So, how was your latest visit to a national park? Were rangers present to answer your questions? How was the parking? Were the restrooms clean? We'd like to hear from you.
National Park Service officials take pride in the fact that their annual surveys reflect a 90-95 percent approval rating year after year after year. Would you score your national park experience that high? It's not hard to give the agency high grades, as most things in the parks seem to be fairly well managed. But there's always something to nitpick about.
Problem with lodgings? We've all stayed in rooms that were so small it was hard to change your mind and where the linens were a tad on the ratty side.
Were the trails well-maintained? Could rangers satisfactorily answer your questions? Were you surprised by the fees for some interpretive programs?
Bring it on, folks! Tell us how your visit was.
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We also just came back from Glacier National Park, and had a wonderful time. We took the Glacier Lodge Tour and stayed at four great lodges. The food and rooms were wonderful (but the showers were a little snug). All of the people we met at the lodges, in the tour company, on the trails, etc. were wonderful. We'd go back in a heartbeat if there weren't so many other places on our list of places to go.
Went to Yosemite in July. The weather was perfect and the Tuolumne Meadows area was beautiful as usual. But crowded. Wish there were a way to keep large groups of motorcyclists off the Tioga Road. They run through with their noisy engines disturbing the peace.
In early August I drove with a friend along the southern shore of Lake Superior, hitting three NPS sites: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, Keweenaw National Historical Site and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. We also dropped down and spent a few hours at St. Croix National Scenic River in Wisconsin.
Surprisingly, because I usually favor natural spots, Keweenaw was my favorite of the stops. The ranger in Calumet was enthusiastic and informed, willing to talk about copper mining culture and architecture, which was of particular interest to my friend. A trip into one of the mines was an eye-opener -- both literally and figuratively.
Also surprisingly, the rangers at the information desk in Apostle Islands were clueless when I asked about the formation of the Great Lakes and their geologic history. They said no one had ever asked them that before. Hard to believe. Thankfully they directed me to the one ranger who seemed to know something about it.
The Lake Superior trip, from Duluth, MN, to Munising, MI, is worth a week of your time. See www.myhandicapparking.com for more personal essays.
I love our parks and the Rangers and staff.
My pet peeve in all the parks is noise and the people who make it! The only solution I can think of to reduce the volume is a national campaign by the NPS promoting the Natural Soundscape. It barely gets mentioned in the Park Newspapers. We need a visible and repeated reminder for people to respect the quiet. A slogan and a symbol a la "Give a hoot, don't polute" with Woodsy the Owl; "Don't be a Litterbug" was very effective in the past. The whole recycling campaign with the slogan and symbol has accomplished a lot worldwide. You see a blue barrel you know what its for.
A sticker with a symbol (e.g. the index finger over the lips) visible on every sign in the Parks could have an impact over time at little cost to the Park Sevice. Its an idea that needs to be PROMOTED and REPEATED to be effective.
And don't get me started on motorcyles! Require MUFFLERS when riding in the parks.
We spent a week tent camping on Death Valley's back roads in March. It was truly spectacular. I found the more well-known sites had too many people to suit me, but the backcountry was five star. We did go to Scotty's Castle, and I thought the ranger who led the tour through was knowledgable. The ranger at Stovepipe Wells, where we stopped for some information and a backcountry map, wasn't too helpful.
Leaving Death Valley, we stopped at Manzanar. This site gets kudos for a really well done visitors center with interesting and moving exhibits. The ranger on duty was excellent and readily forthcoming about this sad aspect of American history. I do recall using the bathroom there, and it was fine.
We also went to Sequoia National Park on this same trip. It had just snowed and the scenery was spectacular. However, we received conflicting information regarding snow chains. I didn't find the visitors centers that exciting, but the scenery made up for it.
Speaking of bathrooms, how many of the men posting here have seen the new "waterless" urinals at NPS sites? So far I've seen them at Muir Woods NM where they had them at the parking lot restrooms a few years ago and recently remodeled their gift shop/snack bar/office complex restrooms. They've also installed them at Point Reyes.
I think some NPS sites might be a good candidate for them. A lot of remote sites need to provide their own water and sewage treatment and the water often comes from local rivers or creeks.
I know there's a certain "ewww factor" to a urinal that doesn't flush, but I found they didn't smell (I'm sure they were cleaned daily).