We received a great tip in the Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group a couple of days ago that we wanted to surface here on the blog for anyone who’s interested in visiting National Parks around the country, as well as other National Park Service-run locations like National Historical Parks, National Forests, National Monuments, etc.
It turns out that REI sells National Parks passes for $79.99 and those can be picked up in store or mailed to your home for free. REI is currently a gift card redemption option on Capital One Shopping, so this could be a superb way of redeeming some of your balance for a purchase that usually wouldn’t be discounted in any way.
Even better, you might get targeted for cashback from Capital One Shopping when making the purchase too.
The Deal
- Buy National Park passes from REI.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- Only available for U.S. citizens or residents of the United States.
Quick Thoughts
My wife and I visited many National Parks on our 7 year, 50 state road trip. We didn’t set a target of visiting every National Park in the country as we knew getting to some of them – while traveling full-time with our dog – wasn’t realistic, but we did try to visit as many as possible. In addition to checking out lots of National Parks, we also visited many, many other National Park Service-run sites, some of which were highlights of our trip; in some cases, even more so than National Parks themselves.
For example, if you ever find yourself in the western/northwestern side of New Mexico, I’d highly recommend checking out Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s a beautiful, fascinating place if you can handle the ~20 mile washboard road to get there. There are many Ancestral Puebloan homes, kivas, petroglyphs, etc. that made it well worth the visit.
As a result of our road trip, for many of those seven years we purchased an annual National Parks pass. This gets you free entry to National Parks, as well as other National Park Service-run locations that charge an entrance fee (not all do). Be aware that select locations do charge some other fee for visiting, particularly where transport is involved. For example, if you want to visit Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, the National Park pass will get you free entry, but you still have to pay for the ferry to get there and back.
One year when I knew we’d be visiting a ton of NPS sites, I kept track of how much we saved by having a pass. The savings were boosted by the fact that my parents joined us for a month of our road trip while visiting Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. The pass usually covers the entire vehicle, so at parks where they charge on a per-person basis, the savings can be substantial.
From April 2021 through April 2022, our entrance fees would’ve come to $535, so purchasing a $79.99 National Parks pass saved us $455.
Ultimately, if you’re likely to visit three or four National Parks in the next year, you should at least break even when buying these passes, not to mention possibly coming out ahead.
We always bought our passes directly at one of the National Parks as I hadn’t realized that REI sold them. REI is a particularly useful option for people who’ve earned cashback from the Capital One Shopping portal. Capital One Shopping portal earnings can only be redeemed for select gift cards, many of which can often be bought at a substantial discount elsewhere. REI gift cards on the other hand don’t tend to get discounted too highly, so redeeming $80 from the portal for an REI gift card can be a great redemption option.
Daniel in our Facebook group (the person who gave us a heads up about this opportunity) also highlighted that he was targeted for cashback on the purchase by the Capital One Shopping portal and earned 7% cashback as a result. REI isn’t normally found on shopping portals, so that makes this an even better deal if you do get targeted.
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A related note: a Access Pass is available for free for any US Citizens or residents who are permanently disabled. These passes are good for a lifetime.
On the REI note, REI also sells Washington State Discovery Passes, Northwest Forest Passes, Texas State Park Annual passes and a bunch of other options. Definitely multiple uses for an REI gift card.
What a great post! My pass expires in June so keeping this little nugget for the future!
great to know!