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?
Comments
stop the bus full of people, or give them one day during the week. Was hard even finding parking places, Parks are overrun, guess we need more parks!
Ok, apparently common sense is not common.
Tour Buses are not the enemy, they are the savior.
The Grand Canyon National Park at one time had a great idea and almost pulled the trigger on a light rail system that would have kept cars out of the park and shuttled people into the ark from outside lots.
Tour Buses bring people in on a set time frame and limit. They ease overcrowding because they have more people, fewer cars, are in and out in a few hours. Cars park wherever they want, sit there for hours and leave trash all over.
For such a liberal website, I find it amazing how much you are against mass transit when it affects your personal choices and places!!
Mr Baehr -
Despite Trump's lead and inclinations, a racist approach should not be the 'American Way" approach.
That's not really something that would solve overcrowding. There are plenty of national parks, but the ones that are popular are overrun. They ones that aren't as popular are easier to get around. You can't simply get people to want to visit Great Basin when they want to visit Yellowstone. You simply can't make another Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Grand Canyon.
The one thing I would note is that visitng during the week is often less stressful, unless it's the summer months at a popular place like Yosemite.
I was in Banff and Jasper in August. Thank goodness the Canadian Mounties didn't arrive to run me off!
Visited 5 in June : Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison,, Canyonlands and Arches. First three no issues, Canyonlands was a bit crowded but definitely manageable Arches was extremely crowded and it lessened the experience we had to skip some sights due to lack of parking.
Fwiw also wemt to Monument Valley and that was crowded but manageable
Yellowstone NP: Arrived late September without a RV site reservation. Campgrounds all full for RVs. Could not get a NPS spot for more than one night until mid-October. We spent one afternoon in the park and moved on to USFS/BLM land outside the park. Would have loved spend more time inside the park.
Crowds were bigger than we recall seeing that time of year. Roads busy, only saw one bison. We won't be back anytime soon.
Lake Mead NRA: Arrived late October. Las Vegas Bay CG in good condition, moved on to dry camping at Government Point. Many more RVers there than usual, more garbage on the ground too, MANY more van/car campers. Had to report a van camper who was leaving human waste open on the ground where he camped across the road from us.
Only saw NPS rangers 2x in 2 weeks. Nobody was checking for park passes.
Amazing all of the " other people" made the parks crowded