It's unreal how these national parks have transformed over the years

Photo courtesy of NPS

A lot has changed in the last century

The first national park was established in 1872, nearly 150 years ago. While the natural features of America's national parks have remained largely the same, many other elements look completely different these days. Take a look at some park photos of the past, compared with how things look these days.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Yellowstone: Then

There were few limits to where the earliest visitors to Yellowstone National Park, the first in the National Park system, could go. As visitors began streaming into the park and climbing around its natural features (many the result of a supervolcano underneath), accidents and deaths followed, including the scalding of a senator from New York in the 1880s. You'd likely get arrested for trying to take a similar photo on the Mammoth Terraces these days.

Photo courtesy of NPS/Jim Peaco

Yellowstone: Now

Today, park guests can safely appreciate the natural beauty of the park from a series of boardwalks and trails that protect both themselves and the delicate natural features that make this place so special. 

Photo courtesy of NPS

Yosemite: Then

In the early years of Yosemite National Park’s existence, it took at least a week to access the park via the Wawona Road. The first cars didn’t start making the journey until 1913, and it got significantly easier when the Wawona Tunnel was completed in 1933.

Photo courtesy of iStock / photosbyjim

Yosemite: Now

These days, the Wawona Road is one of the most popular ways to enter the park, and it’s manageable as a day trip thanks to the modern highway system. The trip from the southern entrance to Yosemite Valley passes through Mariposa Grove, the historic Wawona Hotel and the Wawona Tunnel.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Mount Rainier: Then

A lot has changed in Mount Rainier National Park since it opened in 1899, the park’s glaciers and snowfields in particular. A century ago, the Paradise Glacier ranked among the park’s main attractions, where visitors could walk on the ice and explore ice caves within walking distance of the park roads. By the 1970s, the glacier had reduced in size by more than half; no ice caves remain.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Mount Rainier: Now

While the ice caves have long since melted away, the trail leading to them remains. It only receives a fraction of the traffic it once had, making it a great spot to get away from it all. The Paradise area is now better known for its spectacular wildflower meadows and the park’s main visitor center.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Crater Lake: Then

The national park system didn’t get its first park rangers until 1905. If you visited Oregon's Crater Lake National Park in 1917, you’d have one permanent park ranger, and three more rangers during the months of July, August and September. By 1924, this had increased to nine seasonal rangers.

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Crater Lake: Now

Crater Lake has continued to offer ranger programs throughout the summer months (late June to mid-September), including talks, guided sunset hikes and campground amphitheater presentations. Visitors can go snowshoeing with a park ranger in the winter. Rangers throughout the National Park System continue to wear their signature Stetson hat, officially adopted as part of the uniform in 1920.

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Wind Cave: Then

Early visitors to Wind Cave explored one of the world’s largest cave systems by candlelight. Cave tours cost $0.50 in 1903, and you could buy lunch from the first food concession, Irene B. Rankin, for another $0.50. The cave’s first electrical lighting system was installed in 1931.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Wind Cave: Now

Today, more than 140 miles of the cave have been mapped. Standard cave tours run $10 to $12 and make use of modern electricity, but guests who wish to experience the caves as they would have been in the early days can sign up for candlelight tours into an unlighted section of the cave.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Glacier: Then

Construction began on Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road in 1919, but it wasn’t dedicated until 1933. This allowed visitors to reach Logan Pass, and then St. Mary for the first time. This National Historic Landmark and National Civil Engineering Landmark wasn't fully paved with asphalt until 1952.

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Glacier: Now

Driving the 50 miles of Going-to-the-Sun Road takes at least two hours these days, without stopping. Most park-goers take at least a full day to make the drive, still considered among the most scenic in the United States.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Grand Canyon: Then

Everything about the Grand Canyon is timeless, from its landscapes etched into the desert to its historic structures that have withstood the test of time. The Grand Canyon has more historic buildings than just about any other park in the National Park System, including the stunning Grand Canyon Lodge, built on the North Rim in 1928. This photo was captured the following year.

Photo courtesy of NPS / Michael Quinn

Grand Canyon: Now

As you can see, not much has changed. For the best impact, enter through the front entrance, pass through the lobby and down the steps into the Sun Room, where windows open up on what is many a visitor’s first view of the Grand Canyon.

Photo courtesy of NPS

White Sands: Then

The nation’s newest national park was drawing visitors long before it was added to the National Park System. Humans have been making their way to this part of the Tularosa Basin — 275 square miles of desert in the heart of New Mexico — for more than 10,000 years, first in search of food and shelter, later to see the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, like this group of picnickers.

Photo courtesy of NPS

White Sands: Now

White Sands was made a National Park in December 2019, making it the newest addition to the system as of this writing. A visit to the area, even when it was a national monument, has always been popular among landscape photographers and families. On nights when the moon is full, park rangers lead hikes across the white sand with no need for a flashlight.

Photo courtesy of NPS

Great Smoky Mountains: Then

Great Smoky Mountains National Park not only protects the flora, fauna and landscapes of Southern Appalachia, but the region’s cultural heritage as well. During Prohibition, a network of bootleggers dug tunnels through the park to aid their operations. This image shows a captured moonshine still.

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Photo courtesy of NPS

Great Smoky Mountains: Now

Many historic homes and churches still stand within the park, including three churches, a working grist mill and several restored log houses in Cades Cove, one of the most popular areas of the park. It’s also the most visited National Park these days, welcoming more than 11 million people each year.