There are so many components that go into a successful national park escape. Travel to the park of your choice, comfortable and reasonably priced lodging, well-marked trails to explore, good interpretive programs, and nutritious, tasty meals are just some of the most obvious aspects. What's most important in your estimation to a successful park trip?
Do you put more emphasis on a clean, comfortable room to return to at day's end than on an interesting ranger-led program? Do you want to be able to lose yourself in a park museum, or down a trail, and everything else is secondary? Do you go home disappointed if the interpretive staff is made up of volunteers who are a little shaky on their presentations?
Let us know what makes the perfect national park trip, and we'll pass on your thoughts to the NPS.
Comments
For years I have joked that the best trip to Yellowstone NP involves seeing a moose. Although I never come home from Yellowstone NP disappointed, the more wildlife I see on a trip, the more special that trip become. I do appreciate the trails, the campsites, the Ranger programs, the other provided amenities, but what makes a good trip for me is the wildlife.
For us the most important thing is, by far, avoiding crowds. We plan trips for times of year when crowds will be minimized, and during the trip we plan any front country sight-seeing, programs, and visitor center browsing to happen on weekdays - preferably rainy ones.
Don't care about rooms, because we bring our own room. Ditto for meals. Well-marked trails are nice, but with the aid of a guidebook and map, I've never had much trouble on a trail (except that one day in Acadia on the side of Pemetic Mountain....and the time in the Queets Valley in Olympic when a wash-out had obscured the trail....)
Interpretive programs are nice, but I've always done so much research about places before we visit them I usually end up disappointed. I've found one of the most rewarding things involving NPS staff is getting them alone and chatting them up. Three incidents come to mind: On a rainy day in the Hoh Rainforest (Olympic) when the tourists were bitterly complaining that it had the audacity to rain in the rainforest, I got to talking to the ranger sitting at one of the info desks. She told me some of her experiences with exploration along the beach section, and I told her about our adventures kayaking in the San Juan Islands. We spent about 20 minutes just chatting about exploring nature and both ended up learning a lot.
The year before that my wife and I were the lone visitors in the Congaree visitor center. After talking about our canoe plans for Cedar Creek, another ranger came up and somehow I mentioned we were going to Carolina Sandhills NWR next. Turns out this guy used to work there and we spent a long time talking about red-cockaded woodpeckers and management of longleaf pine ecosystems.
Just this past summer we had a great talk about birds with a ranger in Acadia. Her name has been mentioned here in another thread I know. I was in awe of her ability to talk to me about egg-shell density and things like that, then turn around and explain to someone else the difference between a seagull and a bald eagle without a hint of condescension. The parks need a hundred clones of this ranger!
As I think about it, there are other experiences involving the human element: Randomly meeting a couple personal friends of Traveler's Bob Janiskee about 4 miles deep in the wilds of Gros Morne NP in Newfoundland. A lone hiker in the Queets Valley pointing me to some Sitka Spruce research I'd never read. The retired couple in Theodore Roosevelt NP recounting their RV trek from Alberta to Arizona.
Ironic that a borderline misanthrope, such as myself, that tends toward preservationism would pick human interactions as among the most memorable good times in national parks. I think the thing I found uplifting in these events is the reaffirmation that there are good people out there that share my thoughts on nature and science.
It's also no secret that if I listed my ten most disappointing events in national parks, they would all involve interactions with other people. Nature has never let me down.
I would rate a winter visit to Carlsbad Caverns as among my most memorable experiences. Upon arrival at a make-shift trailer/visitor center (the real VC was being renovated) we were greeted personally by a female ranger who made a special effort to come out from behind her information desk to engage us in conversation and give us an introduction to the park and it's array of underground adventures. Because we arrived in the off-season (the week after New Year 2008), we had much of the underground gallery of hydrogeochemical art to ourselves. There were plenty of roving rangers knowledgable about cave formation available to answer our questions. They all spoke in whispering tones to preserve the cathedral-like quiet of the interior of the dimly lit passageways and vaulted rooms.
I agree with Kirby Adams. The chance to interact personally with uniformed members of the NPS is often more rewarding and memorable than a formal presentation or guided walk. On the other hand, having worked many decades ago as a park ranger-naturalist, I would hope that even experienced park visitors would never be disappointed by attending an NPS interpretive program.
In answer to the question posed by the above article, "Is the scenery in a national park more important to your visit than the comfort of your lodging?" I often find lodging to be a distraction to the enjoyment of the scenery. I often postpone breakfast in order to absorb the onset of a beautiful dawn. I plan evening meals to enable me to be out once again to enjoy the changing colors of sunset and dusk. My most memorable nights in the parks have been out under the stars without a tent.
Owen Hoffman
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
We're big fans of 'world's biggest ball of string attractions. And I always love to see wildlife, and feast on the natural beauty of the scenery, but lately I've gotten to be quite the junkie of getting as many different stamps on my NPS Passport. For example, getting both the Hoh Rainforest and the Hurricane Ridge stamps when visiting the Olympics. It's a cute little childlike gimmick, but I guess I'm just a cute little child.
Nature. Wilderness. Natural Beauty. Quiet. Peacefulness.
Our best experience of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just being there. After thirty years we are still in awe of the mountains, the trees, the wildlife, (Lots of bears this year, wild turkeys, Moose and deer and a coyote this year) and the folks like us that we exchange stories with. To take a half hour walk in the woods or a two or three hour hike to Grotto Falls or to stand at Newfound Gap and watch the fog lift on the Tenn. mountains and the bright Sun on the North Carolina mountains or to watch a yearling bear in a tree getting the last nuts or berries off of a small branch or to stand quietly as a bear walks through an historic cabin site, any of these would be enough by themselves but to experience them all and more in a week is breath taking and spirit enriching. That's our experience of the National Parks.
Rick, and here I thought just collecting *one* postmark from with a park was sufficient. Sounds like I've got quite a bit of backtracking to do...
What makes or breaks a trip for us is how knowledgeable and passionate the park staff is.
Every staff member, from volunteers to maintenance to interp to fee collectors, need to exhibit some level of personal passion for the place they care for. If they don't it's very noticeable, leaving this tax payer wondering why they are soaking up my hard earned taxes in a job they don't seem to care about.