Pulled over

[eyesup]

Though neither words nor photos can capture the totality of being there.

Hence my use of the phrase “may have”. I’ve have seen things here in the west and taken photos only to be disappointed. Your peripheral vision sees things that don’t make it into the photo. The pictures are fine, they just don’t capture the images that are in your head. But they are good enough that they may motivate others to get up and go see.

Duane

[eyesup]

John, that’s the 1st time I’ve ever heard of Bear Trap Canyon.
I looked it up and I gotta do that one.
Thanks for the information.

Duane

[freewalkerma]

Jbee, I have had the same reaction while in Zion. It is an example of how a national park can get loved to death. It’s the problem of having to advertise the parks so people come in order to justify the federal budget expenses, yet the result is a park that is so busy it takes away from the natural experience you hope for. I understand that and know it is the way it will be for a long time.


Duane

The upside of this Duane is that these promotional policies tend to funnel people predictably into a relatively small number well known areas, thus leaving an awful lot of federal and locally overseen swaths of conservation land under various modes of management that are virtually free of visitors for much of the year.     Just what most of us are looking for.    Sure some of the most beautiful and spectacular places like Zion,.....Acadia in my neck of the woods, may be considered lost to our way of thinking, but they might well have been totally lost to all of us before our time, were it not for these same promotional policies that encourage very large numbers of people to see and appreciate in some sense what is at stake.    My fear for the "forgotten" places is over the increasing pressure and willingness within the current political climate to open up or even totally give back some of these priceless spaces for exclusive coorporate, even private exploitation for profit.     There will never be a perfect-for-all solution in public policy, but we all must be on guard and do our best to identify and support our favorite advocacy groups in their efforts to curb and blunt the effect of these pressures and to maintain a respectful dialogue with our elected representatives about these issues. 

-Dan
       

[jbeegoode]

Jbee, I have had the same reaction while in Zion. It is an example of how a national park can get loved to death. It’s the problem of having to advertise the parks so people come in order to justify the federal budget expenses, yet the result is a park that is so busy it takes away from the natural experience you hope for. I understand that and know it is the way it will be for a long time.


Duane

    There will never be a perfect-for-all solution in public policy, but we all must be on guard and do our best to identify and support our favorite advocacy groups in their efforts to curb and blunt the effect of these pressures and to maintain a respectful dialogue with our elected representatives about these issues. 

-Dan
       

A "respectful dialog with...." Man that has become such a tall order anymore, IF you can get any dialog with them. I've just been on a tally list and generic letter dialog as of late. They may listen to groups but...political!

You are however correct in that upside, it does help awareness. I'd forgotten that. People are coming from all over the world and they may take an attitude back to protect their own national treasures, or should I say world treasures for humanity.

[eyesup]

Good points, Dan. I absolutely agree!

We were on a BSA campout once at a national park and one of the more active dads was complaining about the latest increase in park entry fees. I told him about an article I recently read about how little in the way of finances, the park service had to do just simple upkeep. How some rangers were living in quarters that had not been under steady maintenance or repair for years and that some of the cabins were from the 30’s and 40’s. How congress continued to cut the park’s budgets while funding pork-barrel programs.

I said I didn’t mind paying fees to a program that I loved and supported. I made sure to not criticize and tried to make it sound like something I was happy to do for all those rangers that stick around. He looked a little sheepish and has never again complained. He hikes even more than I do.

It’s a treasure most folks don’t even think about.

Duane

[jbeegoode]

Taxes used to pay the fees. Now, there is a transition to private entities operating for profit. The rangers will lose their good pay and security. We will loose their passion and love and sense of servitude...and pay admission to our own common property. The places will be less about conservation and be cherry picked for care even more than now. There needs to be money for everything, like trail maintenance, not just piles of tourists. There is no longer a sustainable trail maintenance budget in Arizona.

I have not had problems with a reasonable fee. Heck, now we get the senior thing at Fed places. But people with families are hit hard for one of the most affordable vacations. The State of Arizona is charging $7 per car for a day trip into the desert. That is tough on a poor family. All Catalina Park does is get in the way of the real hiking trail and pay someone to take money. I'm old school, no fees, except for facilities that are fancy digs and cheap at that.
Jbee

[freewalkerma]

Sorry I couldn't successfully un-nest your nested quotes JBee.

Quoting you:   
A "respectful dialog with...." Man that has become such a tall order anymore, IF you can get any dialog with them. I've just been on a tally list and generic letter dialog as of late. They may listen to groups but...political!
Unquote

It certainly is a tall order Jbee.     That is one unfortunate present reality that can not be disputed.     However in the broad shadow of obstructionism that has been honed to a fine art by one certain political party this past eight years and is rapidly being adopted by the other in turn, I was merely trying to sound a bit less polarizing in my approach to suggesting a way forward......trying to hang on to the last shreds of an optimism that I try to embrace as I go about my life.    Our legislative bodies are certainly not going to accomplish much alone in their present state, nor is much change going to be accomplished by external pressure from advocacy groups alone, but if I were to interpret our 200 some years of history as a nation with ration of optimism, I might observe that our young nation has been in similar if not the same sorry state many times through the past, yet good has come of it despite imperfection.

-Dan