This article first appeared in Rootless Living Magazine* Issue 15.

NOMADS + NATIONAL PARKS = HACKS GALORE

If you’ve ever tried to hike Zion during spring break week or see Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon when there’s no snow on the ground, you know the hassle of sharing our national parks with throngs of tourists. It isn’t quite as fun as it could be.

Nomads know a thing or two when it comes to avoiding crowds, saving money, and making the most of their time, and a lot of us are national park geeks. We plan our entire year around them, spend months working in or near them, and take some of our most treasured photos on their mountains, in their lakes, and along their trails.

So, if you want to know the best ways to experience a country’s national parks without wasting time, money, or causing yourself a crowd-induced headache, ask the nomads.

The five nomad couples featured here have beat the crowds, landed the jobs, and avoided crowds in some of the most beautiful national parks in the US. And they’re here to tell you how to do it.

ACADIA: Secluded Summer Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain

Celeste & Matthew @togetherness_redefined

Acadia National Park hit an all-time high of 4 million visits in 2021. For a park located on a small island off the coast of Maine, a few million people milling about from June - September feels like a lot. Especially when all of them want to get to the top of Cadillac Mountain in the early morning, making them the first to see the sunrise on the eastern seaboard. Also, Cadillac is the only mountain summit you can see by car at Acadia, so it’s popular all day long for non-hiking tourists, too.

This past summer, Acadia installed its car reservation system to help solve the traffic problem. Now, anyone who wants to drive to the top during the summer months will need a reserved time slot, making the experience a little less crowded. But if you want to skip the hassle altogether and get to the top of Cadillac for sunrise during the summer, you’ll need more than a reservation. Instead, pack your headlamp, strap on your hiking boots, park your car on the side of Park Loop Road, and hike up the Cadillac North Face Trail. You’ll want to start about two hours before official sunrise time — an early wake-up call since sunrise at Acadia can be as early as 4:30 a.m. in the summer.

Then, when you get to the top, avoid the car crowd by snuggling into one of the rocky nooks along the top of the trail. Check your Sky View app for the sun’s specific rising point, and watch the show. The only downside to the whole experience will be trying to get home before the sleepies catch you.

BIG BEND: International Adventures on Foot and by Rowboat

Sam & Brent @toasteronwheels

If you’ve ever been to Big Bend National Park on the Texan panhandle bend, you know it’s a remote almost-Mexican experience. The good news is there’s plenty of great boondocking in the area and rich local culture. The downside is there’s no cell service. As it turns out, this is a great recipe for avoiding large crowds of national park lovers, but not so great for digital nomads. So, if you want to play at Big Bend and have cell signal, be sure to stay at Maverick Ranch in Lajitas located in between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park. There you’ll have easy access to both parks and strong cell service.

For some extra fun while you’re at Maverick’s, go to The Trading Post to visit the Mayor of Lajitas — Clay Henry the goat. Then, take a self-guided ghost tour in the town of Terlingua and catch a show and dinner at the Starlight Theater and Saloon.

While you’re in Big Bend, be sure to hike Santa Elena Canyon and enjoy one of the only places where you can legally visit Mexico by row boat. From inside the park, you can pay $5 for a rowboat ride across the Rio Grande and catch a pack mule or walk the 1 mile to Boquillas, Mexico. The town is dependent on visitors and tourists, so grab a taco lunch at the local restaurant, a few souvenirs from local families, and a cold beer at the local bar. All you need is your passport and cash (American dollars are fine).

ZION/TETONS/YOSEMITE/GRAND CANYON: Far less crowded off the beaten path

Rachael & Jesse @thetasteforadventure

These days it feels increasingly difficult to find tranquility during a visit to our national parks. However, you only need to venture a bit further to lose the crowds. A Yosemite National Park ranger is quoted as saying, “95% of the people visiting a national park go no further than 100 feet from their car.”

Most national parks have multiple districts. Tourists will flock to one or two popular areas and trails, but the rest of the park will be quieter, but no less pretty. In general, the longer or more difficult a hike is, the more likely you’ll have the trail mostly to yourself. But you don’t need to be a rugged adventurer to find solitude in even the most popular national parks.

Here are some of our not-so-secret hacks for avoiding crowds at some of the busiest national parks:

Zion National Park

Angel’s Landing is so popular that the hike is switching to a permit system this year. If you want most of the Angel’s Landing experience, but don’t want to fight the crowds on the chain section (or you’re too scared like us!), hike with the rest up to Scout’s Landing. However, instead of turning right onto Angel’s Landing, continue to the left on the West Rim trail. There you can enjoy miles of high elevation trails with far less people.

Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon is one of America’s most visited national parks, but the North Rim, which can be approached by those returning from Utah, gets only a quarter of the visitation. Soak in those canyon views without jostling for a spot at a viewpoint.

Yosemite National Park

The parking lot at Tunnel View is always jammed with buses, cars, and camera-wielding visitors. However, a 2-mile round trip trail right behind the parking lot will take you up to Artist Point, where you can admire the same view of the Valley in peace.

Arches / Canyonlands National Park

Moab is so mobbed with visitors at peak season that the entry into Arches can be cut off as early as 9 AM. Canyonlands National Park is equally epic and just next door. For even more solitude, and peaks at more arches, venture an hour and half south to the Canyonlands Needles District.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS & SEASHORES: Don’t forget the small guys

Jenn & Adam @jenn.norrell

When someone mentions national parks, most people envision places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, or one of the other 63 places with the National Park designation in the US. What many people aren’t aware of are the hundreds of other sites that are overseen by the National Park Service. These historic sites, monuments, seashores, battlefields, etc. often fly under the radar but are a wealth of knowledge and beauty, and very often far less crowded. Visiting some smaller NPS sites is one of our favorite ways to break up a long travel day sans crowds.

I like to use the map feature of the NPS app or Chimani app to look up sites we might pass on our route. While we love exploring the larger national parks many of the smaller NPS service sites have been just as, and sometimes more, memorable. Some of our favorites include Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi, Thomas Edison National Historic Park in New Jersey, Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas, Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina, and Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico.

ANY PARK: Snagging a job like the locals

Melissa & Wade @pennypinchingglobetrotter

What could be better than visiting your favorite national park for a week or two or even a few months? Working in one, naturally. That’s why national park jobs and volunteer positions can be hard to come by. But they don’t have to be.

Here’s how to land a job in your dream park:

Start applying in November and December for your top picks the following summer, but don’t give up if you miss the deadline since they hire until all the jobs are filled which can be as late as early May.
Make a list of all the parks you want to work at and apply with both the park service and the concessionaires who operate in the park. Sometimes there is more than one concessionaire.
Apply for any and all jobs you are willing to do. From reservations, gift shop, restaurant worker, and hotel worker to maintenance and camp host, there are tons of jobs in our national parks. You want to get your foot in the door and get an interview. Many times, once they talk to you and learn more about your skills you may end up with a job you didn’t even apply for. (On average, we apply for around 50 jobs. Then we usually have our pick from several offers.)
Use sites like Coolworks.com and usajobs.gov (search Department of Interior) as well as look at the sites of the top concessionaires such as Aramark, Delaware north, Vail resorts, Guest Services, and Xanterra.
Jobs in our parks are not just for RVers. Both the National Park Service and the concessionaires oftentimes have employee housing and meal service.
Make sure your resume and/or the application includes as many keywords from the job description as possible. (This is especially important when applying with the National Park Service.)

Whether you’re looking to catch a sunrise, cross a border, or play, work, or stay in our nation’s national parks this year, these nomad hacks should have you covered.

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This article was compiled by Celeste Orr, former full-time nomad, current Acadia National Park bum, and the author of Togetherness Redefined: Finding a Different Kind of Family Togetherness. You can connect with her at togethernessredefined.com