National Park senior pass is deal of a lifetime

Attention, seasoned (62 and over) campers! Do not let this deal get away. Until August 28, the lifetime National Park senior pass will cost $10. After that, this lifetime pass increases to $80!

If you are not 62 yet but travel with a favorite grandparent or other qualifying family member, drive them to the nearest national forest, park or wildlife reserve to grab their pass. You benefit too because their companions can also enter for the parks for free when the per vehicle fee is waved.

If it is a park that charges per person, this National Park senior pass will get the pass owner and three adults get in free. Since kids under 16 are always free, this is an incredible amount of fun for not much money.

Free lifetime entry with National Park senior pass

Even at $80, the lifetime National Park senior pass is sweet. We’re talking free day entrance and sometimes even discounted camping fee to great national park areas all across the USA. Grand Canyon – free! Denali National Park in Alaska – free! Alcatraz, Sequoia National Park, Everglades National Park, Mount Rushmore, Zion National Park and more – all entrance fee free!

Pays for itself with one trip to Big Bend

Here in Texas, you know you’re going to Big Bend at least a couple of times in this lifetime. Do the math. When my son and I visited Big Bend last year, we paid $25 for both of us for one weekend. The annual Big Bend Pass is $40 which is a little better but it still only covers your entrance fee. With the lifetime National Park senior pass, you get in free along with the folks in your car AND you get 50% off your camping fees! The senior pass could pay for itself in one camping trip.

Parks for people who love the outdoors

Just in Texas, there are fourteen national park properties visited by over 5,000,000 people. Who knew? I didn’t until I started checking out where I could use the National Park senior pass. If you are into hiking or canoeing, visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Or head east to Big Thicket National Preserve with trails and waterways that meander from longleaf pine forests to cypress-lined bayous.

Parks for people who love history

Love history like me and my friends? Visit Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park where General Zachary Taylor fought in the Mexican War and set himself up to become the 12th President of the US.

Meet the very human 36th US President when you tour LBJ’s beloved ranch at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. This is where Johnson was born, lived, died and was buried. This park is said to provide the most complete picture of any American president. Kids should love it too because there is a junior ranger program to learn more about LBJ and the Texas Hill Country. That means you’ll also probably learn more about Yuki, the little white mutt found at a gas station who became LBJ’s constant shadow until LBJ died. Seeing pictures of LBJ with Yuki always makes me smile.

Places for prehistoric fans

For prehistory and archaeology fans, you have to visit the Waco Mammoth National Monument. Over 60,000 years before Chip and Joanna put Waco on the map, a hairier family discovered the kid-friendly Waco area. A nursery herd of Colombian Mammoths is the nation’s only recorded discovery of its kind. You can see fossils of female mammoths, a bull mammoth, even a prehistoric camel still in the place where scientist originally found them.

For something a little more recent, use your National Parks senior pass to take the friends and family to Alibates Flint Quarries. Early Texas hunters visited the area around this national monument over 13,000 ago to stock up on the stone for spears to bring down mammoths and camels and other critters. Or see ancient rock art on the walls and cliffs of Amistad National Recreation Area.

Lots of adventure options

The National Park Services website is fairly easy (for a government site) to navigate. Take a rainy afternoon to browse what’s available in Texas as well across the country. Wow, $80 for lifetime senior pass to all that the National Park Services has to offer seems incredible. The $10 price if bought before 8/28/17 is an absolute government giveaway!