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Considering a Hike up Half Dome?

Jul 8th - 08:16am | Merryland

I don't understand why people who know little or nothing about climbing should be allowed to climb Half Dome. Easy solution - take the darn cables off the rock face. Personally, that would mean I'd probably never make the climb -- so be it. People are flocking to complete the feat only because they're available.

Park Shuttles, More Than Just A Bus?

Jul 8th - 06:28am | Merryland

My appreciation of the shuttles goes back to the mid-80s at Grand Canyon where the Hermit's Rest route has been bus only during the peak visitation periods for a long time now. Riding my bike along the 7-mile route was much more enjoyable with only the occasional slow-moving bus to worry about.

Jul 8th - 00:57am | Glenn Scofield ...

For the last ten years, I've been enjoying going even one step further. I take the train from my hometown of Portland, Oregon to Merced, California, hop onto a handy YARTS bus which lands me at Curry Village. To get around the park, I use the valley shuttle, the hikers bus to Tuolumne or Glacier Point.

Jul 6th - 13:06pm | sacvalley51

I enjoy the shutter service. Leaving the car behind, and letting someone else drive is fine with me. At the Grand Canyon it just makes since; there would be too many cars on too few roads; and you certainly don't want to add another lane. And besides there's nothing worse than a hot and tired Dad trying to find the correct turn with a car load a kids and a "feed-up" wife!

Jul 6th - 07:50am | Anonymous

Although I personally think the shuttles are a much better alternative to severe overcrowding of roads and parking lots, they do have their drawbacks. At the Grand Canyon, my senior-citizen parents had troubling getting on the shuttles as they were often standing-room-only after the first stop - and they didn't feel they could stand for many stops.

Jul 5th - 20:15pm | Phil

Get over your silly love affair with your car people. The absolute BEST way to travel in the national parks is by utilizing their shuttle system.

Jul 5th - 17:02pm | Tim B

I just did the Zion National Park shuttle. It was very nice not having to drive. Sit back and listen to your tour guide / bus driver and learn. The waiting time between shuttles was a massive 5-7 minutes. Just enough time to take a few more pictures of this natural wonder.

Product Testing in West Yellowstone

Jul 7th - 22:21pm | Merryland

Jim (and everyone), don't some of the parks have those fat-tire wheelchairs available for people to get a little off the boardwalks every once in a while?

Jul 7th - 09:28am | jsmacdonald

That's a fantastic question. Off the top of my head, Yellowstone is a huge park, and so you'll be in your car so much of the time. In the geyser areas, there are very accessible boardwalks, which are perfect for wheelchairs, especially in the Old Faithful area.

Jul 7th - 06:43am | GIDEON1986

Anyone care to give tips on travelling to Yellowstone with a child in a wheelchair? This is our first trip there. I would greatly appreciate any tips on how to make this more enjoyable for the whole family. My son is 6. TY

Jul 5th - 13:32pm | jsmacdonald

I think the Bookworm is the world's best bookstore, and it's in West Yellowstone. Get some good ones. And, I love the Playmill.

Ferrets Return to Wind Cave

Jul 7th - 20:47pm | sacvalley51

Good news is always welcome!

Gateway NRA Officials Seem to Run Counter to Other Park Managers

Jul 7th - 07:24am | Ron Wilson

My experience is that many superintendents do not have expertise at protecting public lands or in real estate. Unfortunately, for many, skills are limited to protecting their career.

Jul 6th - 10:53am | Arthur Allen

This situation smells to high heaven. I have been following the story for several years, and at no time has the Superintendent even tried to offer an explanation for the long string of "extensions". That, in itself, should bring about a detailed investigation into the matter

Jul 6th - 08:02am | Anonymous

Don't you love the quote by the park superintendent? If they are not in real estate then what are they doing leasing out 36 buildings to a developer, especially one who hasn't even shown that he has the financial backing to do the work???

You Want How Much For That Campsite?!?

Jul 6th - 19:16pm | Merryland

Gary, and tell 'em "Anonymous" told you so... ;-) -- Jon

Jul 6th - 18:37pm | Anonymous

hi gary- aside from respectfully suggesting you might want to check your tone (see the last paragraph in your comment, re-read and please reconsider...) i would also like to suggest that you might actually want to investigate the cash (at least the national forest reservation system) extortion fees charged (minimum night stays, reservation fees, etc.) by the concessionaires and then possibly

Jul 6th - 17:05pm | Gary Robertshaw

I'm a bit astonished at some of the reactions. This being a National Parks site, I thought there would be folks here who have an appreciation that we even have such resources. Instead, I see greed and capitalism-at-all-costs professed as "how it should be". What are you guys doing here, anyway, looking for some way to profit from the national park and forest system?

Jul 6th - 13:02pm | jsmacdonald

I wasn't making an assumption; I was speaking to a hypothetical situation. But, as for yard sale items, there's nothing that says you couldn't just give them some money, share the profits of your ebay sale (though that sale in itself is rife with difficulty), or organize with them against a system that puts you at odds with them and judges success and value by a profit margin.

Jul 6th - 12:44pm | Beamis

I am curious why your first assumption is that the reservation was sold to some "rich guy"? It may very well have been sold to a group of Tibetan monks or bought by a church charity to be given to a poor family from the projects or maybe even to a downtrodden Native American from Pine Ridge, SD.

Jul 6th - 12:14pm | jsmacdonald

No, it's not the end of the story. If I might have gotten that spot for $20, but you snapped it up and sold it to some rich guy, then what am I supposed to do? I didn't ask for that reality. Now, the rich have access, and those who have a special skill for snapping up campsites have a business. And, everyone else is left out in the cold.

Jul 6th - 12:10pm | Beamis

Bottom line, if someone wants to pay for a campsite reservation that another person obtained legally, well then, that is just fine with me. Both parties are happy, end of story.

Jul 6th - 12:01pm | jsmacdonald

"You can become decidedly 'unfree' if you aren't at the top of the trading chain." I disagree. I am certainly not at the top of the trading chain, nor do I aspire to be, but the free market offers me a virtually unlimited set of options with which to innovate, collaborate and grow that have nothing to do with climbing some hierarchal ladder of domination and control.

Jul 6th - 08:54am | Beamis

"You can become decidedly 'unfree' if you aren't at the top of the trading chain." I disagree. I am certainly not at the top of the trading chain, nor do I aspire to be, but the free market offers me a virtually unlimited set of options with which to innovate, collaborate and grow that have nothing to do with climbing some hierarchal ladder of domination and control.

Jul 6th - 08:15am | jsmacdonald

Beamis, I'm a little surprised you have me pegged, after my remarks, as a "government as equalizer" sort of person, especially when I criticized government solutions, pointed you to a set of essays where I said that a government "right" to Yellowstone National Park simply does not exist, and let you in on the fact that I was "anti-authoritarian."

Jul 6th - 07:39am | Beamis

"If people think they need to bid on a public service, they are way off base. Public means open to everyone and to me, at a reasonable price". In a nation where equality is everything, and where advantage need not be earned, but only redistributed, how could anything be more virtuous?

Jul 6th - 06:00am | Anja Leiendecker

I totally agree. Non-transferrable reservations would be the way to go here. If people think they need to bid on a public service, they are way off base. Public means open to everyone and to me, at a reasonalble price. Should people want to pay a lot, put a donation to the Yellowstone organisation. Then you know it will be put to good use.

Jul 5th - 21:21pm | Merryland

It's not that difficult folks -- you ask to see some ID and ask for the reservation number before you give the guy his space. No ID match, no campsite. Even an illegal alien with no English skills can manage that process.

Jul 5th - 16:16pm | Beamis

Jim----I'd like to recommend the work of the Austrian school of economics, most especially that of Ludwig Von Mises. True freedom is derived from private property and the voluntary exchange of goods and services. The government as equalizer always ends in disaster and tyranny. Just look at history.

Jul 5th - 15:17pm | snowbird

Jim, excellent response. You have done your homework!

Jul 5th - 15:11pm | snowbird

Beamis, good points well taken! But I also think, that those that can out bid a average smuck like me, probably is one happy camper with the big bucks to spend. Now, that doesn't make me happy...does it!? I guess, as the old adage goes: "he with the most toy's wins"...sad but true. With that kind of philosophy (or adage) I don't think this makes one holistic happy society.

Jul 5th - 15:09pm | jsmacdonald

Those left outside the process are not happy. Trade does not exist in a vacuum. Let's say one guy owns the water, your neighbor owns the boats, and you own the navigator schools, and assume that all are equally valuable.

Jul 5th - 12:17pm | Beamis

$25 to enter Zion and Yosemite is larceny, especially for a taxpayer funded facility. Confiscating our wealth through a corrupt tax code to drop bombs on Baghdad is larceny. A voluntary exchange of goods and services between consenting adults is NOT larceny. It called free trade.

Jul 5th - 10:51am | Snowbird

Beamis, I know there's a little bit of larceny and greed in all of us, but were not talking about the parks being part of the stock market or the New York stock exchange. Were talking about a feasible price system within the parks that fits the needs of every visitor. The parks should never be used for some type of football scapling to the highest bidder.

Jul 5th - 09:55am | Anonymous

i agree with beamis. who in their right mind would pay that much for a campsite in a national park? let someone voluntarily do it if they want. it's not so much a widespread problem at this point, it's a blip on a highly topical blog.

Jul 5th - 09:43am | Bemis

So you don't invest? You don't own stocks? Would you be ashamed to sell your house for twice the price you paid for it? I sort of doubt it.

Jul 5th - 09:16am | Snowbird

Beamis...capitalism also breeds pathetic consumptious greed! The parks are not pawns to enhance the pockets of the greedy. We learn to share not exploit!

Mission

Jul 6th - 18:14pm | coolstud

This is my first time visiting National Parks Traveler and I must say Kurt and Jeremy I am impressed,I really like it,keep up the good work, Phil Craggs, Bradenton,Florida

Hikers in Grand Canyon Resort to PLB To Save Themselves

Jul 6th - 14:59pm | sacvalley51

I believe that as the price of these PLBs come down, they'll become standard fare in a day-pack. I'm hopeful that the NP Service will attach a Hefty fine on people who'll sound the alarm, only to get "rescued" so they don't have to climb back up the Canyon. I agree w/Phil that people have to take responsibilty, but alot of people today figure a way that Nothing is Their fault.

Jul 6th - 03:35am | jersu

Erik,

Jul 6th - 00:37am | Erik

The real problem with these devices is not that wilderness values will be lost. It's that more rangers and pilots will be lost if the unnecessary use of the these beacons proliferates.

Jul 5th - 21:36pm | Merryland

Good answer Ken, and I agree 100%. People will rely on this "Get out of Jail Free" card too much and push themselves too far. I even wonder how most people these days can function without a cell phone in their possession. We get so attached to these gadgets we forget how to strategize, plan, and think for ourselves.

Jul 5th - 14:59pm | Phil

Idiots and technology are a dangerous mix. The NPS is already understaffed with rangers, and now this "safety alarm" is going to be standard equipment for any unprepard, over-zealous wanderer who now thinks that the beacon is an entitlement to pursue goals far beyond their reach, with the alledged securing of safe rescue by the rangers at their disposal.

Jul 5th - 14:10pm | Steve Sergeant

Jeremy Sullivan wrote: "It brings up an interesting argument, one that I'd love to see continued in additional stories and comments on this site and around the web, which is, what is the role of wilderness?"

Jul 5th - 12:41pm | jersu

Steve,

Jul 5th - 12:08pm | Steve Sergeant

One thing that seems to be driving these more and more frequent call-outs of rescue services is the media romanticism of extreme sports. These media portrayals reduce the public's perception of the risk of the less extreme activities. People don't feel like they need either the training, the skills, or the all-around preparedness because they've got a way to summon a rescue.

Jul 5th - 11:37am | tom

One thing about the beacon: it seems like it would reduce the "search" element of a search & rescue considerably. Some searches take days, whereas the beacon sends a chopper directly to the point of need.

Jul 5th - 10:02am | Anonymous

charge them for the costs of rescue. no wonder they are suffering from heat exhaustion, has anyone seen the weather in that area lately? i agree with your conjecture, kurt, people are using technology to overstep the boundaries of their abilities. it's similar to folks skiing in the backcountry without much avalanche experience simply because they have a beacon and a cellphone.

Alcatraz Event on YouTube

Jul 5th - 19:31pm | jersu

Merryland,

Jul 5th - 18:56pm | Merryland

The reply came in from Director Bomar via Sue Masica... look familiar? No doubt Mary asked Sue who asked Rudy who pulled out his template response and it got forwarded down the line. How efficient of them! <><><><><> Mr. Merryman:

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