Guess Which Washington State Park Ranked 3rd Best in the USA
We are blessed to have lots of wonderful National parks in Washington State, but one special park has been named the 3rd best in the USA!
Washington State National Park Ranked 3rd Best
A national list of the best parks in the United States was recently released, and Washington State almost claimed the top spot. The list was put together by looking at many factors like the distance from a major city, the cost of entry, and by looking at the percentage of online ratings that mention the word beautiful.
The Full Methodology for the List
First, they identified all National Parks and visitor centers located in the United States, using Wikipedia as their source. The rating systems they used to search for review information were TripAdvisor and Yelp. The website NationParkObsessed has the full list of National Park entry fees and used TripSavyy for searches of the best parks for different activities.
The Best National Park in the USA
The park that took the top spot I have heard of but have never had the pleasure of visiting. The number one National Park on the list is Great Smokey Mountains in
North Carolina, Tennessee. This park had the highest amount of visitors and ranked high in every aspect they looked at. Over 14 million people visited this epic park last year alone. If you are ever near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, make sure you stop.
The 2nd Best National Park in the USA
Washington State was named the 3rd best on the list, but what parks were named above it? The 2nd ranked park is located in Ohio and is difficult to say. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park (kai-uh-how-guh) just edged out Washington for the number 2 spot with a rating of 8.16/10. This park is very small at only 132 km2 but has no entry fee, is close to a major city, and has a lot of activities to do.
The 3rd Best National Park in the USA
Washington State takes 3rd in this long list of National Parks by TravelLens. Out of the 3 total parks that are located in the State, Olympic National Park comes in at number 3 in the United States. Olympic National Park received a rating of 7.75/10. The park scored high in "distance from the nearest city" being only 1.8 miles from Port Angeles. The park also had almost 50% of online reviews mention the word beautiful. The worst score the park received was for the entry fee of $15. See the entire list at TravelLens.