There are some but, yeah, they are pretty minimal. Pretty much in the same category as a small lock on a gate that only keeps honest people out. The barrier at GC are simply to serve as warnings for otherwise prudent adults.
One of the most impressive things to me at the Grand Canyon in Arizona is that there’s no fences, or barriers, or whatever.
Any idiot can just go over to the edge and fall 3000 feet if they want to.
.. and fall 3000 feet if they want to.... or not..............
Do they add that as a feature in the tourist brochures?
Just the way nature intended for it to be.
got up to the top and its just a sheer drop off down the cliff....
There are some but, yeah, they are pretty minimal. Pretty much in the same category as a small lock on a gate that only keeps honest people out. The barrier at GC are simply to serve as warnings for otherwise prudent adults.
Years ago we used to make an annual trip up to Baxter State Park in ME and climb Mt' Katahdin, we laughed how NY would probably demand you sign a thousand releases before doing the Knife edge trail.
People fall over the edge, not all of the time, but with regularity. You can't stop stupid with fences. They get too close to the edge and guess what? Some stumble or slip and over they go.
Approximately 12 people on average die per year in the park from about 6.2 million visitors annually, but only 2-3 of those are from falling over the edge. Deaths from heat and dehydration take a bigger toll.
At Yellowstone, in Wyoming, there are signs warning people to not go off the designated pathways and boardwalks around the hot springs and geysers. But some do it anyway. A fall into the boiling water (200-250 degrees Fahrenheit) kills them almost instantly.
Surprisingly, there have only been 22 deaths in the park's scorching thermal springs since it opened. Average number of deaths annually from all causes in the park of 5.9 million visitors is 93.
The biggest cause of death in all national parks annually is actually from drowning, followed by traffic accidents with other tourists and then slips and falls.
I wouldn’t say there are no barriers or fences. There’s a lot. But it’s just too darned... well... Grand. It’s 277 miles of RIVER, but it’s all jagged and twisty, then there’s the trails into it. You’d probably need over 700 miles of fencing to handle both sides of the whole thing.