Approximately 323 million people visited American national parks in 2025, a 2.7% year-over-year decrease and the first annual decline since 2020.
President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 signed the act creating the National Park Service to leave natural and historic phenomenons "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Since then, our national parks have welcomed visitors from around the world to experience some of the best the country has to offer and showcase the country's natural beauty and cultural heritage. Today, the country's 63 national parks contain at least 247 species of endangered or threatened plants and animals, more than 75,000 archaeological sites, and 18,000 miles of trails.
Stacker compiled a list of the closest national parks to Oxnard. National parks are ranked by closest straight line distance, measured from representative points in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Metro Area and each national park. Estimated driving times are from Here and are only available within the lower 48 states. All featured distances and driving times are estimated using representative locations from the center of each metro and national park—for some places within the metro area, the actual distance may be slightly shorter or longer to reach the closest entryway to a park.
Ethan Daniels // Shutterstock
1 / 63#1. Channel Islands National Park (California)
- Distance: 29 miles
- Date founded: March 5, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 227,186 (#51 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 249,561.00 acres
Virrage Images // Shutterstock
2 / 63#2. Sequoia National Park (California)
- Distance: 145 miles
- Driving time: 6.9 hours
- Date founded: September 25, 1890
- 2025 visitors: 1,378,337 (#23 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 404,062.63 acres
Patrick Poendl // Shutterstock
3 / 63#3. Kings Canyon National Park (California)
- Distance: 171 miles
- Driving time: 7.8 hours
- Date founded: March 4, 1940
- 2025 visitors: 779,791 (#30 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 461,901.20 acres
Bryan Brazil // Shutterstock
4 / 63#4. Death Valley National Park (California, Nevada)
- Distance: 184 miles
- Driving time: 5.9 hours
- Date founded: October 31, 1994
- 2025 visitors: 1,320,134 (#24 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 3,408,406.73 acres
Yhelfman // Shutterstock
5 / 63#5. Pinnacles National Park (California)
- Distance: 186 miles
- Driving time: 4.6 hours
- Date founded: January 10, 2013
- 2025 visitors: 343,208 (#47 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 26,685.73 acres
Dennis Silvas // Shutterstock
6 / 63#6. Joshua Tree National Park (California)
- Distance: 190 miles
- Driving time: 4.6 hours
- Date founded: October 31, 1994
- 2025 visitors: 2,932,644 (#12 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 795,155.85 acres
Stephen Moehle // Shutterstock
7 / 63#7. Yosemite National Park (California)
- Distance: 240 miles
- Driving time: 6.9 hours
- Date founded: October 1, 1890
- 2025 visitors: 4,278,413 (#5 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 761,747.50 acres
Galyna Andrushko // Shutterstock
8 / 63#8. Zion National Park (Utah)
- Distance: 397 miles
- Driving time: 8.5 hours
- Date founded: November 19, 1919
- 2025 visitors: 4,984,525 (#2 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 147,242.66 acres
Josemaria Toscano // Shutterstock
9 / 63#9. Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
- Distance: 413 miles
- Driving time: 8.8 hours
- Date founded: February 26, 1919
- 2025 visitors: 4,430,653 (#4 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 1,201,647.03 acres
Arlene Waller // Shutterstock
10 / 63#10. Great Basin National Park (Nevada)
- Distance: 417 miles
- Driving time: 10.8 hours
- Date founded: October 27, 1986
- 2025 visitors: 161,210 (#54 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 77,180.00 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
11 / 63#11. Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
- Distance: 443 miles
- Driving time: 9.1 hours
- Date founded: August 9, 1916
- 2025 visitors: 504,777 (#40 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 106,589.02 acres
ronnybas frimages // Shutterstock
12 / 63#12. Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)
- Distance: 448 miles
- Driving time: 10.4 hours
- Date founded: February 25, 1928
- 2025 visitors: 1,967,367 (#16 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 35,835.08 acres
Layne V. Naylor // Shutterstock
13 / 63#13. Capitol Reef National Park (Utah)
- Distance: 517 miles
- Driving time: 11.2 hours
- Date founded: December 18, 1971
- 2025 visitors: 1,388,476 (#22 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 241,904.50 acres
kojihirano // Shutterstock
14 / 63#14. Saguaro National Park (Arizona)
- Distance: 520 miles
- Driving time: 10.3 hours
- Date founded: October 14, 1994
- 2025 visitors: 847,749 (#28 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 92,867.42 acres
Felix Lipov // Shutterstock
15 / 63#15. Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)
- Distance: 534 miles
- Driving time: 9.7 hours
- Date founded: December 9, 1962
- 2025 visitors: 315,951 (#48 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 221,390.21 acres
Bob Pool // Shutterstock
16 / 63#16. Redwood National Park (California)
- Distance: 548 miles
- Driving time: 14.2 hours
- Date founded: October 2, 1968
- 2025 visitors: 1,202,480 (#25 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 138,999.37 acres
Manamana // Shutterstock
17 / 63#17. Canyonlands National Park (Utah)
- Distance: 578 miles
- Driving time: 16.8 hours
- Date founded: September 12, 1964
- 2025 visitors: 796,057 (#29 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 337,597.83 acres
Manamana // Shutterstock
18 / 63#18. Arches National Park (Utah)
- Distance: 609 miles
- Driving time: 12.0 hours
- Date founded: November 12, 1971
- 2025 visitors: 1,511,740 (#21 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 76,678.98 acres
Hank Shiffman // Shutterstock
19 / 63#19. Crater Lake National Park (Oregon)
- Distance: 613 miles
- Driving time: 12.0 hours
- Date founded: May 22, 1902
- 2025 visitors: 632,242 (#36 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 183,224.05 acres
Sopotnicki // Shutterstock
20 / 63#20. Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado)
- Distance: 628 miles
- Driving time: 13.3 hours
- Date founded: June 29, 1906
- 2025 visitors: 463,130 (#43 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 52,485.17 acres
SL-Photography // Shutterstock
21 / 63#21. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Colorado)
- Distance: 698 miles
- Driving time: 13.9 hours
- Date founded: October 21, 1999
- 2025 visitors: 250,086 (#50 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 30,779.83 acres
Galyna Andrushko // Shutterstock
22 / 63#22. White Sands National Park (New Mexico)
- Distance: 755 miles
- Driving time: 13.2 hours
- Date founded: December 20, 2019[111]
- 2025 visitors: 659,742 (#35 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 146,344.31 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
23 / 63#23. Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
- Distance: 786 miles
- Driving time: 16.7 hours
- Date founded: February 26, 1929
- 2025 visitors: 3,800,648 (#8 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 310,044.36 acres
Kris Wiktor // Shutterstock
24 / 63#24. Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado)
- Distance: 797 miles
- Driving time: 16.6 hours
- Date founded: September 24, 2004
- 2025 visitors: 432,498 (#44 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 107,341.87 acres
Lane V. Erickson // Shutterstock
25 / 63#25. Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho)
- Distance: 843 miles
- Driving time: 17.0 hours
- Date founded: March 1, 1872
- 2025 visitors: 4,762,988 (#3 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 2,219,790.71 acres
ShuPhoto // Shutterstock
26 / 63#26. Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Texas)
- Distance: 843 miles
- Driving time: 15.1 hours
- Date founded: October 15, 1966
- 2025 visitors: 206,423 (#52 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 86,367.10 acres
Anna Krivitskaya // Shutterstock
27 / 63#27. Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
- Distance: 853 miles
- Driving time: 17.6 hours
- Date founded: January 26, 1915
- 2025 visitors: 4,171,431 (#6 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 265,807.25 acres
Doug Meek // Shutterstock
28 / 63#28. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico)
- Distance: 863 miles
- Driving time: 15.3 hours
- Date founded: May 14, 1930
- 2025 visitors: 410,778 (#46 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 46,766.45 acres
Diane Fetzner // Shutterstock
29 / 63#29. Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)
- Distance: 873 miles
- Driving time: 18.4 hours
- Date founded: March 2, 1899
- 2025 visitors: 1,635,342 (#20 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 236,381.64 acres
f11photo // Shutterstock
30 / 63#30. Olympic National Park (Washington)
- Distance: 966 miles
- Driving time: 20.0 hours
- Date founded: June 29, 1938
- 2025 visitors: 3,584,187 (#9 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 922,649.41 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
31 / 63#31. North Cascades National Park (Washington)
- Distance: 995 miles
- Driving time: 20.6 hours
- Date founded: October 2, 1968
- 2025 visitors: 46,925 (#57 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 504,780.94 acres
Eric Foltz // Shutterstock
32 / 63#32. Big Bend National Park (Texas)
- Distance: 997 miles
- Driving time: 19.4 hours
- Date founded: June 12, 1944
- 2025 visitors: 568,104 (#38 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 801,163.21 acres
Pung // Shutterstock
33 / 63#33. Glacier National Park (Montana)
- Distance: 1,031 miles
- Date founded: May 11, 1910
- 2025 visitors: 3,136,557 (#10 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 1,013,125.99 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
34 / 63#34. Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)
- Distance: 1,053 miles
- Driving time: 20.0 hours
- Date founded: January 9, 1903
- 2025 visitors: 606,258 (#37 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 33,970.84 acres
Matt Ragen // Shutterstock
35 / 63#35. Badlands National Park (South Dakota)
- Distance: 1,101 miles
- Driving time: 21.4 hours
- Date founded: November 10, 1978
- 2025 visitors: 1,139,361 (#26 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 242,755.94 acres
Laurens Hoddenbagh // Shutterstock
36 / 63#36. Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota)
- Distance: 1,194 miles
- Driving time: 23.5 hours
- Date founded: November 10, 1978
- 2025 visitors: 729,893 (#33 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 70,446.89 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
37 / 63#37. Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas)
- Distance: 1,486 miles
- Driving time: 25.4 hours
- Date founded: March 4, 1921
- 2025 visitors: 2,494,611 (#14 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 5,554.15 acres
Paul Brady Photography // Shutterstock
38 / 63#38. Gateway Arch National Park (Missouri)
- Distance: 1,631 miles
- Driving time: 27.3 hours
- Date founded: February 22, 2018[47]
- 2025 visitors: 2,209,028 (#15 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 192.83 acres
BlueBarronPhoto // Shutterstock
39 / 63#39. Voyageurs National Park (Minnesota)
- Distance: 1,663 miles
- Driving time: 32.9 hours
- Date founded: April 8, 1975
- 2025 visitors: 206,326 (#53 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 218,222.35 acres
Delmas Lehman // Shutterstock
40 / 63#40. Indiana Dunes National Park (Indiana)
- Distance: 1,810 miles
- Driving time: 30.6 hours
- Date founded: February 15, 2019
- 2025 visitors: 2,629,497 (#13 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 15,349.08 acres
SveKo // Shutterstock
41 / 63#41. Isle Royale National Park (Michigan)
- Distance: 1,836 miles
- Driving time: 35.9 hours
- Date founded: April 3, 1940
- 2025 visitors: 29,091 (#60 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 571,790.30 acres
Wangkun Jia // Shutterstock
42 / 63#42. Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)
- Distance: 1,857 miles
- Driving time: 31.2 hours
- Date founded: July 1, 1941
- 2025 visitors: 660,734 (#34 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 54,011.91 acres
Laurie Gronewold // Shutterstock
43 / 63#43. Glacier Bay National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 1,860 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 740,044 (#32 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 3,223,383.43 acres
ZakZeinert // Shutterstock
44 / 63#44. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina, Tennessee)
- Distance: 2,010 miles
- Driving time: 33.3 hours
- Date founded: June 15, 1934
- 2025 visitors: 11,527,939 (#1 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 522,426.88 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
45 / 63#45. Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio)
- Distance: 2,094 miles
- Driving time: 35.3 hours
- Date founded: October 11, 2000
- 2025 visitors: 3,025,325 (#11 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 32,571.88 acres
Martin Capek // Shutterstock
46 / 63#46. Wrangell–St. Elias National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,103 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 108,840 (#55 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 8,323,146.48 acres
Steve Heap // Shutterstock
47 / 63#47. New River Gorge National Park (West Virginia)
- Distance: 2,127 miles
- Driving time: 35.9 hours
- Date founded: December 27, 2020
- 2025 visitors: 1,958,440 (#17 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 7,021 acres
Zack Frank // Shutterstock
48 / 63#48. Congaree National Park (South Carolina)
- Distance: 2,187 miles
- Driving time: 36.2 hours
- Date founded: November 10, 2003
- 2025 visitors: 287,833 (#49 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 26,476.47 acres
Tomasz Wozniak // Shutterstock
49 / 63#49. Kenai Fjords National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,237 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 425,369 (#45 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 669,650.05 acres
Jon Bilous // Shutterstock
50 / 63#50. Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
- Distance: 2,271 miles
- Driving time: 38.7 hours
- Date founded: December 26, 1935
- 2025 visitors: 1,682,152 (#19 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 199,223.77 acres
Varina C // Shutterstock
51 / 63#51. Dry Tortugas National Park (Florida)
- Distance: 2,272 miles
- Driving time: 44.6 hours
- Date founded: October 26, 1992
- 2025 visitors: 89,355 (#56 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 64,701.22 acres
Robert Harding Video // Shutterstock
52 / 63#52. Katmai National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,340 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 34,479 (#59 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 3,674,529.33 acres
Simon Dannhauer // Shutterstock
53 / 63#53. Everglades National Park (Florida)
- Distance: 2,362 miles
- Driving time: 42.6 hours
- Date founded: May 30, 1934
- 2025 visitors: 778,198 (#31 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 1,508,938.57 acres
Malachi Jacobs // Shutterstock
54 / 63#54. Lake Clark National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,384 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 19,778 (#61 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 2,619,816.49 acres
Claudia G Cooper // Shutterstock
55 / 63#55. Biscayne National Park (Florida)
- Distance: 2,401 miles
- Driving time: 41.5 hours
- Date founded: June 28, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 486,567 (#41 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 172,971.11 acres
Marc Cappelletti // Shutterstock
56 / 63#56. Denali National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,410 miles
- Date founded: February 26, 1917
- 2025 visitors: 543,300 (#39 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 4,740,911.16 acres
jo Crebbin // Shutterstock
57 / 63#57. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii)
- Distance: 2,437 miles
- Date founded: August 1, 1916
- 2025 visitors: 1,877,854 (#18 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 325,605.28 acres
MH Anderson Photography // Shutterstock
58 / 63#58. Haleakalā National Park (Hawaii)
- Distance: 2,442 miles
- Date founded: July 1, 1961
- 2025 visitors: 853,711 (#27 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 33,264.62 acres
BlueBarronPhoto // Shutterstock
59 / 63#59. Gates of the Arctic National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,675 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 14,923 (#62 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 7,523,897.45 acres
Romiana Lee // Shutterstock
60 / 63#60. Acadia National Park (Maine)
- Distance: 2,766 miles
- Driving time: 49.6 hours
- Date founded: February 26, 1919
- 2025 visitors: 4,079,318 (#7 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 49,076.63 acres
BlueBarronPhoto // Shutterstock
61 / 63#61. Kobuk Valley National Park (Alaska)
- Distance: 2,789 miles
- Date founded: December 2, 1980
- 2025 visitors: 7,786 (#63 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 1,750,716.16 acres
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
62 / 63#62. Virgin Islands National Park (U.S. Virgin Islands)
- Distance: 3,506 miles
- Date founded: August 2, 1956
- 2025 visitors: 471,074 (#42 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 15,052.53 acres
Lloyd Wallin Photography // Shutterstock
63 / 63#63. National Park of American Samoa (American Samoa)
- Distance: 4,758 miles
- Date founded: October 31, 1988
- 2025 visitors: 43,258 (#58 highest among all national parks)
- Park area: 8,256.67 acres
