’t reach at the entrance station never gets dated, and undated visits turn into guesses.

Questions Travelers Ask About Park Checklists

Where can I find a national park checklist map online?

Two places. The 5-page PDF on this page has the map and the checklist together. The National Park Service site (nps.gov) keeps the official list of all 63 parks with park pages, hours and fees — use it to confirm names and check current figures before a trip.

Can you provide a checkable list of all US national parks?

Yes. Pages 2 and 3 of the PDF list all 63, sorted by state, each with a check box and a date line. Nothing is ranked. If you only want the list and not the map, print those two pages.

What’s the “worst rated” national park?

There isn’t a reliable answer, and that’s the point. Visitor rankings conflict because they compare a swamp in August to a mountain in September. People argue about Everglades sitting above Redwood, Arches and Glacier, or Glacier placed too low, because each list reflects one person’s trip in one season.

Judge by season and access instead:

• When is the park at its best? Everglades is a dry-season park (winter). Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road is usually closed by snow for much of the year.
• Can you get in? Several parks now use timed-entry or vehicle reservations.
• How far from your route is it, and how long do you need inside?

A park that disappoints in July can be the best day of the trip in March.

What can’t you bring into a national park?

Short version: no drones, no collecting rocks, plants, antlers or artifacts, no feeding or approaching wildlife, no off-trail driving, and no fires outside designated rings. Fireworks and metal detectors are out. Pets are limited to developed areas in most parks. Check the park’s own page — rules on alcohol, e-bikes and firearms vary.

Is the number still 63?

New River Gorge was number 63 in December 2020. Congress can add parks or redesignate existing units at any time. Check the NPS list before you reprint your pages.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find a national park checklist map online?

The National Park Service site lists parks by state but doesn't publish a single checkable map poster. Free printable versions circulate from travel blogs and guides like this one. Look for a PDF that includes all 63 designated National Parks, a US location map, tick boxes and a date column — then print it rather than relying on a site that may change or disappear.

Is there a checkable list of all US national parks?

Yes. There are 63 parks carrying the "National Park" designation, spread across 30 states plus American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands. California leads with nine, Alaska has eight, Utah five. A useful checklist groups them by state rather than by popularity, so you can plan regional road trips and see which states you've finished.

What's the worst rated national park?

Rankings vary wildly because methodologies differ — some use visitor numbers, others reviews or scenery. Parks often placed last include Hot Springs (Arkansas), Gateway Arch (Missouri) and Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio), usually because they're small, urban or non-wilderness. That says more about the ranking criteria than the park. Judge by what you want: hiking, history, solitude or accessibility.

What can't you bring into or do in a national park?

Common prohibitions across parks: drones, firearms discharge, fireworks, metal detectors, collecting rocks, plants, antlers or artefacts, feeding wildlife, off-trail driving and unleashed pets on most trails. Many parks ban glass near water, restrict campfires during fire bans and limit firewood to certified local sources. Check each park's alerts page before you go — rules differ by season.

What's the difference between a National Park and a National Monument?

National Parks are created by Congress and protect large, varied areas for scenery and recreation — there are 63. National Monuments are declared by the President to protect a specific feature and can be managed by several agencies. Preserves allow hunting or resource extraction; Historic Sites protect buildings and events. Only the 63 National Parks belong on a standard 63-park checklist.

How do I track progress toward visiting all 63 parks?

Use three numbers: parks visited, parks remaining, and states completed. Update them after each trip so the goal stays visible. Pair the count with dates so you can see your pace — most completists take 10–20 years. Adding notes on season and trail makes repeat visits easier to plan and turns the checklist into a travel record.

How this guide was researched

We collected 131 real questions and comments about "national park checklist map" (80 from YouTube comments, 4 from People Also Ask, 47 from search suggestions), grouped them into 12 recurring problems, and built this guide to resolve the 8 that block people most. The top-ranking pages were reviewed for gaps; 7 of those gaps became dedicated sections.

Edited by Alex Hirn · Last updated October 15, 2026 · How we make our guides