The most visited national park in the country? Our very own Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
More than 19 million people visited the park in 2016, a large area that runs south from Marin through San Francisco to San Mateo County and is home to many of the Bay Area’s most beloved spaces, such as Muir Woods, the Marin Headlands, Lands End and the James V. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach.
“We are both an international destination and a neighborhood park to the 7 million people who call the Bay Area home,” said Nathan Sargent, a spokesman for the park, also known as GGNRA.
Nationwide, 331 million people visited America’s 417 national parks in 2016 — a third consecutive all-time record for the National Park Service. GGNRA often tops the list, typically ranking first or second alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway, Sargent said.
GGNRA said it undertook several initiatives last year during the National Parks’ centennial aimed at making it easier for people to visit the area: Hundreds of San Francisco residents made their first visit using free shuttles, and another program (Packing the Parks) hosted 70 Bay Area youth — many newcomers to national parks — on a backpacking trip through park lands in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties.
