Death Valley, one of my favorite National Parks, has announced that they are joining the growing list of other National Parks that are going cashless. Starting June 1, 2023, you will need plastic to pay for camping and entrance fees.
According to the National Park Service (NPS), the park collected $22,000 in cash last year. But it paid out over $40,000 to process the cash! Cash handling costs include an armored car contract to transport cash and park rangers’ time counting money and processing paperwork.
Do you blame them for going cashless? The transition to cashless payments will allow the NPS to redirect the $40,000 previously spent processing cash to benefit park visitors directly.
No Plastic? Not a real problem.
Park Visitors can use cash to purchase the $30 per vehicle park entrance 7-day pass at several partner locations:
- Charles Brown General Store (Shoshone, CA)
- Death Valley Natural History Association (Furnace Creek Visitor Center)
- Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association (Lone Pine Visitor Center)
- Panamint Springs Resort
Visitors can also purchase entrance passes ahead of time online at recreation.gov/sitepass/deathvalley.
Below is a list of National Park Service–operated sites that have announced a transition to entirely cashless payment systems for entrance fees.
- • Badlands National Park, South Dakota
- • Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado
- • Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
- • Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico
- • Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia
- • Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming
- • Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Maryland
- • Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia
- • Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, New York
- • Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
- • Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana
- • Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (effective May 26)
- • Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona
- • Prince William Forest Park, Virginia
- • Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (effective June 1)
- • Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan
- • Thomas Edison National Historical Park, New Jersey
- • Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi
- • Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
- • Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina
Not All Cashless
Not everything is cashless. Concession operations are required to accept cash if specified by state or local law. For places like Death Valley, its for entrance fees and camping permits.
You can find a complete list of National Park Service entrance fees at NPS.gov. Go to the park website you’re interested in to find info on their fees— or get all the details at recreation.gov.
