National Park Passport Books are popular among park visitors and allow you to document your visits to national parks, monuments, and historic sites across the United States.
When you visit national park sites, you can find official cancellation stations where you can stamp your passport with the date of your visit, similar to a real passport stamp.
The National Park Passport Book works as a way to document your visits to National Park Service (NPS) sites through cancellation stamps, stickers, and notes. It’s like a real passport but specifically designed for national parks, monuments, historic sites, and other locations managed by the NPS.
What is the National Parks Passport Book?
The Passport Book is a small book that can fit in your backpack or pocket when traveling to any site in the National Park System. It is divided by region and has places for the cancellation stamps and park stickers to be placed on the pages. For easy reference, each book comes with a free map that shows all of the NPS sites and describes the specific regions.
Where can you Purchase a Passport Book?
A Passport Book can be purchased anywhere that you can get a cancellation stamp, typically the bookstore at the park, or online at https://shop.americasnationalparks.org/store/category/30/278/Passport-Books/. There are also other options on Amazon that are bigger books with more pages. 100% of the proceeds from the Passport program support your national parks.
What are the Different Types of Passport Books?
Classic Edition
The classic edition of the passport booklet is the traditional, small, cheapest version of the Passport Book. This is the basic version that most people start with.
Explorer Edition
If you need more space, the explorer edition is an upgrade from the classic with more room for cancellation stamps and other collectibles.
Collector’s Edition
Serious parkgoers will probably like the collector’s edition. While it’s bigger and therefore takes more space in your bag, it has room for many more stamps and stickers throughout the book.
What Else Can You Put in a Passport Book?
The Passport Book is made for the cancellation stamps but also has a place to put the commemorative stamp sets for the annual National Park Annual Commemorative Stamp Series collection.
What are Cancellation Stamps?
Cancellation stamps are small passport stamps that have the park’s name, location, and date on them. The color of the ink stamps corresponds to the region’s color on the side of the book. There are also oftentimes special rubber stamp cancellations at certain locations in addition to the traditional round stamp.
Where can you get a Cancellation Stamp?
A cancellation stamp is available at most national park visitors centers, ranger stations, park stores, and information desks in each park. There are only a few sites within the National Park Service that don’t have a cancellation stamp available.
You can check the National Park Service sites online or the NPS official app to find a stamp location on your next adventure.
Why do People Collect the Stamps?
They are a great way to go back and review all of the places you’ve been and all of your National Park visits. Once you purchase the Passport Book, the stamps are free, so it’s a budget-friendly thing to collect as you explore the U.S. National Parks.
It’s a fun way to track your national park experiences and create a keepsake of your travels!
Steps for the Passport Book
Visit an NPS Site
Once you have your Passport Book in hand, or when you are planning to purchase one, visit one of the many sites in the National Park Service. You can ask the rangers for a list of cancellation stamp locations in the park or check on the NPS mobile app for the park.
Find the Cancellation Station
Most of the cancellation stations are in a visitor center or ranger information station. If the park has a bookstore or park store, try looking there. Some parks have a large display for the Passport Book station while others have just a small table for the inkpad and stamp. If you can’t find it, ask the park rangers who work at the visitor center.
Stamp Your Book
Double-check that the date is correct, ink the stamp, and stamp it in the correct section in your Passport Book. The parks are separated by regions with a map at the beginning of the book that shows which states are part of which region.
Purchase Stickers
If you want to purchase the park’s annual commemorative sticker, you can buy that from the bookstore at participating sites.
What if I forgot my book?
Stamp on a Sticker or Paper
Most of the parks have some small squares of paper near the cancellation stamp. You can use this to stamp on the paper and attach it later to your book. Or, you can purchase a set of round stickers to put the stamps on which can then be transferred to your Passport Book.
Virtual Stamps
A few of the parks offer virtual stamps that you can download and print then affix to your book. Many created these during the COVID shutdowns in 2020 and kept the virtual stamp as an option.
On the website for the park, check the sections titled “News”, “For Kids”, or “Visitor Information” to find virtual stamps for the parks.
During a virtual national parks program such as online ranger talks, virtual tours, or webinars, certain parks may offer a downloadable or printable virtual stamp. Keep an eye on special events by visiting the NPS social media pages or park event calendars.
Mail a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope
Find the park’s main address and send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the park with a note about which cancellation you need and the date of your visit.
Common Questions
How can I get a Junior Ranger Cancellation?
Junior Ranger cancellations are available the the national parks with the Junior Ranger program. It’s up to the discretion of each park whether the stamp is available to anyone or only offered upon completion of the Junior Ranger program.
What if I Run Out of Space?
Expander packs are available for purchase for each size of the official Passport Books. They are easy to attach and offer more flexibility for collecting national park cancellations.
Where can I see a list of all Cancellation Sites?
A full list of every cancellation site can be found here: https://americasnationalparks.org/passport-to-your-national-parks/passport-cancellation-locations/ Just keep in mind that the list is constantly changing as sites add or remove cancellations within their parks.
