Posted on 08/13/2005 5:19:49 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Would you like to visit one of America's awe-inspiring national parks? Yosemite in California, perhaps, with its soaring cliffs and cascading waterfalls.
Well, get in line! About 3.5 million people will enter Yosemite this year. Four and one-half million will beat a path to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. So much for undisturbed wilderness.
The National Park Service, which administers these wild places as well as historic sites like Civil War battlefields, must walk a fine line between preserving vistas and wildlife -- and making parks accessible to people and cars.
Thirty years ago, according to the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, 80% of Yosemite's visitors stayed the night in camps or a lodge. So they c Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg National Park uld take their time, stroll through the evergreens, and soak up the sights. Last year, 80% of visitors showed up, paid the entry fee, searched for parking spots at the overlooks, took some photographs, bought some postcards, and left the same day.
People want paradise prepackaged, park rangers say. When do the bison and bears come out for the next show? When's the next rainbow?
To moderate the tourist crush, the park service has closed vast sections of some parks -- like Zion in Utah -- to all vehicles except guided sightseeing buses.
American naturalist John Muir, who introduced the pristine Yosemite Valley to the nation, once wrote, "In God's wilderness lies the hope of the world -- the great, fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."
"That's really nice," a visitor to today's Yosemite might tell him. "Say, do you happen to know if there's a McDonald's near the waterfall?"
* Badlands - no crowds
* Mt. Rushmore - very crowded, but no problems
* Yellowstone - supremely crowded, bumper-to-bumper. Dozens of cars pulled over to witness the wildlife. Old Faithful - packed. But we went slowly, expected to wait for a parking space in every site and had an absolutely wonderful time.
* Glacier - bumper-to-bumper throughout the whole drive on Going to the Sun road. When we got to the top, the service area was closed and roped off. The rangers told us to keep going because there was no parking anyway. There aren't many places to make a uTurn on that road and go back, so we never got in the visitor center. That was a bummer. But I have never seen such majestic, raw mountains and was stunned by the beauty I was able to see.
* Mt. Rainier - it rained the entire morning and the fog never lifted enough for us to see the volcano. No crowds though! The old growth forest at the foot of the volcano was spectacular. It was like Jurassic Park!
Crowds? Yeah, we experienced them. But the parks are an absolute treasure. I'm glad they stay primitive and noncommercial. One tiny complaint, though. Not all parks take reservations for campsites. It's no fun to drive on Skyline drive in VA with the family without knowing there will be a campsite for us.
I've been to almost every Nat'l Park in the US & Canada and what you say is generally true. Yosemite is unique because it's like Manhattan: everyone wants to be in a really small zone around 1 mile wide x 3 miles long. Get outside the valley and it's pretty empty; but driving around the prime waterfall zone is like trying to find parking in Times Square.
Ironically, the best time to visit the Valley is when it's (lightly) raining - since Yosemite is within driving distance of 15 million Californians, they'll stay home from day trips. It's great to able to walk around in relative solitude in such an incredible place.
RV's don't even belong in our national parks. Who needs them? Who wants them? If you can't strap on a backpack and hike your way around like a real outdoorsman, then screw it, just stay home and watch your silly sitcoms and game shows on the TV and stuff your faces full of chips and soda there so the rest of us can appreciate the parks as they should be appreciated.
This topic has me so steaming mad. I go to a national park and the vast majority of the people who go there don't have a clue. They insist on driving everywhere and they are always looking for restrooms and tourist trap giftshops and stupid tourist theme restaurants like "Road Kill Cafe" that are supposed to lend some sort of authenticity.
When I go to a national park (or even a state park), I take it serious. And forget about the restrooms that are crawling with flies and maggots and stupid tourist smells. I just pee on a tree or if I have to, I dig my own hole. That's the way my grandfather did it and that's the way I do it and if you don't like it, too bad. I hike around those parks like Daniel Boone and I take in the clean, fresh air, far away from those stupid tourists who get scared if they get more than 1/4 mile away from their cars.
Of course, even walking through suburban neighborhoods, it is rare to see children playing outside. I can't even get my own two sons out of doors unless I make them. Kids today would rather sit indoors with their TVs, computers, Nintendos and who knows what else.
You know, even in a crowded park, if you walk about 3/4 mile down a foot trail, there are virtually no people beyond that radius. Pretty sad commentary on our sedentary lifestyle.
I'm no fan of the Sierra Club, but I do agree with a lot of what they say about our National Parks. I've spent a lot of time out in the western U.S., and lived in western Canada for a while. By a wide margin, the worst places to visit in these area are any place where someone has drawn a line on a map, paved a bunch of roads through it, and called it a "national park."
One of the appeals of a great place in nature is that it isn't easy to get to.
Unless you are deep, deep, deep into the backwoods, use the latrines. No civilized person craps on the ground in areas where other people will follow when there are more hygenic options available. Have a little respect for the other people who will come behind you. I've been in the field where people thought, "I'll just squat here" and it's disgusting. You aren't the only bear in the woods.
Party pooper.
I guess I'm one of your 90% who don't belong ... but I sure did enjoy my one-week auto tour of national parks and battlefields in South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming last month. It was a once in a lifetime trip to see national treasures, squeezed into 7 days of annual leave. I did some day-hiking with the family, but we didn't have time to make the 3000 mile loop by foot.
I didn't look for any tourist-traps (and I didn't see any INSIDE any of the parks), but the roads, restaurants, general stores, gas-stations and cabins in Yellowstone made the trip practical. (And I don't mind user fees for the parks. Other taxpayers who don't use the park don't need to fund my holiday).
Yellowstone is roughly 54 x 63 miles in size (3472 sq miles). "Put up a few dirt parking around the perimeter and make people hike in" .... except that only a handful of people would ever see it! Even though you "take it serious" (sic) when you visit a park, it's possible that even a he-man woodsman like yourself might not have a few months to dedicate to exploring Yellowstone.
I actually think the NPS does a pretty good job of both making our parklands accessible and preserving them (so that's there's something to see when you get there). You can stick to the main roads, or you can take off down little-used trails. But for goodness' sake, follow the rules and use the latrines when they're available.
bump for that. We live in a small community in MI.(land of 8 months of crappy weather). Here it is a sunny warm day. We have new parks, grass infield baseball fields with home run fences(sheesh, we played on lava rocks when I was a kid yet had to turn kids away), finely trimmed football fields with goal posts, soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts(RIMS...WITH NETS!), clean playgrounds, walking/bike trails, etc.....
the place is a ghost town
We had power out once due to a T'storm and except for the damage it was almost hilarious, people were walking around like zombies, some actually said hello to a neighbor for the first time after living here 7 years. Somehow I don't think this place is much different that most others in the country today.
What do I think the problem is? MORE TOYS!....but unfortunately the clock still only gives you 24 hours.
Shhhhh
Bingo! Affluance breeds laziness... Why go out to race a car, on a race track (I am an active member of the SCCA, with a Nissan 300ZX, and Summit Point Raceway, nearby), when you can bash them into walls, and kill a few denizens, on the way?
Why go to the parks, when you can see it all on the Travel Channel? Why take the time to help your kid learn how to make a breaking pitch, when you can buy him a PS2, and he can play all the Major League teams, on a simulation?
I mostly love all of the SUV owners, driving around town, trying not to scratch the paint! All my cars (including my Lincoln) get regular washes, since they spend more time on gravel roads, than on the pavement, it seems...
I have monay friends, and few of them would spend the time, I spend, in the woods. They would rather come home, kick back with a cold one, and wait for dinner...
I don't play golf, but I know what a wild turket sounds like. I don't own a game machine, other than my Macintosh Computers. I use a flight simulator, at times, but I also hold a current FAA Private Pilot's License, and log around 75-100 hours a year, getting high legally...
End immigration.
We have too many people and not enough room and resouces.
The rationing and loss of freedom has already started, and it will get worse.
Great article by Sowell, thanks for the link.
Anyway, I have no problem with some access roads going through the larger parks. What I do have a problem with is building the kind of rest area facilities you see on the interstates, complete with fast food, souvenier shops and the like. I think if you are going to visit a national park, you should come prepared to rough it and leave civilization behind for a while. For me, that's what it's all about.
Nothing's free. It's just a question of whether the taxpayer is going to pay for it, or the people who use them.
Yep. My father and brother and I almost always camped at State Parks (or military reservations, if Dad knew somebody).
I'm a bit of a FS2004 addict myself(let's see, last check my FS9 folder is 28.7GB, my FS2002 folder, 17.9GB).
I got to a point once that I used the thing so much I was kicking my accelerator to get my car to turn right. ; )
I understand the youth being brought up in the digital age, however, many of their parents, who've been able to compare the cyber/digital world to the real world have chosen the cyber/ digital. I don't think that is going to be healthy to any society. I do believe at some point it will become a fad and folks will for the most part become more sociable. Unfortunately it usually takes some kind of catastrophe to bring people out of their shells.
What an elitist pig you are.
You want to deny the National Parks to the young, the handicapped, the elderly, families, people of limited time, people of limited resources, just so you can get the experience you desire. Go tell Jim Robertson that he has no business seeing America's Parks.
Why don't you airdrop into the River of No Return Wilderness Area with a pocketknife and flint and steel, since you are such a rugged individualist. You can live off the land and squat under the bushes all you want in total isolation.
Typical liberal tactics to emotionalize the argument by trying to make it about women, the handicapped and the elderly. By the way, handicapped people find a way to do pretty much anything they set their mind to do and it's typical of the liberal mindset to take such a patronizing attitude towards them. And to use Jim Robertson's name like this is despicable. You think you are going to earn some brownie points or something?
It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative. You are still a selfish jerk.
And, in fact, your desire to exclude everyone who doesn't or cannot access the National Parks in the manner you do is far more typical of econazi liberals than my caring about women, children, handicapped or the elderly. Liberals give lip service; conservatives truly care for their fellow humans.
Why don't you go play at the Sierra Club with your fellow watermelons.
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