We're less than one year out from the National Park Service's centennial, and visitation has been booming in many units of the National Park System this year. So tell us, travelers, how was your national park stay?
Did you encounter crowds and find them stifling, or were you able to enjoy a measure of solitude? Did you get to enjoy some interpretive programs? How was the general appearance of the park?
Any thumbs up, or thumbs down, you'd like to share? Any rangers who went above and beyond your expectations? Any areas you hope to see improvements in next year?
Comments
Just returned from a 6700 mile driving tour of the usa in a truck camper (October 7 - October 30). Very disappointed that Glacier visitor center was closed, therefore could not get my passport book stamped. They were willing to take the money; couldn't there be a stamp at the entrance to the parks? Apgar Campground was clean and well maintained, however. Mt. Rainier was teeming with uncontrollable children at the visitor center which made it difficult to see what was available. The interpretive ranger was very helpful at Crater Lake. Enjoyed the ranger's detailed lecture at Mt. St. Helen's. The ranger at Arches explained and directed us to what we must see and the hikes that we should take to make the most out of the park. Extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff at the Yakima Light in Oregon. Devils Tower was a pleasant experience, too. I found Mount Rushmore limiting in accessibility. The Wind Cave campground, though limiting in amenities was still an enjoyable overnight stay. The rangers were knowledgable and helpful even offering some viewing tips on our way to Mt. Rushmore. I understand the monetery cutbacks that the NPS has inplemented but some travellers like to take advantage of the off season crowds. By doing so we must suffer the lack of access and personnel that seasonal visitors enjoy. We have grandchildren who will probably never get to these parks. I was disappointed that the parks' brochures were limited per visitor. I was hoping to have access to additional brochures so that i could mail them to their families and they would be able to read and learn about the national parks. Getting children excited about the national parks could very well pay off for the NPS in the future.
We had a tremendous family trip in July. Took the Airstream trailer from California around the Great Basin. We went to Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, and ended back at Yosemite. The crowds were plentiful and we sensed that critical mass was being approached. The Narrows and Angels Landing in Zion were our favorite experiences, but both were very crowded. Still, plenty of solitude could be found down canyon along the Virgin River and I imagine the backcountry even more so. Arches was almost a "drive-through" for us, since there was no parking. Did find a spot at the Delicate Arch trailhead, so we did get to send some time. Bryce Canyon was splendid and relatively quiet compared to other destinations. We loved driving through Utah and many enjoyable areas exist between each national park destination. Nevada is forgettable. I know July is peak season, but it does seem like something will need to happen to limit visitation. The Find Your Park promotions for the Centennial celebration may be the tipping point. Extremely high visitation will eventually require a reservation system.
My highlights this year:
- Ebey's Landing National Historic Preserve - one of those NPS units you rarely hear of. But of course it is a little gem, great coastal landscape, fantastic vistas across the Puget Sound into the Olympics and even to Mt Rainier, a lot of history
- Glacier NP: finally made it to Iceberg Lake on a glorious summer day. A-ma-zing.
- Fossil Butte NM: another park in the shadows. And another great place. Splendid solitude, beautiful desert landscape, no crowds. And an outstanding Visitor Centre.
- Dinosaur NM: a lot of people just want to see the quarry and then drive back to Vernal. What they miss! We've had the whole of Rainbow Park for us in the middle of summer. Harper's Corner is probably one of the greatest overlook points in the whole NPS system.
There's just one lowlight:
- Glacier NP. The Reynolds Fire broke out when we were on the way back from Iceberg Lake - our reservation at Rising Sun the next day was soon cancelled. Then the closure of the Going-To-The-Sun-Road - we just fled the park and headed south.
I'm working on a book of "repeat photography" of historic photo sites in 25 National Parks. In 2015 I had the privilege of visiting 13 Parks (see list at end). Quick impressions, maybe a tip or two and a rant.
The Parks I visited (my family was often along, so it was somewhat vacation and work) are among the most popular in the NPS. Consequently, they were crowded at the peak seasons and times of day. The worst crowding I'd say is at Yosemite, as most visitors are going to the relatively small valley there, often exceeding parking capacity (Zion has a similar issue with its narrow, beautiful valley). We were however able to visit many parks in the off-season (spring or fall) which helped a lot. Getting out at 6 a.m., even in the peak season, will let you easily beat the tour buses, and enjoy beautiful light, some solitude, and easier parking at any National Park. Getting away from the "main attractions" and pavement will also give a less-crowded experience.
We'd give a "big thumbs up" to the front-line NPS staff in every visitor center or back-country office we stopped at. With only an exception or two, all were helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. I'd also specifically commend the staff who deal with back-country toilets in Grand Canyon. I've hiked to the bottom a few times now on various trails, and have spoken with 3 or 4 of those who have the thankless job of maintaining and cleaning these facilities. They are professional and cheerful about it. You probably don't think about what goes into this, but it's everything from shovels to helicopters, and a fair chunk of your entrance fee.
The "thumbs down" here is the Park Service's current promotion "Find Your Park"...I know this message is intended for several levels of meaning, and we do want the next generation invested in our National Parks, but this extra promotion now, at the 100th anniversary of the NPS, is merely going to make crowding next year even worse. We have "found our parks" already.
I'm also disappointed that the Park Service has engaged with a beer company and an entertainment conglomerate among their "Premier Partners" for this promotional campaign. It makes you wonder whether the Park Service or some ad agency is driving this train.
On the bright side, away from Madison Avenue and back with those front-line NPS employees, our Parks remain fantastic places with much to discover. The careful study of historic photos, and comparing them with images today from the same locations, shows that with few exceptions, "preservation works", and that the Park Service is doing a good job with its limited resources. More at paulhorsted.com.
Parks visited in 2015: Hawaii Volcanoes NP, Haleakala NP, Death Valley NP, Petrified Forest NP, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier NP, Grand Canyon NP (North & South Rim), Yosemite NP, Yellowstone NP, Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Badlands NP.
Paul Horsted, thanks for an excellent posting. You hit several nails right on the head.
I visited so many parks this year that I almost lost count. There were a few wonderful commonalities among them:
Dedicated maintenance crews who work hard at some very unpleasant tasks to keep the places as clean as they can with what they have available. Maintenance workers who too often have to try to figure out how to solve an issue with whatever the park can afford -- and usually about all they can afford is the ingenuity and inventiveness of the maintenace workers.
Devoted interpreters who obviously love the places in which they work and who obviously enjoy their interaction with visitors. There's probably nothing in life better than watching and helping to awaken a Sense of Wonder in other people -- young or old.
But on the other hand, there are profoundly disturbing things on every hand. The lack of interpreters in virtually every place I visited. Obvious decay of park infrastructure. And worst of all -- the never ending slobbishness of a few (but still far too many) park visitors who leave trails of trash or vandalism behind them. Then, of course, is the increasing overcrowding of some parks and the relentless march of asphalt across their lands.
Here's a SHOUT OUT OF THANKS to all the staffs at the parks I visited in 2015 (Let's see if I can remember all of them) : Mindidoka; Hagerman Fossil Beds; Ft. Vancouver; Klondike Gold Rush; Glacier Bay; Olympic; Ft. Clatsop; Grand Teton; Yellowstone; Golden Spike; Lake Mead; Zion; Death Valley. Thanks for all you do --- and hang in there with a smile.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that I left out two other important groups of people who helped make my park visits even better. Volunteers and concession employees. People like the incredible volunteers at Ft. Clatsop or the staff at Glacier Bay Lodge, or the young man who was apparently the Jack of All Trades at concession operated Signal Mountain Campground in GRTE to name just a few.
Overcrowded
Rocky Mountain NP was terribly over-crowded. With overcrowding comes litter issues. We headed over to Indian Peaks Wilderness for a hike one day while we were there, just to avoid the congestion, and only saw one other person in the nine hours we out hiking. The areas are adjacent, but what a difference! Overcrowding is definitely an issue and this was past peak fall color viewing! Must have been the unseasonably warm temperaturss.
After watching The National Parks: America's Best Idea, a 2009 documentary film by director/producer Ken Burns, I thought it would be a good time to one again visit Yosemite National Park.
I first visited Yosemite National Park 70 years ago when I was six years old. I've been returning to the park every few years ever since.
But over time, I've become more and more critical of the commercialization of nature. On my last trip in October of this year, I ended up driving into a traffic jam in a new parking lot under construction. I was thoroughly disgusted with the crowding, traffic, and continuing proliferation of inappropriate construction projects and desecration of nature.
What I found was a 40 year history of failed park management and innumerable successful cover ups to keep the general public from ever discovering the truth.
My curiosity led me far beyond anything I had intended to get involved in, so what I thought would take me a few hours to complete may occupy me for years. It's a quest I didn't intend to embark on.
I started my investigation by reading the most important of the Yosemite plans that I could find, but I was not able to find six other important Yosemite plans and studies. They've disappeared from public view.
I had no trouble reading the first plan I found, the General Management Plan: Visitor Use / Park Operations / Development, but when I tried to read the Concession Services Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, I became very confused until I realized the National Park Service had scrambled the plan and the EIS together in a single document.
I've been a professional urban and regional planner for 30 years, and I've never seen a combination "plan / EIS." And I've not seen one for a reason; the combination doesn't work. The plan must be written first, because the purpose of the environmental impact statement (EIS) is to describe the effects the plan. An EIS is not a plan
- A "plan" is a creative proposal eminating from the mind, that is intended to achieve a desired result: A plan is nothing more than the act of plotting out a series of events that will lead to a goal.
- An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a study designed to determine if the plan might significantly impact the environment.
The National Park Service wants us to believe they can write both a "plan" and an "EIS" at the same time, starting out with an EIS and ending up with a plan.
But writing a combination "plan / EIS" is a chicken-and-egg problem: a situation where it is impossible to attain the desired outcome because the necessary precondition has not been met, and where meeting the precondition requires the desired outcome to have already been realized.
And therein lies the crux of the matter: The National Park System finds it easy to write a combination "plan / EIS" because it knows the outcome in advance. That violates federal regulations.
In the comments on the Concession Services Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, The National Park Service admits that "the large majority of written comments were in favor of alternative A, or the 1980 GMP alternative as written." Then, disregarding the alternative favored by two-thirds of the commenters, the National Park Service selected Alternative B, the alternative that would continue to bring in the highest profit for the park's destination resort.
Excerpted from Table 3: Parkwide Lodging and Food Service
Rejected
Adopted
1980
1992
Alt. A
Alt. B
Total rooms with baths
663
688
668
871
Total restaurant seats
2165
2725
1910
2830
In all of its plans adopted after 1980,the National Park Service has chosen the alternative that maximizes profits from its destination resort.
In the Merced Wild and Scenic River Final Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, under the pretext of protecting the outstandingly remarkable values of the Merced River, the National Park Service went so far as to gut the Yosemite National Park General Management Plan, by quietly changing three words.
Table A-1: Introduction and Management Goals of GMP/MRP
1980 GMP Text
2014 GMP Revision
The intent of the National Park Service is to remove all automobiles from Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove and to redirect development to the periphery of the park and beyond.
The intent of the National Park Service is to remove all automobiles congestion from Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove and to redirect development to the periphery of the park and beyond.
Changing the Yosemite Valley General Management Plan from: "remove all automobiles" to "remove automobile congestion," does nothing to "provide overall guidance for the management and protection of the Merced River Corridor. . . ," it's just another way to protect profits from its destination resort.
Stephen T. Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service said: "Scenery is a hollow enjoyment to the tourist who sets out in the morning after an indigestible breakfast and a fitful night's sleep on an impossible bed." So what have national parks become? They've become leafy commercial ventures operated by concessionaires.
The National Park Service's original commitment to commercialization has grown to the point where the "NPS Commercial Services Program administers more than 500 concession contracts that, in total, gross over $1 billion annually."
On June 17, 2015, Yosemite National Park announced that it had chosen a new concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality. According to National Parks Traveler, "Yosemite Hospitality will pay a franchise fee of 11.75 percent of gross receipts, 80 percent of which will directly support improvements to visitor facilities and park operations." That works out to be somewhere around $17,155,000 a year from its new concessionaire contract.
Most troubling is my finding that park management can't think outside the box, or in this case outside the box canyon, and continues to shuffle roads, parking, and tents, within the valley, with no plan to remove urban sprawl.
The 1980 general management plan says, "Today, the Valley is congested with more than a thousand buildings--stores, homes, garages, apartments, lodging facilities, and restaurants-- that are reflections of our society; the Valley floor is bisected by approximately 30 miles of roadway which now accommodate a million cars, trucks, and buses a year.
And now, the Merced Wild and Scenic River Final Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, wants to expand Yosemite Valley parking to 6,067 parking spaces, more than half as many as the 12,000 parking spaces at AT&T Stadium (Cowboys Stadium).