Arizona State Parks Discount for Veterans

Arizona State Parks discounts the day-use entrance fee by 50 percent for an active duty service member and for a retired veteran, and waives it entirely for a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating. This is a day-use benefit. It covers the entrance fee at the gate. It does not cover camping fees, cabin rentals, boat launch charges, or tour and activity fees, so a family planning to camp should budget for the site separately. Arizona's parks system includes some of the most visited destinations in the state, and at a park charging a per-vehicle entrance fee the waiver is worth the fee every visit rather than once. Bring identification at the gate: a military identification card for active duty, a retired identification card or a DD-214 for a retiree, and a VA benefit summary letter showing the rating for the 100 percent waiver. Compared with several states in this catalog, this is a narrower park benefit. Washington and Texas give a veteran free camping or a lifetime pass covering far more than entry, and New York gives free vehicle entry to any veteran with an honorable discharge regardless of rating. An Arizona veteran below 100 percent who is not retired gets nothing here, which is worth knowing rather than discovering at a gate. Federal lands are a separate and often better deal. The America the Beautiful Military Annual Pass is free to current service members and dependents, and the Interagency Access Pass is free and lifetime for a citizen with a permanent disability, which most veterans rated 100 percent permanent and total can obtain. Those cover national parks and federal recreation sites rather than state parks.