This Was the Most Popular U.S. National Park in 2023, According to Google

Evie Carrick
·3 min read
5

Google users searched Yellowstone National Park the most.

Ever wonder what your fellow adventurers are planning next? Thanks to Google’s annual Year in Search, we get an intimate look at what searches are trending over a sustained period as compared to the prior year. The results for 2023 are in and included plenty of information — but we couldn’t help but hone in on one of their unpublished trends, which the company’s public relations team shared with Travel + Leisure.

What national parks were top of mind in 2023 and why? The team pulled the top 10 trending searches on Google Maps in the national park category resulting in a list of parks that captivated our attention in 2023. At the top of the list is Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park and also the favorite of T+L readers in 2023.

The park, which was first protected from private development under the Yosemite Act of 1864 during the Civil War, became the first national park on March 1, 1872. It paved the way for the following 63 U.S. national parks and many more abroad.

<p>Tom Walker/Getty Images</p>

Tom Walker/Getty Images

Yellowstone National Park is primarily in Wyoming but crosses state lines into Idaho and Montana. The park has long been celebrated for its stunning hydrothermal and geologic features. It sits atop a volcanic hot spot, resulting in over 10,000 active hydrothermal features, including hot springs and geysers. In fact, there are nearly 500 geysers within the park, making Yellowstone home to over half of the world's active geysers. The most famous of them all, Old Faithful, sits within the park and is famous for its regularity — it erupts every 44 minutes to two hours.

Yellowstone’s 3,500 square miles of wilderness is also home to a large concentration of animals, including some of the most revered endangered species. There are grizzly bears, moose, bison, and black bears within the park, along with herds of bighorn sheep and elk.

Following Yellowstone in Google’s Year of Search are nine other U.S. national parks that captured Google Map user’s attention in 2023, including three parks in California and two in Utah:

  • Yosemite National Park (California): This park is famous for its granite cliffs and ancient sequoia trees.

  • Zion National Park (Utah): This park is known for its steep red cliffs and the staggeringly beautiful Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

  • Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona): This is the site of the Grand Canyon, which is 10 miles wide (on average) and a mile deep.

  • Glacier National Park (Montana): This is a true wilderness area known for its glacier-carved peaks and valleys.

  • Joshua Tree National Park (California): This is a stark desert landscape with Joshua trees that straddles the Colorado and Mojave Deserts.

  • Sequoia National Park (California): This park is famous for its huge sequoia trees, including the General Sherman Tree, the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth by volume.

  • Acadia National Park (Maine): This is one of the few coastal national parks, with rocky Atlantic beaches and granite peaks.

  • Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah): This is known for its high concentration of red-colored hoodoos, or spire-shaped rock formations.

  • Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado): This park spans the Continental Divide with endless mountain hiking trails.

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