Park fans have delivered a wild beauty contest for the ages, delivering solid wins for Yellowstone and Zion national parks in the Final Four of Parks Madness. Now the final ballot will decide which one gets bragging rights as the 2024 National Park Champion. Cast your pick below by midnight ET on April 15 and be entered in a raffle for a National Park Pass. We'll declare the winner on April 16.
While neither of the finalists was in serious jeopardy in the semifinals, both Arches and Yosemite put on spirited efforts and had passionate supporters. “Arches is so vast and is accessible to all visitors, whether boardwalks or technical hiking/climbing,” voter Sandy Smith said. “One can return for visits many times and always find something new to discover in the land of the Ancients.”
“Yosemite is the bomb diggity of a park! It has everything!” said voter Sarah Cole.
The Yellowstone vs. Yosemite matchup pitted America’s first national park against its third, the Grand Prismatic Spring against Yosemite Falls, the Tunnel View against the Hayden Valley. Both have long been among the most beloved, visited and photographed national parks. Each features iconic wildlife, from Yellowstone’s bison, wolves and grizzlies to Yosemite’s bighorn sheep, mountain lions and black bears. In the end, though, the sheer volume of amazing features pulled Yellowstone ahead.
“Other parks have cool mountains, and maybe some good animals, but that’s where it ends for most of the others,” said voter Elijah Hoppe. “Yellowstone has all that plus awesome lakes, rivers, canyons, waterfalls, and best of all, GEYSERS.” The final tally was 63-37%.
The Arches vs. Zion semifinal paired the last survivors of Utah’s Mighty Five national parks, which also include Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands. Early voting suggested a tight finish.
On one side, the ultimate selfie destination with more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches – formed through erosion on a 300 million-year-old salt bed – facing a park so overwhelmingly beautiful that Mormon pioneers gave it the Old Testament name for the city of Jerusalem. “The drive through the tunnels and then BOOM there’s the scenery is just hands down the best mic drop a National Park has,” Zion fan Becky Boughan said. Beauty beat the bends, 60-40%.
Can Zion’s heavenly run make it to the pearly gates, or will Yellowstone and its glorious geysers steam to victory? The answer comes April 16, no permit required.
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Key Stats on Your Finalists
Featured photo by rorozoa – Freepik; Parks Madness logo by Drake Poe; badges by Anderson Design Group; Parks Madness brackets by Darius Nabors.
More of Your Comments
Beauty, nature and wildlife!
White Sands is a one trick pony but the pony is good!
Huge diversity of Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Multitude and diversity of wildlife and vegetation. History of the entire area.
Zion is an amazing park with so much to see and do! The scenery is spectacular and it also has so many beautiful animals.
Yellowstone all the way!!!
Let’s do it again next year!
Love Parks Madness!
Megafauna get all the credit, but let’s go Zion for the teeny endemic snails!
Park Madness was so much fun! I enjoyed the matchup between different parks, and seeing how it would play out amongst the national park fan base. Please do this again next year!!!!
Love Park Madness! Yosemite has it all – peaceful rivers, glorious mountains, stunning views that change in seasons, variety of nature in its full splendor. I haven’t been to them all but right now it’s still my favorite.
Yosemite is the ultimate park with the most awesome views, hikes, and features. Parks madness is great, but not as good as Dawn Staley and her Gamecocks!
Super fun.
I think Badlands should have been in the final 4 as it is the most unique park of them all!
Yellowstone has animals which is my favorite thing to view at parks! Also it’s diverse in landscape and has lots of spectacular wonders!
Yosemite should when because it is so spectacular!
We loved Zion! We had our most fun in The Narrows. The shear massiveness of the rocks just amazed me! The drive through the tunnels and then BOOM there’s the scenery is just hands down the best mic drop a National Park has. Park Madness is great!
Arches is surprisingly beautiful and has a lot of different sites to see. The hike to Delicate Arch was an amazing experience for me. Park Madness is a cool idea.
Have enjoyed the Madness and think it is a great way to bring attention to the National Parks!
Yellowstone. It is a very large park with many different ecosystems. Its thermal features are magnificent. It has bears, bison, wolves, etc. And it was the first National Park established in the US in 1972 while Grant was President. Go for it!
Parks Madness is a genius way to encourage visits to the parks!! thank you all
Its hard to choose the overall winner. I have gone to all the final four parks but only once. All of them have their own charm. For driving, definitely Zion. I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping in every turn. Yosemite definitely offers a lot more sceneries and Arches still blow my mind. I picked Yellowstone because it was the recent one I have gone. With all the wildlife I have seen in the park, its hard not to choose it as the ultimate winner.
Beautiful! Variety of scenery; something for everyone. Love Parks Madness! More parks to visit (I have visited the final four!)
Parks Madness is a fun way to give the parks attention (like the fat bear contest)
We loved Zion! We had our most fun in The Narrows. The shear massiveness of the rocks just amazed me! The drive through the tunnels and then BOOM there’s the scenery is just hands down the best mic drop a National Park has. Park Madness is great!
Arches is surprisingly beautiful and has a lot of different sites to see. The hike to Delicate Arch was an amazing experience for me. Park Madness is a cool idea.
Have enjoyed the Madness and think it is a great way to bring attention to the National Parks!
It is a very large park with many different ecosystems. Its thermal features are magnificent. It has bears, bison, wolves, etc. And it was the first National Park established in the US in 1972 while Grant was President. Go for it!
Parks Madness is a genius way to encourage visits to the parks!! thank you all
Its hard to choose the overall winner. I have gone to all the final four parks but only once.
All of them have their own charm. For driving, definitely Zion. I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping in every turn. Yosemite definitely offers a lot more sceneries and Arches still blow my mind. I picked Yellowstone because it was the recent one I have gone. With all the wildlife I have seen in the park, its hard not to choose it as the ultimate winner.
Beautiful! Variety of scenery; something for everyone. Love Parks Madness! More parks to visit (I have visited the final four!)
The Arches vs Zion match up is a tough one as I love them both, but Arches pulls ahead because there is an arch to see for every skill set, novice to expert!
Utahs parks are amazing.
I visited Yellowstone several years ago and the scope and variation in that park is unparalleled. Parks Madness is so much fun and should definitely be repeated next year!
Yellowstone. It was the very first National Park. It has everything you could possibly look for in a park and makes for an absolute dream vacation. Our adventures there will never be matched. Park Madness has been lots of fun. Great locations have won and lost in tough battles.
So fun (and tough!) – thank you!
Yellowstone has the beauty of the geysers and waterfalls as well as other rock formations. I loved the parks madness. I don’t watch sports but this was something I could relate to.
Wyoming pride – go Jellystone!
Please bring Parks Madness back next year! And please include other parks in the full round of 64. So many good ones didn’t even make it into this competition! (Give the little ones a chance — like Sleeping Bear — such a treasure of the Midwest!) But Yellowstone will take it all! It was not the first NP that I visited as a child, but it was the first that I *remembered* and felt in awe of nature, the mountains, and hot springs!
Yellowstone has it all: beautiful scenery, wildlife and thermal features everywhere. Love the parks madness!
I like the idea. Hate to only pick one Park.
For the beautiful wolves & bison calling Yellowstone home!
This is a great idea, and I hope it continues. Yellowstone is my happy place! Since my first visit about 72 years ago (not a typo…72) it has been my favorite place on this ole planet Earth! I am a Geyser Geek and every visit allows two or three days in the Upper, Middle, and Lower Geyser Basins. But I also spend time at Canyon and the Lake. I never get tired of Yellowstone!
I doubt many of these people have visited these smaller parks. Its no surprise that people just picked the higher seeds. I know everyone has their own interests but people just choose the more recognizable name.
Fun tourney ! Zion is clearly the BEST – anyone who has hiked the narrows knows this!
Zion. So majestic and yet accessible to all. Love Parks Madness! Mostly, because I love our national parks. To me they are ALL big winners – as are we b/c we have access to them.
They are all great picks. I said Arches because I haven’t been there yet.
I LOVE Parks Madness! I want to visit ALL of these wonderful parks someday!
Zion is the most beautiful place ever!!!
So hard to stay focused now that Acadia is out. My parents visited Yellowstone as new immigrants in the 1950s and never stopped talking about how beautiful it was… that’s my sentimental favorite.
This was fun. Thank you for elevating our national parks.
Yellowstone is magical. It opens up your soul to what the best of this amazing country. It has been fun to watch parks progress through the parks madness bracket. I wish the Smokies would have made the final 4.
Yosemite is the bomb diggity of a park! It has everything! I LOVED the Parks Madness. Great idea!!
Zion has a little bit of everything for all to enjoy. Pictured is my husband the day we conquered the Narrows back in 2018!
Parks Madness is so fun! Way better than basketball :). Zion will always have my heart. It was my first road trip with my then-boyfriend, now husband, in 1998. Hiking and learning about stacked rocks for the first time and having dinner at the base of the mountain where they gave me a blanket to cover my legs with for the outdoor seating to the seedy motel where I was afraid to sleep on their sheets. Wonderful memories and a beautiful park!
Yellowstone is going to “blow” Yosemite out of this challenge! Thanks again for all the amazing hard work! So much fun!!!!!!! And learned some more interesting facts about some of my fave parks and some tidbits for future visit to some I haven’t had the pleasure to visit!
Yellowstone is the oldest, but Yosemite (in my humble opinion) is my favorite. We loved exploring Arches and Zion especially, but Yosemite will always top my list. Thanks so much for an incredible Parks Madness! You guys made this such a fun and exciting experience while highlighting our great National Parks.