Veggie Meals in (or near!) National Parks

In conjunction with the 100th year anniversary of The National Park Service, over the past couple of months, we have been contacting the United States National Parks in hopes of finding out whether or not the parks offer vegetarian/vegan meals.

Over the course of the project we found most National Parks don't have any vegan options for their park services. What we discovered were convenience stores and snack shacks for many visitors to stop by as they are traveling through the parks. Most convenience stores contain trail mix, nuts, and various fruit selections for vegans and vegetarians alike. Since most don't have options, we have compiled a list of the National Parks with neighboring veg-friendly restaurants (if there are any). For the parks that do contain veg-friendly options, we added them to the list as well.

Although the list is ongoing, and has taken two months to put together, it hasn't been especially difficult to reach these parks. The park rangers and staff working for the National Park Service have been very receptive to answering our questions about whether or not their park has vegetarian and vegan options.

Overall, our best advice to those visiting a National Park is to bring your own food and beverages. There are many picnic areas available at each park to stop at when you're hungry. Also, it will be a stress-free way of traveling to the National Parks in addition to saving money by not eating out. Of course, you can also dine at one of the nearby restaurants we mention.

This information is excerpted from the complete article, which can be found online here: http://www.vrg.org/travel/doc/NationalParkDining.pdf