Some national park campsites just don't get the time they need to recover from heavy use/Kurt Repanshek file
There are more than 500 campgrounds across the National Park System, and not all are created equal. Which, in your mind, is the worst, and how could the National Park Service improve it?
It could earn that tag because you're pitching your tent in an inch of dust, or there's absolutely no privacy from your neighborning sites, or a dense layer of choking campfire smoke settles down on the campground in the early afternoon and remains in place until late at night (unless there's a good breeze).
And with many parks increasing camping fees to be "comparable" to those charged at private campgrounds outside the parks, do you find that park campgrounds are comparable to those commercial campgrounds in maintenance and appearance?
Comments
Rocky knob campground in Va is a giant Ant Nest . You can't bring your own wood due to fear of invasive bugs , yet you can take all the Ants home with you , wether you want the Ants or not .
Camp 4 Yosemite.
Especially after they paved the parking lot and the adjacent lot. Paving over paradise.
Go NPS!
( worth noting many "back to the land" hippies infiltrated the Park service with the goal of sabotaging campgrounds as they hated the common American camper. As such they set about turning most of the campgrounds into dense, crowded pits that few would enjoy. While this freed up the land for backpacking- it was short sighted as older folks cant backpack. They basically are victims of their own creations. this is easily seen in Yosemite after the stoneman meadow riots)
Greenbelt Park Campground. Could be a gem but NPS ignores it and won't change how it is operated. Embarrassing and a missed opportunity.
Crater Lake, Oregon
What an interesting topic! I'll be reading every comment.
The rv lot at Guadalupe NP is a paved parking lot, but it didn't bother our camping experience.
Pinnacles...those raccoons are next level aggressive!
Sunset Campground or Stovepipe Campground in Death Valley.
Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley. Its just a large gravel parking lot divided into sites. When its busy it's just like a refugee camp, it just needs someone handing out water.