By Rich Thomaselli

TravelPulse

One of the terrific things about the National Park Service — aside from its duty to serve as the caretaker of America’s greatest outdoor spaces — is the annual designation of five days during the course of the year that are free to the public.

Those five days have been announced for 2020:

Jan. 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

April 18: First day of National Park Week (a weeklong celebration of all parks)

Aug. 25: National Park Service birthday

Sept. 26: National Public Lands Day

Nov. 11: Veterans Day

On these dates, you can visit any national park across the country without paying an entrance fee.

Full disclosure — three-quarters of America’s national parks are already free, according to Travel+Leisure. Of the 419 national parks, 308 do not require an entrance fee.

That said, the remaining 111 are among the most popular and most visited — think Yosemite National Park — and charge anywhere from $5 per car to $35 per vehicle as an entrance fee. (Olympic National Park charges $30 per vehicle.)

Travel+Leisure also noted the parks that do charge fees use the money to benefit the parks themselves: 80% of the money stays with the park where you paid the fee, and 20% goes to the other 308 parks that do not charge for entry.

The magazine also made a great point that if you plan to visit several national parks in 2020, consider getting the America the Beautiful Pass for $80. The pass allows you to visit any of the hundreds of national parks and federal recreational lands for the entire year without paying individual entrance fees.