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Florida Has One of the Best Secret Parks in America

Consisting of seven small islands in the Gulf Of Mexico, Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys is considered of the most isolated national parks in the United States.

Getty Images / Wilsilver77

Getty Images / Wilsilver77

Sometimes, if something is really good, you want to keep it a secret. One Florida park is apparently so amazing that people are keeping it secret, because it's one of the least-visited national parks in America. Maybe that won't be the case after this new study gets out. Perhaps this is just what this park needs to get more visitors. It's funny, because I've written about parks for a long time, and this park often tops best-of lists. That said, it is considered one of the most remote parks in America. Here's the Florida park that's one of the best secret parks in the U.S.

The National Park Service recently put out a report with its 2023 visitation numbers for 400 federally protected sites. The list included the least- and most-visited national parks in America. "While overall visitation continues to grow across America's national parks, visitors are increasingly discovering opportunities in less well-known parks and during park off-seasons," they state. However, travel to parks is going up. "Today, the National Park Service announced that 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million recreation visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022," they stated.

Best Secret Parks in America

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the least-visited park, or we should say one of the best secret parks, in all of America. That spot had just 11,045 visits in 2023. The next few parks on the list are also from Alaska: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska (16,728 visits) and Kobuk Valley National Park in Alaska (17,616 visits). Next up is Michigan, with their Isle Royale National Park. Rounding out the top five is Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

So, where is Florida? We're at No. 9 on the list with Dry Tortugas National Park. The park only had 84,285 visits last year. For what it's worth, the two most visited parks for 2023 were Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 13.297 million visits and Grand Canyon National Park at 4.73 million. Not a surprise at all. Find the full study here.

Anne Erickson started her radio career shortly after graduating from Michigan State University and has worked on-air in Detroit, Flint, Toledo, Lansing and beyond. As someone who absolutely loves rock, metal and alt music, she instantly fell in love with radio and hasn’t looked back. When she’s not working, Anne makes her own music with her band, Upon Wings, and she also loves cheering on her favorite Detroit and Michigan sports teams, especially Lions and MSU football. Anne is also an award-winning journalist, and her byline has run in a variety of national publications. You can also hear her weekends on WRIF.