A Quick Guide to Using your National Park Passport Book
We picked up our National Park Passport Books at the Glen Canyon Dam Visitors Center gift shop this past June. We had thought about it for a while for the kids and were excited to finally get them! The staff at the gift shop were kind, but unfortunately they weren’t able to answer any questions about the National Park Passport Books.
Kids love stickers and stamps, so we expected they would love to start these books even at the toddler age. Plus, it would be fun for them to reflect on as they grow. At first, we just bought one of these books (the classic version), and then we figured as the kids grow they’ll want to stamp their own, so we now have two. However, I kind of want my own to hang onto (the collective version), but three just seems like a lot to carry around so we haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
We started our journey using these books a bit blind. While there are some instructions at the front of the book, we had some mental roadblocks and couldn’t quite understand what it was trying to tell us. It wasn’t until a few months later that the friendly staff at Yellowstone National Park were able to clear a few instructions up for us! Phew! Now we are all set, but we wanted to share some things we learned with you.
Definition of Stamps & Cancelations
Here is the quick and dirty - the terminology is more like how the post office terms work, not mom crafting minds. You need to purchase the ‘stamp’ (like a postage stamp) which in my mind is more like a sticker, from the visitors center. Each visitors center has a ‘cancelation’ with the date you visited, which is more like a stamp in my mom mind. So you’ll have one ‘stamp’ (sticker) per national park, but you can have multiple ‘cancelations’ (stamps) for the days visit.
Pay attention to the ‘cancelations’ (stamps) you are putting in your book at the visitors centers. Sometimes there are multiple and we’ve had times where we’ve stamped one of a location we weren’t planning to go to. Oops!
Other Lessons Learned 🤪
Be sure to put your stamps (stickers) and cancelations (stamps) in the correct region, and if the location is not listed in that region, put those cancelations (stamps) only in the extra cancelations area of your book as there will be no stamps (stickers) sold (e.g. National Fish Hatcheries and Forests will not be listed so those would go in extras).
It is worth noting that not all visitors centers sell these books (like the one in the town of West Yellowstone, MT) if you are trying to purchase one in person in Yellowstone National Park.
Be prepared in advance of your arrival to the visitors center with your toddlers by placing a post-it note in the region your stamp and cancelation will go. Too many times, I was chasing the kids around busy gift shops while trying to find the right location! 🤣
What other questions can we help answer?
We created a map for you to view all national parks as you plan your travels! This includes US National Parks (where these passport books can be stamped) as well as Canadian National Parks (because why not when you live in an RV?!).
