National Park Travelers Club facts for kids
 |
|
| Founded | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit social club |
| Location |
|
|
Members
|
over 3000 |
| Website | http://www.parkstamps.org |
The National Park Travelers Club (or NPTC) is a fun club for people who love visiting America's amazing National Parks. It's a non-profit group that helps park visitors connect with each other. The club also celebrates people who explore the many different places in the U.S. National Park System. Its main goal is to help everyone appreciate these special places even more.
Contents
About the National Park Travelers Club
The NPTC started in 2004. A small group of park fans created it. Since then, it has grown a lot! Over 3,000 people are paying members. There are also more than 18,000 members on the free online site.
Paying members get cool benefits. They can see a special list and map of all known national park passport stamp locations. They also get to vote in club elections. The online site has stories from park trips and helpful tips for visiting parks. You can also find information about new laws that might affect parks. There's even a message board to chat about park topics.
The club members meet once a year at the NPTC Annual Convention. They also have smaller meetings. These might be at park opening events or important park anniversaries. The NPTC also gives out awards. These awards are for members who visit many park units. Some awards are for visiting a certain number of parks in one year. Others are for visiting parks over a lifetime. The NPTC also publishes a newsletter four times a year. It's called The Stamp Pad.
Annual Conventions and Gatherings
The NPTC has hosted 20 yearly conventions. These meetings happen at different National Park units. They are a great chance for club members to meet new friends. Members share their travel stories and hear talks from National Park Service Rangers. They also go on guided tours of the area. Anyone can attend these meetings. A special official national park passport stamp is made for each convention. You can only get this stamp during the convention!
- 2003: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- 2004: Rocky Mountain National Park (The NPTC officially started here!)
- 2005: Mammoth Cave National Park
- 2006: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
- 2007: Olympic National Park
- 2008: Lowell National Historical Park
- 2009: Sequoia National Park
- 2010: El Malpais National Monument
- 2011: National Mall
- 2012: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
- 2013: Shiloh National Military Park
- 2014: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
- 2015: Chamizal National Memorial
- 2016: Independence National Historical Park
- 2017: Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- 2018: New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
- 2019: Flagstaff, Arizona area national monuments (like Wupatki National Monument, Sunset Crater, Walnut Canyon National Monument)
- 2020: A virtual meeting using Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021: Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site & Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site (Washington DC)
- 2022: Gateway Arch National Park & Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (St. Louis, MO)
- 2023: Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (Hendersonville, NC)
Awards for Park Travelers
The NPTC gives awards to travelers. These awards are for visiting parks over a lifetime. They also have awards for visiting parks in a single year.
Lifetime Achievement Awards
These awards celebrate how many park units you visit over your whole life.
- Bronze: For visiting 100 park units.
- Silver: For visiting 200 park units.
- Gold: For visiting 300 park units.
- Titanium: For visiting 400 park units.
- Platinum: For visiting all current National Park System units!
Annual Master Traveler Awards
These awards are for amazing park visits within one year.
- Special Achievement: Collect 20 national park passport stamps from 10 park units. These parks must be in 2 different parts of the country.
- Clean Sweep: Visit a park unit in each of the 9 different parts of the country within one year.
- Bronze: Collect 50 stamps from 25 units in 4 different parts of the country within one year.
- Silver: Collect 75 stamps from 35 units in 5 different parts of the country within one year.
- Gold: Collect 100 stamps from 50 units in 6 different parts of the country within one year.
Other Special Awards
- Most Wanted: This award is for finding a park passport stamp that was super hard to locate.
- Surprise Park (no longer given after 2012): This award was for visiting a special park chosen each year. The park was chosen because it had an important anniversary.
- Civil War 150th Anniversary (no longer given after 2015): This award was for visiting a Civil War site. You had to collect its stamp on the exact 150th anniversary of an event that happened there.
Club Recognition
The National Park Travelers Club has been recognized by several important groups. This means these groups know about and respect the NPTC's work.
- Amtrak [1]
- Eastern National [2]
- National Park Service [3] [4]
