National Park Fees Increase

Dave said:
Yeah, having seen the traffic jam that is Yosemite Valley I think this could have merit. The environment and the wildlife can only sustain so much 4 wheeled and bipedal activity. That whole are gets covered like bees on honey. It's as bad or worse than Disneyland on peak days.

That said, I DESPISE the entity known as "reserve America" and anything like it. I'm a spontaneous traveler and really detest needing planning and reservations for a weekend getaway to the woods.
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That's why for our "big" trips we make reservations at the first available reservable date for the camp. It's a pain in the ass, but it does take some of the stress about finding and securing camp for the night after driving for multiple days to get there. We've done some dispersed camping, but right now we still prefer to hit national and state parks, it's easy with the kids and we know that certain things will be in place to in terms of infrastructure to help us have a pleasant camp with our little ones (Ages 7 and 6).
 
TangoBlue said:
Discourages overcrowding? Have you looked to your right when traveling on the HOT lanes?

Only the fabulously wealthy (or government IM/IT contractors :D) can afford the HOT lanes during peak travel... like $20 to go a couple miles to avoid the parking lot on the other side of the lane divide.
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This is me when I do look right and realize It's $20 to take the HOT lanes to avoid the mess when heading to Fredericksburg.
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And this is me when I'm doing 70mph past 30 miles of stopped traffic.
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An unpopular opinion I’m sure but feel that foreigners that come to our parks should pay a premium. This fall at Yellowstone was a nightmare with all the Asian visitors. When there it seemed 3/4s of the visitors were foreign, none could drive and made the visit quite unpleasant. Was happy to leave. Not what I expected.
 
The Raven said:
An unpopular opinion I’m sure but feel that foreigners that come to our parks should pay a premium. This fall at Yellowstone was a nightmare with all the Asian visitors. When there it seemed 3/4s of the visitors were foreign, none could drive and made the visit quite unpleasant. Was happy to leave. Not what I expected.
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Well I doubt you'll get much resistance on that proposal here. While I dislike paying to enter or use public lands, there are financial impacts that come with use and it has to be paid for somehow so rather than it just suffering from neglect I'd rather it was well funded (since dot gov can't get it right, but it should also be protected from diversion to other govt pots of money or uses). I am 100% in favor of some sort of tiered system for fees. Something like this (some of this already exists):

Senior Citizens, Children and Veterans/Active Duty/LEO/Fire/EMS = Free.
US citizens = fixed rate of some sort with priority reservations OVER foreign visitors.
Foreign nationals = a higher fixed rate and lower priority for reservations.
Felon or Dishonorable Discharge? No entry.

Yeah, I'm a hardass ;)

But I certainly wouldn't visit say, Australia or Japan and expect the same rates and rights as their tax paying citizenry. I'm good with gaijing pricing.
 
Dave said:
Senior Citizens, Children and Veterans/Active Duty/LEO/Fire/EMS = Free.
US citizens = fixed rate of some sort with priority reservations OVER foreign visitors.
Foreign nationals = a higher fixed rate and lower priority for reservations.
Felon or Dishonorable Discharge? No entry.
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I agree, but add handicapped to the free pile. I have an access pass for PTSD due to past employment.
On the felon/DD...people can be rehabbed. Even a person with a terrible past can find redemption in the wilderness, they too can pick up trash or find direction in the most likely places.

I’m an optimist occasioally...it’s rare though ;)
 
The Raven said:
I agree, but add handicapped to the free pile. I have an access pass for PTSD due to past employment.
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That's a tough one for me - I see LEGIONS of people abusing the "handicapped" thing as well as milking the ADA. You can't swing a dead cat in some places without running into a scammer with a "service dog". Not politically correct at all to question it either. Best saved for another thread though.

(I work in military/VA healthcare - trust me when I tell you that handicap placards and service dogs are sometimes fraudulent)
 
Kevin LaCroix said:
Probably would have been better than some of the crap I ate on board ship.
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Pretty slim pickins until the UNREP... I remember a diet of rice, chili, and hotdogs until that replenishment ship came alongside and that Frog started to shuttle supplies over...

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Crap... here we go again. Old guys reminiscence takes over a thread on National Park Fees. Apologize for hijack... :D
 
WUZombies said:
Yes, but after being nearly knocked off a boardwalk into a thermal feature in Yellowstone by one of the tourists who had just waddled out of one of the five full sized tour buses, I'm not completely opposed to an entry fee increase. We've hit quite a few national parks as a family over the past few years and we really don't like the crowds, but still want to see some of the iconic things and places (just like everyone in the crowd does).

Basically I don't have a good solution, except that now that the kids are getting older we are using more back country camp sites to get away from the crowds (and see some cool stuff).
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Dave said:
I'm 100% against the "Disneyfication" of our parks. Improvements have been made to move masses of lazy ass people (yup, I said it) up mountains and to special remote places that would have never seen busloads of littering assholes.

Imagine the serenity in Yosemite Valley if the only way in was a set of boots and a backpack...

Hayduke lives.
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The number of visitors is never going to go down. I can think of 2 national parks I've done where buses would be preferable.

I just visited Harper's Ferry, WV, a historical little town made famous during the run up to the civil war. I was there when the leaves where changing. There was a crazy amount of people. We parked a few miles away at the visitors center and rode a shuttle into town. The town could never support individual cars and SUVs. We spent some time exploring then grabbed a shuttle back to the visitors center.

I felt the same way when I visited Yellowstone. We had a rental SUV and drove to every attraction. Most had parking lots. It was kind of ridiculous. Old Faithful was the most ridiculous. With the pressure that Yellowstone sees, I'd be in favor of banning Cars/suvs. Just a continuous shuttle. Wear a backpack and do it all by foot/bus. The iconic places are just different. I'd like to see shuttles and rest rooms only. No food stands, gift shops, parking lots, etc. There are still plenty of places to be off the grid with my expo rig.
 
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Al Swope said:
The number of visitors is never going to go down. I can think of 2 national parks I've done where buses would be preferable.

I just visited Harper's Ferry, WV, a historical little town made famous during the run up to the civil war. I was there when the leaves where changing. There was a crazy amount of people. We parked a few miles away at the visitors center and rode a shuttle into town. The town could never support individual cars and SUVs. We spent some time exploring then grabbed a shuttle back to the visitors center.

I felt the same way when I visited Yellowstone. We had a rental SUV and drove to every attraction. Most had parking lots. It was kind of ridiculous. Old Faithful was the most ridiculous. With the pressure that Yellowstone sees, I'd be in favor of banning Cars/suvs. Just a continuous shuttle. Wear a backpack and do it all by foot/bus. The iconic places are just different. I'd like to see shuttles and rest rooms only. No food stands, gift shops, parking lots, etc. There are still plenty of places to be off the grid with my expo rig.
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I tend to get a sticker from the parks I visit. Yellowstone was almost the exception due to the crowds. That was until I saw old faithful erupt twice. I have the old faithful sticker. :)
 
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