Photos: What visiting the national parks used to look like

(NEXSTAR) — There are currently more than 400 National Park sites throughout the country, with at least one in every state, meaning there's a good chance you've been to at least one.

Even if you haven't visited some of the larger parks, like Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, you're probably familiar with some of their more iconic features — El Capitan, Old Faithful, and the literal, expansive canyon, to name a few.

While these have been in the parks since before they were parks, visiting these sites didn't always look as it does today.

Take, for example, this view of Old Faithful in 1901. Changing attire styles means you likely won't see dress-clad women observing Old Faithful, especially at this proximity.

Here's what viewing Old Faithful is like today. Notice visitors, none of whom seem to be wearing a dress, are distanced from the geyser on a boardwalk — and using their phones to record the eruption.

Navigating in and around the parks has also changed immensely, thanks to technology. In the early 1900s, you could arrive at Yellowstone in a four-horsepower stagecoach, like those seen in the slideshow below. Later, cars would be available, of course. They were much smaller, though, narrow enough to navigate through the base of a massive redwood tree near Yosemite.

Motorcycles also became a useful method of transportation, as they are today, but you would likely be advised against driving up to the edge of the Halema‘uma‘u Crater like the Harley-Davidson rider in the slideshow above.

Visitors to the National Parks are also directed to avoid disrupting wildlife. That would include feeding the animals, especially the bears. In Yellowstone's earlier years, it wasn't uncommon for bears to be intentionally fed by humans. As the NPS recounts, hundreds would gather to watch bears feast on garbage. Some would even feed the bears by hand.

Bear management has since changed, and feeding wildlife is prohibited. It is also prohibited to be within 100 yards of bears and other predatory animals such as wolves and cougars.

The bears and other wildlife are still spectacles for visitors:

Not all beloved features, or parks, remain, however.

Roughly a century ago, an expansive national monument in South Dakota, Fossil Cycad, attracted visitors hoping to catch a glimpse — and sometimes, take home — fossilized cycads. Between erosion and predatory collectors, Fossil Cycad soon found itself devoid of its namesake. It would later lose its status within the National Park Service and be declared an area of critical environmental concern.

Still, there are many other practices and traditions of visiting the national parks that haven't changed.

You can still stand on many otherwise precarious points without many restrictions. The photos below, one from 1902 and the other from 2016, show people standing at Glacier Point in Yosemite — the clothing has changed, but the unrestricted view hasn't.

You can still hike through the national parks, though you may not be as well-dressed as President Theodore Roosevelt (seen in the center of the photo below) and his companions.

To the right of Roosevelt is conservationist John Muir, often referred to as the "Father of the National Parks."

As they are today, full parking lots were hardly a rare sight at some national parks.

And, of course, many of the stunning features and views that attracted those early visitors are still present and inspiring more visits more than 100 years later.

Since Yellowstone was established as the first national park in 1872, the U.S. has established more than 400 national parks, reserves, parkways, monuments, seashores, scenic trails, historic sites, battlefields, and units. Nearly all are free to visit, while roughly 100 charge an entrance fee. That fee is waived several times during the year, with the next free fee day scheduled for June 19 in honor of Juneteenth Day.