Upsetting article in Time magazine

[gnlandrus]

Such a sad commentary about careless, spoiled brats ruining our beautiful parks !!!!
Makes me FURIOUS!!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/time.co.../%3Famp%3Dtrue

[SeeTheUSA]

Originally Posted by gnlandrus

Such a sad commentary about careless, spoiled brats ruining our beautiful parks !!!!
... snipped ...

And so much more!

[WorldCat25]

We were at Great Smokey NP last week. Park was very crowded but, fortunately, we didn't see trash or graffiti. Trail heads had many cars parked, even along the side of the road. We did not hike the trails because of the crowds so perhaps there could be trash on the trails.

Cades Cove loop was a traffic jam and Clingman's Dome was packed. Did see a cute bear cub and lots of turkeys.



Visitor Centers had limits on entering, masks required and hand sanitizer readily available. Everyone seemed to be obeying the rules. Grandkids got their Jr. Ranger certificates.



We stayed at a private campground outside the park so don't know how the park campgrounds were.

We had a great week and appreciate the staff of the National Park Serivce and the local campground.

[profdan]

That's a good article, but there is a difference between the behavior of folks at "suburban" state parks and folks at national parks. We were in Yosemite's high country recently -- not a speck of litter to be seen. Everyone was very respectful and careful.

By contrast, the local state and county parks in Southern Calif are over-run with people desperate to escape the city, if only for a day. So all of the ills of the cities come right to the local canyons and mountains.

This is sad, but it is not just a function of the covid era. It has been going on for years. If you want unspoiled countryside and you live in Southern Calif, you have to be willing to drive for several hours to get away from urban life.

If it sounds like Southern Calif is horrible, it is not. The weather is amazing, and the beach is a few minutes away. You can share it with 20 million other folks who live here, too! (Literally. 20 million.) It's home!

[gnlandrus]

Sadly, We had to cancel our reservations at Yellowstone Grizzly RV for late August. The lady I spoke to said it was crazy there and it was a whole different kind of crowd. She said it like she was totally frustrated !

Would like to hear from folks who have stayed there this summer to hear what their stay was like.

We were there last August and it was fantastic!!

[twogypsies]

There have been instances in just about every national park. Here is a current one in Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. A year or two ago there was a well known CEO in his 40's there with his family and they were defacing Joshua Tree. Luckily, they caught him and his face was plastered over the news and he was fined. Many, they do not catch.

Rocky Mountain has had it's share... we volunteered there so saw it.

People fail to have respect for property anymore. It's sad.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.or...-national-park

[tacksondeck]

We have been in several national parks in the past few weeks. The campgrounds have been filled to the brink. First come first served are filling by 10 AM even ones that rarely fill up.

There are quite a few people on the trails, etc., but it hasn't been terrible. We saw Old Faithful and that Geyser Basin around 9-10 AM and it wasn't overcrowded. But, we came from the south entrance which is a long drive, but very little traffic. Leaving Yellowstone, we went through the West Yellowstone entrance and I vowed never to stay there. A couple of miles from the entrance there was an over 1 mile long line of cars because there was 1 bison walking in the woods near the road. People must have thought it was their only chance to see a bison in Yellowstone. At the west entrance, the line to get in was just as crazy. It was probably about 10-11 AM when we were leaving past that entrance. Within the park, there were plenty of places to be that didn't feel overcrowded.

A ranger told us that the parks only hired half of the seasonal rangers because they didn't expect many people to be in the parks and instead there is WAY more than usual. So, there isn't the presence or enforcement that there usually would be. We saw many campers overnighting in turnouts within the parks, etc.

That said, the #1 problem in the parks that we have been to is that there are masks littered throughout everywhere. Want a picture of Grand Prismatic Spring? You will have to crop out the masks that are on the edges of it. There are masks on trails several miles from the trailhead. We carry a trash bag and try to clean out as much trash as possible, but the mask litter is way more than water bottles, food wrappers, etc.

[vermilye]

Originally Posted by profdan

That's a good article, but there is a difference between the behavior of folks at "suburban" state parks and folks at national parks. We were in Yosemite's high country recently -- not a speck of litter to be seen. Everyone was very respectful and careful.

By contrast, the local state and county parks in Southern Calif are over-run with people desperate to escape the city, if only for a day. So all of the ills of the cities come right to the local canyons and mountains.

This is sad, but it is not just a function of the covid era. It has been going on for years. If you want unspoiled countryside and you live in Southern Calif, you have to be willing to drive for several hours to get away from urban life.

If it sounds like Southern Calif is horrible, it is not. The weather is amazing, and the beach is a few minutes away. You can share it with 20 million other folks who live here, too! (Literally. 20 million.) It's home!

I have to agree.

While the local parks may be getting overrun due to Covid 19, increased usage, even pre Covid, has had its effect on the National Parks everywhere.

For one example, my all time favorite photos & one of my most memorable locations has been the unofficial hike to False Kiva at Canyonlands. A couple of years ago the trail & site was closed due to visitors vandalizing the site.