Many of the iconic national parks are jam-packed this summer, but you can find areas away from the crowds, such as here along the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River in Yosemite, if you get out early/Kurt Repanshek
Traffic stretching more than three miles from a national park entrance station. Parking areas inside some national parks filling by 10 a.m. National park superintendents acknowledging that the visitor experience is being impacted.
If there was any doubt that America's national parks are popular with tourists, this summer's traffic erased it.
At Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, some days the line of vehicles waiting to pass through the Nisqually Entrance Station can back up 3.5 miles and take two hours to negotiate. At Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the parking area at ever-popular Bear Lake routinely fills by 10 a.m. At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, the lines to enter the South Rim have half-seriously been compared to the lines for tickets to the popular Broadway show Hamilton.
And at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Superintendent Dan Wenk says crowding is his top concern, and that, "The experience is being affected."
So hectic has business been at the icons of the National Park System that the Chicago Tribune called for daily quotas to be established.
Something's wrong with our national park system when lines to get to the Grand Canyon's South Rim look like lines to get "Hamilton" tickets. America's annual pilgrimage to our national parks has become a shoulder-to-shoulder, bumper-to-bumper stress test.
At Yosemite National Park, officials agree that parking can be a challenge. Even though the park has a shuttle system to help move people around the scenic Yosemite Valley, some visitors complain that, "it’s frustrating because of all the time you spend in traffic.”
In Washington state, while the editorial board of The News Tribune laments the crowding and exhaust, it urges visitors to endure.
"...the important thing is not to let all this talk of traffic congestion deter you from going at all; it should only serve to improve your travel strategy. If anything can renew a weary spirit, it’s Mount Rainier," the board wrote, adding, however, "(A)s you’re waiting to pay your entrance fee and motor up the mountain, remember why you’re there. Don’t sit in your car and seethe. Save that for when you’re searching for an elusive parking spot higher up the mountain."
Mount Rainier officials, who say traffic issues will compound the high visitation levels through late October as road construction continues, aren't shying away from the issue.
"Is the parking lot full? Perhaps the trail is busier than normal, or maybe you waited in a long line to enter the park?," they wrote in their weekly construction update. "All signs of a busier than normal summer here at Mount Rainier. Each year we welcome over one million visitors, and 2016 might break past records as the busiest year. Over the last 100 years park visitation has increased from around 24,000 in 1916 to around 1,200,000 in 2015. Some say the 'more than merrier,' while others feel we are 'loving parks to death.' Where do you stand?"
So, where do you stand?
Comments
What you are suggesting would be great for the able bodied, but I am so grateful that the NPS has committed to making the parks more accessible to my handicapped children. I love hiking and go backpacking or primitive camping whenever I can get away, but traveling my my wheelchair bound son, we need a hotel, running hot water, and paved trails where he too can enjoy the beauty of nature. The parks offer something for everyone, and if solitude is what you are after you can find that in almost any park, you just have to plan on it.
I love the National Parks and preservation is a must. Just got back from Yellowstone, Tetons and Glacier and what stuck out to me was the large numbers of foreign visitors. These are America's national parks. Begore limiting us they should limit foreign visitors. I stood in one restroom line with about 50 Asian women. And inside the park they had no respect for the rules. They would walk right up to an animal to get a photo, pull over and park in a no parking area.
CROWD CONTROL or we're not going to have anything to visit. Period. Wait and plan, people! it's the wave of the future... your insatiable need for instantaneous pleasure will be best served from behind your remote!! Save our natural Parks and Wildlife. As Smokey The Bear would say, "Only You Can.."
Please don't lump all Asian women as being disrespectful as these 50 women were. I am Asian and have traveled to many national parks and am very respectful of the parks and others. Everyone should be respectful of our wonderful parks no matter their ethnicity. Being a visitor from another country does not give the permission to do dumb things or be disrespectful of the parks and to people around them. A few bad apples shouldn't spoil the whole bunch.
the National Park Service spent $100mm this year on the 100th anniversary and the "Find Your Park" media campaign. I'm not saying promotion of the parks is a bad idea, specifically when targeting segments of the population where use or understand of parks resources are not understood. What I am saying is the NPS leadership must provide in park support for traffic and people managemen, moving people to areas of parks like Yosemite that have vast areas that are virtually empty in peakseaso. One plan requires another...
A couple of interesting articles from Deseret News, the more conservative newspaper in Salt Lake City:
The lead paragraphs in the first story say: "Editors note: This is the first in a two-day look at the problems emerging from the popularity of Utah's national parks, and solutions to help nearby communities.
MOAB -- More than 5 million people will visit Zion and Arches national parks before the year is over, bringing their money to dine in area restaurants, stay in hotels and fill up at gas stations.
It's a boon to the local economy, pumping money into city budgets and keeping property taxes among the lowest in the state in surrounding areas. But the tourists also bring their trash, their vehicles, their noise -- even their excrement."
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664134/Special-Report-Utahs-Mighty...
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664207/Special-report-Solutions-to...
The popularity of our parks is not only have adverse impacts upon the parks, it's also causing havoc in communities that border them.
Well this was hidden in the story:
"Part of our base issue is our county is 97 percent public land, so when you only have 3 percent private property to begin with, it does not leave you with as many options like Ogden, Salt Lake City or Provo that can spread out," Fryer said. "We are pretty defined for the land that is available."
Perhaps future park planning should include releasing of develople land outsidethe parks for housing and tourist infrastructure within a reasonable commuting distance to the parks. This is an issue that bureaucrats in DC probably can't even comprehend as it would mean giving up some controi.