Did you find yourself circling parking lots during your national park vacation this year?/NPS
OK, it's early November, summer vacations are long gone, but those memories hang on, no? So, this is your opportunity to speak up and tell others what condition you found your National Park System destination in. Crowded, clean, jammed with vehicles, over-priced, a great value? Did you encounter any "stupid" visitors?
These are important issues, and great information to have. Park managers need feedback to better understand how visitors view their parks, and other park travelers could use your input to plan trips, both in terms of destination and season.
For many park visitors a trip to Yellowstone or Glacier or Yosemite might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and so their perspectives likely will differ from those who visit these and other national parks again and again and again. Those repeat visitors are the ones most likely to spot the trouble areas, and appreciate the secrets of these places most.
Gaining input from regular park travelers on traffic conditions, campground cleanliness, pricing, and amenities is possibly more important now than ever, as the park system is entering a period of great change. Who would have thought the Park Service would allow lodging concessionaires to charge what the market will bear, as we've seen in Yellowstone?
At Zion, Arches, and Acadia, just to name three parks, discussions have been ongoing for many months over how best to manage crowds. Should there be reservations required to visit these places? How can park resources be protected from the crowds that are coming to the parks not only during the traditional summer vacation season but pushing the shoulder seasons earlier and later?
When can the resources get a rest? Can they get a respite?
So let's have it, travelers, what did you think of your national park escapes?
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Comments
I spent 2 days in Yellowstone and 9 days in Glacier this past June. The parks were well cared for, the rangers helpful, the inpark resturants had good food at a reasonable price, and it was about as crowded as I expected. I missed being able to use the Glacier shuttles because they had not yet begun for the season.
We toured Big Bend NP, Guadeloupe Mt. NP, Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands NM in June this year. Most of the day we had Big Bend, White Sands and Guadeloupe to ourselves but we tend to seek out the places in the parks that are least crowded. It takes preplanning on our part to know what is there and how to get there or the best times to go to the parts that are crowded. Carlsbad Caverns was crowded, being able to rent the headphones that we used to get information at different spots was almost like having our own private tour guide and we could move at our own pace. Perhaps doing more of that, even with outdoor spaces and using some type of app on a phone if there is phone service would help with crowded tours or not enough rangers for tours. More publicity for the lesser known parks might get people to explore other parks and not just the most popular ones over and over.
Wow, a real opportunity to be heard. I hesitated to write because we all know about the budget cuts to our National Parks. Is it worth my time to speak when I feel nothing will change because of the cost? After several days I decided what I had to say was important enough to be heard. We need more backcountry rangers in Yosemite!
I live just outside Yosemite in a gateway community on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. I lived in the Eastern Sierra for almost 20 years and in those 20 years I've visited Yosemite many times throughout the year, spring, summer and fall until the pass closes. Sometimes several times a month. I mostly hike the trails, sometimes going off trails to backcountry lakes or peaks. Average miles are no more then 20 miles a day. Mostly hiking between the Tuolumne area and Ten Lakes area. Sadly I have to say I have only once come across a backcountry ranger just once and that was last summer. I say this because in the last 5 years of the 20 years I've lived here and been hiking in Yosemite, things have changed drastically on the trails that I have hiked. So many dogs are on the trails now. I politely and in a nice voice say, "Hey just giving you a heads up, dogs are not allowed on the trails". I say that because it disrupts wildlife, the smell of the dog and a whole host of other reasons why that are not allowed. I know for a fact none of these dogs are service dogs, and I say that because I usually run into the dogs or dog off leash before a see the owner hiking a minute or two behind it. As of two years ago I stopped talking to the owners because I always got the same response......ah yea ok and they carry on with their hike not caring. I have sent emails to the Superintendent of the Park at the time and received no response. Bottom line love to have more backcountry rangers, a lot more, how many dogs have I seen on trail in the last 3 years around 25.
And now for the gross part, sorry. I also would love to see human poop carried out like they do on Mt. Whitney. Why because I'm so tired of coming across poop not buried 6". Poop, poop everywhere, toilet paper on top of it, not buried at all, in drainage ditches, watersheds, 3 ft from the lakes, rocks put on top of it, in the campsite, 1ft off the trail you name it I've seen it everywhere including plastic applicators, pads. It's so out of control. I now carry a huge trash bag with me the last 2 years. Of course I like to say I pick up the poop, but I do not, just all the trash. How many permits were issued for the PCT last year 3,500? 4,000, Id say, "that's a lot of crap on one trail that goes through Yosemite". JMT permits, overnight permits, just saying do we want more bacteria in our lakes and streams we drink? Bacteria is in there already but it's going to get a whole lot worse.
You know how many tents I see 2 ft from lakes?
I'm guessing if you speak to any backcountry ranger I'm sure they will tell you the same things I've just spoke about and more, listen to your backcountry rangers and make changes now, let's keep the backcountry as clean and wild as well as the streams and lakes wild so mine and your children and grandchildren can enjoy it. Lets hire more backcountry rangers make it a priority before our backcountry gets spoiled.
Thanks for listening!
OK. Then, I guess Americans should be banned from all foreign national parks?