Havasu Falls
Posted on 11/23/2009 10:13:46 AM PST by originalbuckeye
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Getting one of the roughly 11,500 permits granted each year to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon has become so competitive and "unfair" that managers at the national park have decided to change the system.
Now those who want the coveted permits either show up in person or try their luck with mail or fax machines on the day the permits become available.
Those who go in person line up at the backcountry office starting early in the morning. Those who try to fax often are in for hours of constantly redialing because of the demand.
October and May are the most popular months for those seeking permits to camp most places below the rim, with nearly one of every two people denied.
National Park Service administrators at the Grand Canyon have decided the system is unfair because it favors those who live near the massive gorge or have the time and resources to fly there just to get a permit.
The agency is proposing to end the current system in February, making everyone in the world compete for advanced reservations by fax and mail only. Eventually the park also plans to move to an online reservation system.
Also, the Park Service is not allowing any more individuals to establish commercial backpacking businesses until the agency sorts out a larger plan for the backcountry.
"We're trying to provide better equity between locals and international visitors," said Barclay Trimble, a deputy superintendent.
Some of the 26 commercial outfitters who take customers on paid, guided backpacking trips in the canyon are unhappy with the proposal.
"It's going to cost some people some jobs. There's no doubt about it," said Blaine Stuart, manager of Angel's Gate Tours.
He and others say the park's move will cost them the ability to guarantee faraway customers their choice destinations far in advance, meaning they will lose business and sometimes be unable to obtain permits at all.
Wayne Ranney, who guides some trips commercially and backpacks the canyon in his free time, said he believes locals should have the best chance of hiking the canyon.
"To think of somebody from Cape Town, South Africa, having just as equal a chance as someone from Arizona or the United States — I know it sounds weird, but I don't think that's fair," he said.
Trimble said he doesn't think a new system will harm commercial
Sometimes I think I’m in a Philip K. Dick novel and my country has ceased to exist, and everyone forgot to mention it to me.
So, we the taxpayers have to let the other citizens of the world get their chance at our national parks? Thanks Barry.
Allocate a certain percentage of permits to US citizens and have a fax/email reservation system that divvies up those permits. Reserve a smaller percentage for international visitors and let them have a separate lottery. Problem solved.
The current system is unfair in that it is much easier for an Arizona resident to get a permit than one from Indiana. The tour companies have utilized this to their advantage.
They already do something like what is being proposed for the rafting permits through the Grand Canyon.
What am I missing?
This country is going down the crapper.
Thanks libs. :D
Park rangers need to account for the people coming in and out of the canyon. They can only handle so many.
Of course the Sierra Club seems to have a privileged position for their tours.
Park rangers need to account for the people coming in and out of the canyon. They can only handle so many.
No Trespassing!
“Get off my lawn!”
So figure out how many people a ranger can handle (A), then how much it costs to keep a ranger on the payroll(B). Compute C = B / A. Add C to the cost of the permit, and hire as many rangers as needed from the fees paid.
That’s the feeling I get when I go to certain parks, especially Yosemite. You get that attitude that every step you take damages something on the ever growing list of critically endangered somethings and that it’s better that human beings not even tread there.
The idea that places of beauty might be privately owned and privately exploited was anathema to certain people in the government. Why should a place like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon be in the hands of only a few? Shouldn't ALL the people have access? And so the government set aside millions of acres so that ALL the people would be able to visit.
And then they limited the number of campers to 11,500 a year.
If a private company owned camping rights to the Canyon, a heck of a lot more than 11,500 people would have the pleasure. But the do-gooders efforts at making this something for ALL the people is a primary reason why it is available to so few.
Much of our country is empty. Why? Well, that's not a lot you can do with some of it. Opening up those lands to the public will NOT result in 5 million people camping in the Grand Canyon next Tueaday.
I see the National Parks as an exclusionary effort whereby the rabble are blocked and the elite get privileges. It's an indication of a feudal society. [/rant]
Yeah, but on the other hand, folks in Indiana have a much easier time getting into the James Dean museum in Fairmount. :-)
Reminds me of the scene from the movie “Into the Wild”, where Alex asks about where he should launch his kayak into the river and the park ranger informs him that he needs a permit and and by the way, the next available permit is in 8 years.
hearing this, Alex just takes his kayak, atop a shopping cart, and launches without permission and evades the “River Police” all the way down to Mexico.
Being in a 120 degree hole is not my idea of fun. We’ll make a stop at the gift shop, take some pictures, and maybe even hock some loogies over the side of the canyon rim - then its off to Lake Tahoe or Vegas baby, yea!!!.
“They already do something like what is being proposed for the rafting permits through the Grand Canyon.”
Yeah, I had to wait almost 9 years to get a permit to raft the GC. It was worth the wait. 21 days, greatest white water. The commercial trips of 7 days are good, but rowing your own boat is a once in a life time experience.
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