Scary! Tips for Carving Up a National Park-Themed Halloween

As a child, Halloween was among my favorite holidays. I loved getting my hands messy as our family carved a pumpkin — all those warm, wet seeds and strands, or “the brains,” as we called them. Weeks ahead, my friends and I would talk about what we’d dress up as for trick-or-treating and then delight in making our costumes from hand-me-down clothes and some cardboard — nothing store-bought. And oh, yeah, the treats!

As an adult who works for NPCA, I wondered how I could connect Halloween with my love of national parks.

I learned the creative minds at the National Park Service can stimulate ideas. Plus, there are fun factoids to share about creatures that go bump in the night and other park trivia — all to help remind you this spooky season of what environmentalist Wallace Stegner in 1983 called this country’s “best idea”: our national parks.

Pumpkin carving templates

Tired of the same old jack-o’-lantern on your porch? Rather than the usual triangular-shaped eyes and toothy grin, fans can choose from the Park Service’s nature-inspired designs.

This Halloween, check out the Park Service’ selection of downloadable pumpkin carving templates. Among them are a bat (did you know more than 45 species of bats live in national parks?), a camper in the woods (overnight stays totaled more than 13 million in 2023, according to Park Service data), a fat bear (Katmai National Park and Preserve sponsors Fat Bear Week every fall) and — my personal favorite — a cartoon visitor head-butted by a bison (a humorous reminder to always keep your distance from national park wildlife!). Or, try carving autumn leaves, and check out NPCA’s blog on the 10 Best Places to See Fall Foliage.

If you’re partial to the California desert, you can find templates from Joshua Tree National Park for desert tortoise (listed as endangered under California’s Endangered Species Act, which underscores the need to preserve as much of the tortoise’s habitat as possible) or coyote (one of 57 mammal species found in the park), among others. Prefer the Grand Tetons? Download a template for the Snake River Overlook or Mount Moran (two beautiful, popular spots to visit while in the park), as well as for local wildlife.

Tip: If you’re in bear country, the Park Service advises to never leave a pumpkin outside overnight or while you’re away. They are an unnatural food source and can be a factor in conditioning bears and other animals to be attracted to human food.

Creepy park-themed costumes

For a fun Halloween hike, how about hitting the trail in costume? Explore the Park Service’s key chart for costume design ideas. It offers select adjectives and nouns that correspond to certain letters. Follow the chart’s instructions to match the last letter of your first name and the first letter of your last name.

Possible combinations include a masked hiker, a scary saguaro cactus, a magical striped skunk, or a cursed photographer. Or, come up with your own mix of park-related adjectives and nouns — such as zombie park ranger, a rabid racoon, or a batty birdwatcher. How you make any of these creepy combinations come to life is up to you!

Spooky park travels

If you like to travel, or have a national park nearby, NPCA offers a list of mysterious places to explore. These curious settings offer tricks and treats for an eerie autumn mood or ghost stories to tell by the campfire. Among the list: Devil’s Den at Gettysburg National Military Park, the Torture Chamber at Jewel Cave National Monument and Skull Rock at Joshua Tree National Park. If you visit, consider wearing your costume for extra ghoulish fun.

Treats for the trail (or campsite)

For a hike on the 31st, take along a batch of Halloween trail mix: pretzel twists, cone-shaped corn snacks, candy corn, candy pumpkins, wheat squares cereal, and cashews or peanuts.

Bear paw cookies reflect our curiosity around this magnificent creature, which finds an important refuge in national parks across the country. Bears support a healthy eco-system, whether they’re the black bears in Great Smoky Mountains, Everglades or Rocky Mountain, or the grizzly bears in Yellowstone and Glacier. For this reason, NPCA has worked to support the return of grizzly bears to North Cascades National Park. To make this park treat, just add a few chocolate chips and a chocolate candy melt while cookie dough is hot from the oven, then drag a toothpick through the chips to mimic claws.

For s’more fun, campfire-decorated cupcakes can bring a sweet glow to any national park outing. Top cupcakes with chocolate icing, a sprinkle of crushed graham cracker, three pretzel “logs” and a flame of vanilla icing tinted with yellow and orange food coloring. Or, just go with marshmallows and a bit of chocolate bar. If you’re building a real fire at a campsite, though, keep safety in mind! Be sure to review the Park Service’s campfires webpage for reminders on how to safely build, feed and extinguish a campfire.

Looking for more ideas?

The Park Service has a full webpage dedicated to the fall season. Check out the agency’s fall trip ideas and listing of park events.