I’m Obsessed with the National Parks Service Stamp Book & You’re About to Become Obsessed, Too

I love our national parks! I have been a huge fan of them for as long as I can remember, although I've really accelerated my visitation to them over the past decade or so. I really can't get enough of them - I hope to visit them all someday - and I seek out new sites every time I travel anywhere in the United States.

There are so many reasons to love our nation's national parks. They're our public lands, so they belong to each and every American. They protect amazing and beautiful natural areas and they preserve and teach about our nation's historical sites. There are over 400 units in our national parks system. Every single one of them is unique, and when you visit any of them, you're sure to leave each one feeling proud, rewarded, and enriched.

Visiting our national parks is an experiential adventure. The things you see and do in our national parks will stay with you forever in your memories. It's against federal law to take anything from a national park site without explicit permission including seemingly harmless things like rocks and leaves. As a result, the gift shops at national parks are always quite busy - everyone wants to buy something to take home with them, it seems. Of course, most of us take lots of photographs, too, to help us remember our visit, but some of us find that we want something more.

That's where the national parks stamp book comes in. Officially called Passport to Your National Parks, this simple book will elevate your interest in the parks to a whole new level. For me, that level is now bordering on obsession, in part thanks to this book.

Let me explain. Back in 1986, National Parks Service partner America's National Parks started a fun program to help encourage more people to visit our national parks. A "cancellation" ink stamper, with the name of the park and a changeable date, was created for each park in the system to be placed on a table in the park's visitor center. All visitors have to do to participate in the program is remember to stamp their journal or a piece of paper or an official Passport Book they've purchased every time they visit a park. Stamping, itself, is free.

It's fun to collect these stamps and to create a record of the parks you've visited. This activity doesn't have to cost a thing; you can stamp the stamp in whatever vessel you choose. Many people purchase the Passport Book to collect stamps, but you certainly don't have to. I will, add, however, that since the program's inception, over 3.5 million Passport books have been sold.

I think I became aware of this program close to its beginnings, but I was just a kid, and I wasn't visiting parks enough yet for it to really get me fully hooked. My parents even bought me a Passport Book somewhere back then, but it certainly got lost not long after that. It only had a handful of pages, anyway, and although I thought the whole thing was pretty cool, I knew I'd never remember to find and bring the book each time we went, when we visited parks somewhat rarely. It soon disappeared into the ether and was forgotten.

It wasn't until my 30s that I rediscovered this program and dove in full force. I started visiting national parks sites on a more regular basis and began to notice that every single one had a passport stamping station in the gift shop. I saw people eagerly stamping their books and I started occasionally stamping small pieces of paper. I also noticed that the gift shops sold stickers to go in the books next to the passport stamps. But what really drew me in was the fact that the gift shops were now selling big, spiral-bound Passport to Your National Parks books that had a designated spot for nearly every single site in the entire system.

This changed everything.

If there's anything that can keep me moving forward on a goal, it's the possibility of actually completing that goal. For goal setting to be effective, there has to be a point of success. The Passport to Your National Parks BIG BOOK is divided into regions. Each region in the book has a checklist, a map, and a specific, approximately 2" x 4" spot for each park in that region - a spot for the sticker you can buy at the gift ship, and a spot for you to stamp the stamp. It's easy to see when you've completed a section, because every empty spot will be filled.

That sounds like a challenge to me!

Since I bought the BIG BOOK about a decade ago, I've managed to almost complete the yellow section - that's the Rocky Mountain Region where I live. This region includes Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. For each park in that region, I have both the sticker and the stamp - and I love looking at them and showing them to people, all while reminiscing about my adventures in each spot. I've picked up quite a few in many of the other regions, too, but no section is as close to complete as that one. I'm excited to hit the final few parks in Yellow, then I'll move on to finishing all the others.

Someday, my entire book will be full! It may take me the rest of my life, but someday, I hope to have all 400+ spots in my book filled. I'm only about a quarter of the way there so far, but... dare to dream, right?

Visiting national parks sites is a joy regardless, of course, but the national parks stamp book adds a little bit more fun and adventure to each visit. Getting stamps also has resulted in some funny stories over the years, too, many of which involve my partner and I dangerously rushing in order to get a stamp before a visitor center closed for the day at 5 p.m.. Fortunately, I recently learned that if you don't manage to get to the stamp station before closing time, you can send a SASE when you get home to any park with a note indicating your date of visit, and they'll send you back a stamped piece of paper to put in your book. It's not the same as stamping the book yourself, but I guess it counts - and it's all on the honor system, of course.

Another tip to offer is the fact that you can buy all the stickers at once, as shown below. This is a great way to save money if you get really into this hobby. The stickers are $5 each or so when purchased individually, but I think I bought the entire set for around $150. Now, when I visit a park, I just find the sticker in my sticker collection, peel it off, and add it to the book.

I also learned not too long ago that many parks also have "secret" or "special" stamps that they keep behind the counter. Some of these are commemorative ink stamps that celebrated a park's anniversary or that depict a special feature of that particular park. They're not left out for the public to keep people from walking off with them, but if you ask a park ranger, they'll let you use them at the information desk. There are a few blank pages at the end of each section where you can amass these stamps without taking over other pre-designated spots.

If you enjoy our national parks, I highly recommend that you pick up a Passport to Your National Parks of your own on your next visit. You might pick up a small version of the book to start; you can always transfer those pages into the big book should you decide to later upgrade. Or, you can start with the big book right away. Once you start to get a few stamps in your book, you'll soon find yourself studying the maps in the book to see what other parks are within driving distance so you can get more stamps. Next, you'll be looking at what parks are near the homes of distant friends and relatives, and you may start planning visits to those people, so you can get more stamps. Soon, you'll be planning trips to states you never considered even seeing, because, well, you guessed it... you can get more stamps.

Pro tip: purchase an America the Beautiful pass from REI to get a year of admission to all America's national parks for $80 - it pays for itself in just a couple park visits!

You're going to have so much fun with the Passport to Your National Parks. And soon, you will be obsessed with our nation's national parks, just like me. You'll see - and yes, you're welcome. I'll see you in the visitor center! Maybe we can take a few minutes before heading out on the trails to compare books.