WASHINGTON — Just as summer begins, 130 national parks across the country are starting to charge visitors more to get inside, with entrance fees doubling and even tripling at some sites.

The increases are the first since 2006 and are taking effect at both the crown jewels in the park system – including Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon – and at small monuments and historic sites. Visitors entering in a car, the most common way Americans see the parks, are paying more, along with those entering on foot or motorcycle and those buying annual passes.

Among the largest parks, the new prices range from $50 for an annual pass at Arches in southeast Utah (up from $25) to $30 for a car to get into the Grand Tetons in northwest Wyoming, up from $25. And in the mid-Atlantic region, the single-vehicle fee to enter Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is $25, up from $15, while the Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia is charging $15 per vehicle, up from $10. Motorcyclists are getting hit with some of the steepest increases.

Visitors also should prepare for higher fees to camp, shower, paddleboat and tour caves at 176 parks as the National Park Service boosts fees for amenities, too.

Park officials say the increases are needed to help them get to a backlog in construction projects. The agency’s maintenance needs have piled up for years as cuts from Congress have eroded both operating and capital budgets.

Copy the Story Link