| Page 1564 | National Parks Traveler

Old growth giant sequoias receive most moisture through snow melt. If the snow pack in the Sierra Nevadas continues to decrease as scientists predict, old growth sequoias may cease to exist. Their species will continue around the world, but humans in the coming centuries, may not be able to visit 3000-year-old trees.

Jul 11th - 08:56am | snowbird

From are abuses to the earth's environment...it's payback time...nature bats last!

Glacier's Shuttle System Rolling Along the Sun Road

Jul 14th - 00:55am | Becky

I don't want to ride a shuttle with nasty smelly hippies.

West Yellowstone: A Gateway Town Worth Hanging Around

Jul 13th - 20:08pm | repanshek

Don't forget Moab (aside from the semi traffic down main street). And I must admit I have somewhat fond memories of Cooke(d) City from 1988 when I was there covering the fires.

Jul 13th - 19:45pm | Beamis

Yes I agree with ya Kurt it is a great gateway town. I was there in May and it had not changed too terribly much since I had last visited way back in 1981. I worked a summer in Yellowstone, at the Lake, and my friends and I always headed for Montana on our off time to re-supply or make merry.

Jul 13th - 18:14pm | Merryland

Aww, man, now I'm hungry. My son and I are in the neighborhood in late August -- now I need to make a stop for BBQ... I'm sure it's better than park concessionaire fare any day... -- Jon Merryman

Private Party At Charlestown Navy Yard Doesn't Lack Alcohol

Jul 13th - 16:19pm | snowbird

Yeah! one point for Snowbird!!

Jul 13th - 15:55pm | jersu

Anonymous,

Jul 13th - 15:21pm | Anonymous

Why isn't this comment edited? I find this highly offensive.

Jul 13th - 15:17pm | Anonymous

Seeing how this current administration has used the Department of Interior and particular, the National Park Service, for a test case of outsourcing jobs and slashing the budget to the point where the departments can barely operate, how else are you supposed to fix parking lots, leaking roofs, and broken computer equipment than to do a little creative fundraising?

Jul 13th - 14:56pm | repanshek

Is that what the Park Service has come down to? Managing properties to rent out for parties and weddings? What's next, renting out the boardwalk around Old Faithful for a private party or the ground beneath Yosemite Falls for a wedding? Should the Tetons or Arches National Park be used for the climbing competition in the next Extreme Games?

Jul 13th - 14:51pm | jersu

Anonymous, I've deleted one of your comments and edited another. This is a forum for open debate, not name calling or unnecessary profanity. Your thoughts are welcome, but the personal attacks are not.

Jul 13th - 14:40pm | Anonymous

Why is it a big deal that the park service rented out their space for a party that (gasp!) served (legal) alcohol? [edit] Honestly. Are you upset that you didn't get an invitation? I've been to a wedding reception that was held there. Were they supposed to let park visitor's into my friends' reception? Give me a break.

Jul 13th - 14:02pm | jersu

About a year and a half ago, I went to a private party at the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston, and even consumed alcohol! I think the circumstances of my event were quite different than the party described here. I was an attendee at the American Association of Museum's annual conference.

Jul 12th - 14:28pm | Anonymous

You know all the people involved? Are they anonymous too?

Jul 12th - 12:57pm | Anonymous

Actually Snowbird I know all the people involved and they are 100% Kennedy liberals, only this time no one died.

Jul 12th - 10:44am | Snowbird

"more like a business" Eh! The Dick Cheney way...right Mary!!

Park Shuttles, More Than Just A Bus?

Jul 13th - 13:23pm | pkrnger

One of the reasons why the Shuttle works in Zion is the presence of convenient nearby public parking in Springdale, UT, at the mouth of Zion Canyon.

Jul 12th - 21:44pm | Rick Smith

I was recently in Zion. I believe that the shuttle bus system has generated the most remarkable change in a park experience that I have ever seen. Remember the bad old days? Cars bumper to bumper in Zion Canyon--thousands of them--all looking for one of the very few parking places. The Canyon was choked with vehicle emissions. The roads were unsafe for pedestrians and people on bikes.

Jul 11th - 19:25pm | RangerX

The reason I accepted a seasonal position at Zion in 2000 was because it was the park's first year with a shuttle system. The shuttles made life in the canyon much simpler and much safer. Every high-volume park with roads should implement a mandatory shuttle system.

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.

Olympic Backcountry Still Buried in Snow

Jul 11th - 20:33pm | Dave O

My wife, her daughter and I went out the middle of June to backpack from Olympic Hot Springs to the Hoh Rain Forest via Appleton Pass and the High Divide. Or so we thought! We ended up just doing 4 days in the Quinault River Valley. The snow up on the peaks was plainly visible. And the streams were really flowing. Another time I guess.

National Geographic Rates the Best Parks

Jul 11th - 19:12pm | RangerX

I'm with Kurt. One of my least favorite questions (aside from "Is it worth seeing?") at the VC was: "What's the best hike here?" "Best" is subjective and requires a value judgment. Guess it's human nature to rank stuff.

Jul 11th - 14:57pm | repanshek

Over the years I've developed a distaste for these sort of stories, particularly since the magazines try to do them year after year and so are forced to come at them from different angles and so you begin to wonder how valid they are.

Jul 10th - 21:33pm | Merryland

I have to agree with Teddy Roosevelt NP in North Dakota. Found some cougar footprints at the North unit, and while riding my mountain bike quietly around the South Unit scenic loop road, I surprised tons of large mammals as I rounded every corner - bison, pronghorn, mule and white-tail deer, an elk too. After all those ungulates I expected a moose was gonna be next!

Wall Street Trail in Bryce Canyon

Jul 10th - 13:24pm | jr_ranger

Amazing photo!! I'm at an international conference at Wake Forest with other youth from around Europe/Eurasia and they are like "This is America?! It so so beautiful" Mr. Dunway did a great job with this one!

Considering a Hike up Half Dome?

Jul 10th - 10:49am | Richard

The Park service does not need to put the cable up in a wilderness. Since they have, it encourages the action of climbing half dome. Since they encourage it, they should require harnesses and clippin onto the cable. Anything less is criminal.

Jul 9th - 11:37am | pkrnger

I've climbed Half Dome 3 times, once as a 17 year-old in 1962, once again in 1970 when I worked and lived in Yosemite Valley as a park ranger-naturalist, and finally in 1993 when I took my son up the cables. In 1993, my son just happened to be the same age I was when I first hiked the cables to the top. That ascent was notably much more difficult than was the previous two.

Jul 8th - 23:06pm | Glenn Scofield ...

I think Half Dome has become too "easy" to get to and it's partially the fault of the Park Service and the concession. There are whole sections in the gift shops devoted to "I made it to the top" shirts, hats, belt buckles, mugs, shot glasses, etc.

Jul 8th - 11:39am | snowbird

Common horse sense...PLEASE! This hike to the Dome requires some basic common sense, and with reasonable decent wilderness skills, and careful preparations. For gods sakes people...THINK! Rachel Carson was right!!!

Jul 8th - 11:27am | Constance

I think NPS should issue back country permits with only a limited number of people obtaining them per day. This way people could actually enjoy the peace and solitude of the climb. It would also lead to being more prepared as you would actually have to do something ahead of time in order to climb. And I know this is not popular but a nominal fee for the permit should be charged.

Jul 8th - 11:25am | Art Allen

Jeremy: The climb is dangerous... 3 deaths in one year. HalfDome is a magnet and the Park continues the more than 50 year tradition to make the trek "more available" with the cables. The ascent should be like many other climbs: only available to those with the skills and proper equipment. Encouraging the average person to attempt a difficult climb is willful negligence.

Jul 8th - 10:43am | John

I think the article talks more about stupidity than a real danger on Half Dome. Don't people prepare before they go out to a national park? My guidebook says in big letters that the hike up Half Dome 1. is VERY STRENUOUS, 2. is 17 miles round trip (compared with a mile or 2 for Mirror Lake, Lower Yosemite Falls, or even Vernal Falls, 3.

Jul 8th - 09:00am | Beamis

"Does the Park Service have an obligation to facilitate people's sense of a thrill or rush? " Good question. What exactly is their role when it comes to facilitating anything?

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.

Is the Everglades Out of Danger?

Jul 8th - 17:05pm | coolstud

I have lived in Fl. most of my life and I am blessed to have seen Fl. as Fl. was once. Simply "beautiful".

Product Testing in West Yellowstone

Jul 8th - 10:19am | Bob M

Are you product testing Mosquito Repellent? The skeeters at Shoshone Lake miss you and would like more fresh blood.

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

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.

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?

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.

Support Journalism about National Parks!

National Parks Traveler is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Donate Now!

The Essential RVing Guide

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.

National Parks Traveler

Search