Posted on 10/28/2017 2:34:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Often called “The Grand Canyon without the crowds.”
Visited the Grand canyon a few years ago about this time of year, it was awesome watching the snow squalls move across the openness of the canyon. Later we drove through Zion National Park, my favorite of all, should be on everyone’s bucket list.
This is sad. Going off season is excellent advice. Or finding less crowed parks. Last summer I visited several CA parks, being there for unrelated reasons. Yosemite, is that a shopping center. Sequoia wasn't much better. But Kings Canyon not too bad. Redwoods, we stayed at a state park south of there, was fine. I could name a couple others that were ok for camping/hiking. But the big name parks, and the big name sights in them, it's not working. Need some new ideas. Probably shouldn't talk about Yosemite since I didn't see much of it. But if you're going to have trams anyway, and there's plenty of acreage there, why not move the campgrounds and non historic hotels out of the valley. Plenty of room for campgrounds and hotels out of the valley. Get the cars out if it's going to be a tram site.
Ya know, if I’m driving a thousand miles to be there, hauling a camper and good backpacking gear or some such costing thousands, I’m just going to swipe a credit card at the gate and not care what it costs to get in.
“Oh, it’s $75 instead of $30 to enter this park the family is gonna spend a week at? Gee, guess we’d better cancel plans and go home.” Un, no.
My family gave me a 60th birthday trip to Yellowstone & Tetons in July six years ago. If you plan things right, crowds are not a problem at all. We had a ball. Splurged and stayed at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. Got up at 4 AM one morning to make sunrise in the Lamar Valley to see wildlife (spectacular!). Did a 5-mile round trip in and out hike to Fairy Falls — after the first quarter mile, we only saw one other person. Hiked to the top of Mount Washburn, the highest peak in Yellowstone and were literally IN a huge group of mountain goats. The trail wasn’t heavily travelled. If you do things right, the crowds won’t bother you.
My wife didn’t want to take our annual trip to Idaho in July this year because of crowds. The crowds in Ketchum were light, no trouble with dinner reservations. Only two other hikers passed us hiking up Baldy. Went up to Redfish Lake in the Sawtooths and crowds were no problem. We rented a motorboat on the spot, no reservation, to tour the lake. My wife was pleasantly surprised at how light the crowds were.
I live in the Bay Area and it’s been a long while since I’ve been to Yosemite. I suspect if you arrive by car before 7 AM you’ll be ok. A good friend went to Yosemite a couple weeks ago to climb Half Dome and didn’t mention traffic problems. Our son was there to climb Half Dome about six weeks ago and didn’t mention traffic problems.
Maybe they are blowing traffic out of proportion to keep people away!
I don't think I suggested that. Hey, what about those of us who are just going up for a few hours? Think tripling the price might see excessive? I've been over trail ridge many times but I never stayed a week.
He’s an idiot. Ignore him. The environazis have been proposing similar restrictions in the parks and forests in kommiefornia for years. Those people only want visitors who can afford to dedicate a week long hike to enjoy God’s beauty.
Were the older passes limited? Does not indicate that anywhere.
Exactly. When I camp, I don’t do it in national park designated camp grounds next to a bunch of yahoos with generators. I do it in the national forest in the timber away from other people. Folks like that are why I haven’t been to RMNP for a while. I did stop at Grand Canyon on my way back to CO from AZ one February. No one there, snow on the rims. It was awesome, and I didn’t pay a dime to have the place to myself and my buddy who went on the trip with me.
Interesting about the annual and lifetime passes from the link. Looking at mine, no “annual” or “lifetime” on it, just “Senior Pass”.
Were the older passes limited? Does not indicate that anywhere.
I was at Yosemite in 1972, and there was a bit of crowding back then. The trams though were quite convenient. The backcountry trails were not crowded, as well as the trails climbing out of the valley.
"National Parks, federal lands Lifetime Senior Pass goes from $10 to $80 " Says in the link the cost increase was around Labor day this year. The pictured card is what I have, $10 back when.
Local state parks in my area of western PA are free. In Pittsburgh we have North Park, South Park, Mingo Creek State Park, lots of rural areas with a covered bridge festival every September. Historical museums at Fort Necessity, Uniontown, and Fort Ligonier near Greensburg charge mminimal fees, lots of historical reenacting in tri-state area of Ohio, West VA, PA, MD. Christmas markets starting up now at fairground sites in all the neighboring counties.
The idiot park service promoted more tourism there...at great cost to taxpayers. What did they expect?
It works at all national parks and fee areas. It was an extreme deal at $10 for a lifetime pass. Recently, they upped to $80...still a deal.
Yep - spent 24 years in the military where they paid us to “hurry up and wait” - damned if I’ll pay someone premium dollar for an experience that can be “enjoyed” in so many places for free....
“Disneyland is a nightmare during the summer”
I can’t imagine any conservative stepping foot in any Disney park, especially with children. Parks are over-run with gays flaunting their displays of affection everywhere. Plus, Disney’s overall politics is disgusting. Why support that?
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