{"id":104005,"date":"2017-08-21T20:59:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T02:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-days-of-10-senior-national-park-passes-are-ending\/"},"modified":"2017-08-21T20:59:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T02:59:12","slug":"the-days-of-10-senior-national-park-passes-are-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-days-of-10-senior-national-park-passes-are-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"The days of $10 senior National Park passes are ending"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Visitors
Visitors take a boat ride in Glacier National Park in Montana. Seniors rushed to get a discounted National Park pass before the price goes up to $80 this year.<\/span>Jacob W. Frank\/National Park Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As Cathy Morin neared her 62nd birthday last month, she knew she was just about to qualify for one of the country\u2019s best bargains.<\/p>\n

For just $10, senior citizens can buy passes that give them lifetime entry to national parks and other public lands as well as discounts on campgrounds and other amenities.<\/p>\n

Around her birthday, she learned that she\u2019d have to move quickly to take advantage of that deal. The pass has cost $10 since 1994, but in December, Congress voted to increase the price to $80. On July 10, in the middle of their busiest season, the National Park Service announced the new price would start on Aug. 28. So at the end of July, Morin hustled over to a U.S. Forest Service office about 10 miles away from her home, Conejos Peak Ranger District, which is part of the Rio Grande National Forest in Southwest Colorado. \u201cYou might as well save $70,\u201d says Morin, a retired former hospital worker. \u201cOnce you\u2019re retired and on a limited income, that looks like a really good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s one of about 2.5 million Americans who are expected to get the passes at the lower rate this year, more than three times the number who bought them last year, according to Kathy Kupper, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.<\/p>\n

Most seniors get the passes at a national park they are visiting. But seniors can apply online or by mail too, though there\u2019s a $10 processing fee. As the days tick down to the deadline, demand has surged. On any given day last year, public land agencies received about 100 online applications. Now they\u2019re getting about 10,000 a day, according to Kupper. The government switched to a new online system to try to handle the onslaught. Parks that are used to getting maybe 25 requests a year for passes are getting that many in a day, Kupper added. The National Park Service printed and shipped out 400,000 extra passes, but some parks have run out.<\/p>\n

The passes can be used at more than 2,000 sites, including wildlife refuges, national forests and places run by the Bureau of Land Management. They\u2019re good for any people traveling in the same passenger vehicle as a passholder or for three additional adults.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>, which processes the requests for passes, is overwhelmed. Currently, it takes 12 weeks for people who apply to receive the passes. In the meantime, the receipts are good for entry and discounts. But because of the sudden demand for Senior Passes, USGS has partnered with Your Pass Now<\/a> to simplify the order process for Senior Passes. You will be redirected to their external website.<\/p>\n

Morin has tested this. The Forest Service office where she applied was out of passes, so they gave her a receipt and told her to use that until the card arrives in the mail. On the first two weekends after she purchased her pass, she went camping at Forest Service campgrounds. On one trip, she and some friends enjoyed a river trip on a wild stretch of Colorado River outside Grand Junction. Since she didn\u2019t have the pass in hand yet, she showed her receipt. Her camping fees were cut in half. As a result, she has already saved more money than she spent on the pass.<\/p>\n

At Rocky Mountain National Park, cars packed with seniors have been showing up at the entrance station, and then each passenger requests a lifetime pass, says park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson. All the interest increases the already long lines to get into national parks during the most popular time of year. At many parks, lines for passes snake through visitors\u2019 centers. If you lose or have the pass stolen, you have to buy a new one so some folks are planning ahead and buying two at once.<\/p>\n

The Park Service hopes all qualified Americans take advantage of the deal before it\u2019s gone. But Kupper says if you don\u2019t turn 62 until next month, you\u2019ll still get a bargain: \u201cTen dollars is a fantastic deal; $80 is still a fantastic deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morin agrees, but she\u2019s glad she got hers for $10. She\u2019s dreaming about all the use she\u2019ll get out of it: fishing, boating, gathering mushrooms and hunting elk and deer on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land and taking in the amazing scenery and hiking in national parks.<\/p>\n

This article was first published on hcn.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Buy a seniors pass<\/h4>\n

The $10 lifetime seniors pass goes to $80 on Monday, Aug. 28.
\n The U.S. Geological Survey
\n , which processes requests for passes, is overwhelmed. Currently, it may take 12 weeks to receive the passes. In the meantime, the vouchers are good for entry and discounts.
\n Buy online:
\n yourpassnow.com\/ParkPass<\/a>
\n Mesa Verde National Park
\n 970-529-4465
\n The $10 lifetime pass is still available, if purchased before Aug. 28. Avoid the 12-week delay and buy a pass at the Mesa Verde National Park\u2019s kiosk at the park\u2019s entrance.
\n Anasazi Heritage Center
\n 27501 Colorado Highway 184
\n 970-882-5600
\n The $10 lifetime pass is still available, if purchased before Aug. 28.
\n New prices start Aug. 28
\n Lifetime pass: $80.
\n Annual pass: $20. After buying four, you may trade them in for an $80 lifetime pass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

seniors are rushing to get one before they\u2019re gone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13,173],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-104005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mesa-verde-national-park"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104005"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=104005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}