<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Matt and Karen Smith by Mount Rainier in Washington.Courtesy of Matt and Karen Smith</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Matt and Karen Smith have been to 63 US national parks — some multiple times. </li><li>They set out with a goal to visit every park in 2010 after their youngest child went to college.</li></ul><p>Matt and Karen Smith know a thing or two about getting the most out of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-us-national-parks-according-to-frequent-solo-traveler-2023-11">a national park</a> visit.</p><p>After their youngest child went to college, the couple, who met at a university<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/couple-renovating-lincoln-kansas-house-got-for-free-2023-2"> in Kansas</a> and are now based in Seattle, quit their jobs in 2010 when they realized they could finally travel freely.</p><p>"When we moved to Seattle, we met another couple named Bob and Sue," Karen, 63, said. "They would take their family to the national parks. That was all new to us. We weren't <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overrated-us-national-parks-according-to-frequent-traveler-2024-3">national park</a> people, so they inspired us to start."</p><p>Matt, 63, said they were "fortunate" to have enough savings to spend over a year visiting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-worst-national-parks-usa-from-man-visited-each-one-2024-4">every major US national park</a>. Throughout their travels, they wrote emails to Bob and Sue that they eventually compiled into a book titled <a target="_blank" class href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=567a9b951b72001c5706f0f0aa02884d1da6b4112c3c173e212c76db9058c026&postID=662a69d4f33b2f19d558f25e&postSlug=biggest-mistakes-tourists-make-visiting-national-parks-2024-4&site=bi&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDear-Bob-Matt-Karen-Smith%2Fdp%2F0985358157">"Dear Bob and Sue."</a></p><p>Nowadays, Matt and Karen regularly post about their national park experiences on Instagram, where they have over 246,000 followers, and discuss them in their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedearbobandsuepodcast.com/">podcast.</a></p><p>The Smiths recently spoke with Business Insider to share the biggest mistakes they've made themselves or seen people make when visiting national parks — and how to avoid them.</p>