Sometimes, the best way to beat the crowd is to avoid it entirely. A simple way to do that is to go to a national park that is slightly less popular but just as beautiful.
For example, Matt and Karen recommend visiting Sequoia and Kings Canyon, two parks relatively close to Yosemite, one of the most popular national parks in the US.
"Yosemite can be very, very crowded, but you just go a couple of hours south to these two parks, and it's like you're in Yosemite, and there's literally 1/20 of the crowd," Matt said.
Another recommendation the couple has is not to overlook monuments and state parks close to popular national parks. Utah is home to a handful of well-known parks like Zion, Arches, and Bryce Canyon, but it also has the Bureau of Land Management, home to 22.8 million acres of rivers, canyons, and mountains.
"There are some places that rival the national parks that are literally right there," Karen said.