federal senior passes

The senior pass is a great deal, got mine at the nearby regional office of one of the participating agencies - a much better experience than your typical Department of Motor Vehicles visit. Be sure to check the state parks, too - the Federal Pass isn't good there, but I was a bit surprised to find out that Maryland offers a similar deal ($10 pass gives you half-price camping & free day-use admission, AND IT'S OPEN TO NON-RESIDENTS. I had missed that on their website but they offered it to me when I arrived & the discount more than paid for the pass. A much better deal than my own state which charges a considerably higher fee and only gives a 10% discount on camping.

Did anyone mention BLM campgrounds take them for a half price discount also.

Bought mine at the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge office on TN Hwy 76 just south of exit 56 on I-40 (about 50 miles east of Memphis).

Art Davis wrote:

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Crater Lake National Park is the only place in Oregon that requires the pass and you can get it at the entrance station of most NP's.

You can also use it in other locations, but that I think is the only place in Oregon that is a National Park.

It might be easier to buy one in Washington or a NP in California.

Back in the 90's the pass was free. Now they charge a nominal fee, less than $25. If you have a full time handicap card, you can get a Golden Access card for free. It offers the same benefits, without charge to get one.

Fred.

I think it also allowed me to get a frrebie national forest pass that gives me a price break on national forest campgrounds. Been a while since I used it, so don't recall details.

Gets you in to ALL USFS campgrounds for half price. I've used it several times this year, plan to use it a lot more next season. You still have to pay full price on electric hookup if available (at least here in Colorado you do), but it's STILL a bargain.

Got mine at Cleveland National Forest, Trabuco District office, Corona CA.

jalichty wrote:
We got our first one at Lake Powell Federal Recreation Area, for me since I'm way older. A while later we got another one on the way to Jackson, Wyoming to snowmobile into Yellowstone. We paid $10 at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park for my wife's instead of the $15 the snowmobile place was going to charge us. Best money we have ever spent. Go to Grand Teton, usually three times a year, and up to Yellowstone at least once, and never have to pay again. Our camp spot at Colter Bay is 1/2 price, $11.50 per night for dry camping so for three weeks we save about $240. This is the best bargain that we have ever gotten from our friendly Federal Government. Hope they never do away with it.

We may have to fight for it, as they are always trying to do away with it, especially the concessionaires that run some of the CG's in the NP's & NF's. :(

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Crater Lake National Park is the only place in Oregon that requires the pass and you can get it at the entrance station of most NP's.

You can also use it in other locations, but that I think is the only place in Oregon that is a National Park.

It might be easier to buy one in Washington or a NP in California.

Back in the 90's the pass was free. Now they charge a nominal fee, less than $25. If you have a full time handicap card, you can get a Golden Access card for free. It offers the same benefits, without charge to get one.

Fred.

I think it also allowed me to get a frrebie national forest pass that gives me a price break on national forest campgrounds. Been a while since I used it, so don't recall details.

We got our first one at Lake Powell Federal Recreation Area, for me since I'm way older. A while later we got another one on the way to Jackson, Wyoming to snowmobile into Yellowstone. We paid $10 at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park for my wife's instead of the $15 the snowmobile place was going to charge us. Best money we have ever spent. Go to Grand Teton, usually three times a year, and up to Yellowstone at least once, and never have to pay again. Our camp spot at Colter Bay is 1/2 price, $11.50 per night for dry camping so for three weeks we save about $240. This is the best bargain that we have ever gotten from our friendly Federal Government. Hope they never do away with it.

3 1/2 - 4 years ago, I went to the Blue Ridge Parkway headquarters about 2 miles from home to buy my oldphart pass, in preparation for a trip to the OBX. The uniformed lady at the info counter told me that I'd have to go to a fee-charging facility.

I waited 'til I got to the OBX, and asked for it at the Oregon Inlet NPS CG. The young ranger at the check-in seemed a bit unsure of what to do. He even tried to call his boss on the radio, but got no answer. He ended up selling me the pass _and_ the night's camp site for a _total_ of $10, despite me saying that I thought I should pay a total of $20, $10 for the pass and $10 for the site.

I've used it for camping at the OBX that trip and others, but not much else. There's no admission charge in the Smoky Mountain NP or on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I tried to use it for the dump station at Lake Powhatan NFS CG, but was still charged $10, the normal fee.

It's still a great deal!

Jim, "Mo' caffeine!"

Dog Folks wrote:

wbwood wrote:
Didn't I read that you can use them at COE campgrounds? I believe it said they don't issue them because they were not included in something about 10 years ago, but accept them.

This is truly a good thing for those that full time. Being able to spend no more than around $10/night is a real savings. Just gotta move every couple weeks. Not bad at all.

It is true. We use ours at COE campgrounds all the time.

You get a great campground and a 50% discount also! Hard to beat.

Also If reserving at Recreation.gov , they don't charge the $9 reservation fee for COE CG's, wish the other Fed agencies would follow suit.