Most accessible national parks in the United States, according to Accessible Adventure.

Badlands National Park in South Dakota has been ranked as the most accessible park in the National Park System, though that ranking is somewhat deceiving.

The ranking of accessible parks by Accessible Adventures is based on the number of wheelchair-friendly trails. Badlands ranked No. 1 because three of its 17 trails are wheelchair-friendly, and 92 percent of restaurants in the immediate area are wheelchair-friendly. Because Badlands only offers 17 trails, parks with many more trails are at a disadvantage to equal Badlands' percentage of wheelchair-friendly trails.

Grand Canyon National Park, for instance, ranked second in the survey with 14 of its 133 trails, or 10.5 percent, deemed wheelchair friendly. Nearly 96 percent of the restaurants that were associated with Grand Canyon were deemed wheelchair-friendly.

Yellowstone National Park, which has 270 trails, had 16, or 5.9 percent, considered wheelchair-friendly, while 96.3 percent of associated restaurants were deemed wheelchair-friendly.

On the flip side, Pinnacles National Park in California was ranked the most inaccessible park for wheelchair users, with none of its 31 trails considered wheelchair friendly. Just 30.5 percent of the restaurants associated with Pinnacles were considered wheelchair friendly.

Sequoia National Park, also in California, was the second-worst park for wheelchair-bound visitors, with just three of its 110 trails wheelchair friendly, and only a quarter of the restaurants associated with the park in the study deemed wheelchair friendly.

Accessible Adventures did acknowledge that Pinnacles' landscape is steep and rocky, which contributes to its poor score, and that Sequoia's trails "are prone to accessibility issues caused by the weather, including fallen trees, rockfalls, and flooding."

Acadia National Park in Maine was named the third-least accessible park due to just eight of its 246 trails accessible to wheelchairs, "but the park authority is working to improve its accessibility to all visitors," noted Accessible Adventures, which added that "[L]ess than half of the restaurants in the park and surrounding area are wheelchair accessible."

You can find the rankings here.

Back in 2015 the National Park Service embarked on a five-year Accessibility Strategic Plan "to improve its approach to making national parks more accessible and enjoyable for those with disabilities and their families." According to the agency's website, the top three concessionaire complaints concerning accessibility revolved around restrooms, parking lots, and providing access to visitors with service animals.

The website, which appears not to have been updated since 2019, did not access how parks have improved their accessibility.