Your Fee Dollars at Work

Trail crews use entrance fee dollars to work on critical improvements to park trails. These improvements keep hikers safe and also reduce damage caused from soil erosion or washouts.

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The fee you pay to enter the parks makes a difference

A full 80% of the fees we collect stays in the parks and are used to maintain and improve facilities and services that enhance your park experience. Each year, we evaluate our most-needed projects and prioritize activities such as updating informational signage, repairing trails, contacting visitors and sharing safety information, and making facilities more accessible to all.

As helpful as your fees are, you may qualify for one of the America the Beautiful money-saving passes (senior, access, and active military). Or consider buying a Sequoia and Kings Canyon annual pass if you visit more than once a year. You can also take advantage of the National Park Service’s fee-free days.

 

Save Time, Buy Online.

Save time at the entrance station by purchasing your pass in advance. Buy a Vehicle, Motorcycle and Annual parks pass here.

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A sign provides in-depth information, allowing people to determine if there are any barriers that would make them unable to access the trail.

Kirke Wrench

Evaluating Services and Facilities to Improve Universal Access

At Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we recognize that barriers to universal accessibility exist at some facilities and in the services we offer. In 2018, entrance fee dollars funded a comprehensive review of facilities and key experiences in the parks. This allowed us to identify ways we can make a difference. In the future, you can expect to see the following improvements:

• Facilities, programs, services, and activities offered by the parks will be more universally accessible.
• All indoor and outdoor exhibits, films, and other information will be provided in formats that allow visitors with disabilities to participate.
• Park programs will be created and delivered for all visitors, including visitors with mild to severe disabilities impacting their mobility, vision, hearing, and/or cognitive abilities.

 

Rangers participate in several search and rescue trainings each year so they are prepared to help visitors who experience emergencies.

NPS Photo

Preventing Emergencies Through Wilderness Safety Education

There are 837,594 acres of wilderness and 866 miles of trails in the parks, and people come from across the world to hike here. Notably, people come to experience the challenge of a through-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail or travel the well-known John Muir Trail. In 2019, the parks had 154 search and rescue incidents, the highest in recorded history. To help reduce wilderness emergencies, the parks use entrance fees to improve wilderness education and fund search and rescue training for rangers. By placing more rangers in key wilderness areas, we are able to talk to and help and estimated 20% more hikers per year. We provide safety information, or first aid and guidance, before a person's situation becomes an emergency. Using fee dollars in this way helps reduce the number of injuries, deaths, and helicopter evacuations from remote backcountry areas.