National Park Rant

I've been to most of the major National Parks at least once - Yosemite, Grand Canyon etc.

I follow most of their pages on various social media sites, and as anyone here who does the same knows, they are being ruined by various means - overcrowding, vandalism, littering, mass groups going off the trails etc.

All of the problems have one very obvious source - too many people making too many loaves.

Yet..every time you read the comments when a cactus is spray painted or an arch is carved into or certain trails require permits due to overcrowding, no one ever,states the obvious. Instead, you literally read, crap like "I can't believe my four kids won't get to see it as I did 30 years ago" or "I saddens me my three sons won't experience the solitude my wife and I used to" or "can't figure out why anyone would want to ruin this place for my six kids".

When the jerk from Idaho posed for photos with his 3 sons and his wife in front of the heart he carved into Utah's Corona Arch last Spring, he had his kids swap license plates before leaving, hoping that would help them get away with it, and only apologized later because he was caught.

Parks are definitely one more thing to add to the list of great things breeders ruin.

I no longer want to visit the National Parks unless it is a random day in the middle of the school year and even then I'd guess it will be overcrowded. The unknown parks are much better for solitude and lack of online videos with breeders chasing bear cubs, picking up wildlife babies of any kind or other such nonsense.

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freya
I no longer want to visit the National Parks unless it is a random day in the middle of the school year and even then I'd guess it will be overcrowded. The unknown parks are much better for solitude and lack of online videos with breeders chasing bear cubs, picking up wildlife babies of any kind or other such nonsense.

This is good advice ^^^

I went by some national monuments this year and found the lack of breeders and accompanying solitude more than made up for the small step down in visual beauty.

Besides, I'm the type of person that prefers a specific type of terrain / part of the country to all the others so much, I'd rather hike a C state park with that type of specific terrain, than an A National Park in different type.

I've found tons of little parks (mostly off the map or relatively unknown) and they are nice because no tourists. Some of my favorite are the types only accessible by Jeeps and off-road vehicles.

I've heard Stonehenge isn't the place to visit. The best places are the neighboring lands because they have the same formations but aren't on lock-down due to bad tourism. And apparently everyone flocks to Stonehenge so the others are basically deserted.

Found a hidden little gem in Italy (Beni Culturali) built in Third Century BC, now a tiny archaeological dig that I had to myself (besides the two people running it). Roamed it for hours and learned so much about the way the way of life. Came back the next day to do it again.

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freya
I've found tons of little parks (mostly off the map or relatively unknown) and they are nice because no tourists. Some of my favorite are the types only accessible by Jeeps and off-road vehicles.

Found a hidden little gem in Italy (Beni Culturali) built in Third Century BC, now a tiny archaeological dig that I had to myself (besides the two people running it). Roamed it for hours and learned so much about the way the way of life. Came back the next day to do it again.

The next time we go to the southwest we're definitely renting a 4WD vehicle. Last year we had to either drive at a crawl or completely avoid certain parts of certain parks due to not having the right wheels. Gulches and washes mainly,.

We're not into Stonehenge type stuff, we like areas completely devoid of manmade anything, that are preferably warm. I like the southwest the best, my GF likes California and the Pacific NW, so we have to trade off.

She's all about going to Italy and Greece and such, I think I'd rather do Spain or New Zealand or someplace warmer if we go someplace international, with less people.

Assholes in delicate nature areas make me ragey.

My solution (aside from reporting people, getting plate numbers, etc when I can) is to go to more offbeat areas as has been suggested upthread. North Cascades Natl Park is glorious, and it gets very little attention. The other way to deal with the assholes is to be willing to hike in much farther and carry your own supplies. A lot of the idiots don't venture far from their cars. Go to an offbeat area on a Tuesday and hike in about five miles, and I guarantee the crowds will vanish....and with them, the selfish a-holes.

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randomcfchick


My solution (aside from reporting people, getting plate numbers, etc when I can) is to go to more offbeat areas as has been suggested upthread.

Absolutely.

And I ALWAYS grin ear-to-ear at the frustrated Duhs waiting on their Moos to retie Dumping #2''s shoe for the 5th time as I skip past them a half mile in. Like - is that really experiencing the great outdoor? Waiting on a little stupid person all day so you can take a few paces?

I'd love to get up to North Cascades, it's pretty far from where I'm at in the country. I have no doubt it's a lot more childfree than the Colorado ones are nowadays, I saw a 30 year old moo and her 15 year old son stealing rocks from a trail at the Great Sand Dunes a few years ago, which, due mostly to it's name, has become the Romper Room of the Co. parks.