This Is the Top Trending National Park, According to Google

To understand what Americans were dreaming about in 2024 you need only look to Google, which releases intel on trending U.S. searches in its annual “Year in Search” report. The data also tells us what destinations people are thinking about traveling to in the upcoming year.

The team at Google gave Travel + Leisure a sneak peek at some unpublished travel data, including a list of national parks that saw a search spike in 2024 compared to 2023.

At the top of the list is a park that’s got both mountains and a volcano, yet is often overshadowed by mountainous spots like Yosemite National Park and volcanic destinations like Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. The top trending national park, according to Google, is Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park. It saw just 559,000 visits in 2023 — compare that to Yosemite’s 3.8 million and Hawai’i’s 1.3 million — but is increasingly top of mind for travelers. And it’s not hard to see why.

Crater Lake National Park has one of the most unique landscapes in the United States. It’s known for its namesake, Crater Lake, which was formed by a collapsed volcano and is fed by rain and snow. As a result, the lake is unusually clear and blue. It’s also the deepest lake in the U.S. with a depth of 1,943 feet. 

The most popular activity in Crater Lake National Park is going on the Rim Drive around the lake and snapping photos of the bright-blue waters ringed by jagged volcanic formations. The most iconic feature of the lake is located at its western edge: a little cinder cone island — aptly named Wizard Island.

Crater Lake National Park is also known for its hiking in the summer (check out Sun Notch Trail, with views of the Phantom Ship, a small island), and snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter.

But Crater Lake National Park wasn’t the only national park to see a dramatic spike in searches in 2024. Mountain Rainier National Park in Washington came in at No. 2, followed by Kobuk Valley National Park in Alaska, which saw just 17,616 visits in 2023. Rounding out the top 5 are North Cascades National Park in Washington and Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. And, not surprisingly some of the nation’s most popular national parks made the list, including Grand Canyon National Park, which is the second-most visited park in the country with almost 5 million annual visits.