would you pay $41 to enter a National Park?

[tsetsaf]

I am calling BS on this story. Read it and the implication is that folks would be okay with an 80% increase in entrance fees if it ensured they would see a bear Article

[Greydog_1]

There is no condition where average fees will ever get lower if we all pay the same price. All that happens is that the fees will just go higher with each change of fee structures. It never goes down. Think UP! Have you found anyplace you been to before that lowered the price since your last visit?

[Jean_S]

Cramped campgrounds, dated or rundown facilities, crowded sightseeing. It's going to get worse, not better, but we're going to have to live with it or be willing to pay to make it better. There are an awful lot of us that want to be there. More and more of us have physical limitations and we are demanding that the parks accommodate them. We want to be able to see everything from a wheelchair, run an air conditioner or a CPAP, have spacious private sites, have access to shops or restaurants, and drive our rigs on roads that don't tear them apart. We want park personnel to protect us from ourselves because we have no common sense, and clean up after us, all the while letting us think that we are out experiencing nature in the raw. Gee, we want a lot. And we want it all for free.

BTW, qtla, I am not sure what you have against electric cooking gear. If I am pulling in with a big rig, I am not expecting to be put in an unspoiled wilderness area (are there even any left in this country?). I am expecting to be put in a cramped area of civilization and I am expecting the people setting the fees to be aware of what I am likely to use and to set the fees accordingly. I am not interedting in "getting my share." I am interested in taking the mess and smells of cooking outside.

[Jean_S]

Pogoil, I am with you. We'll get shot together. I see no reason why I am getting a Senior Pass while a young family with children have to pay. I am ready to pay my share so the average fee for everyone can be lower.

[PA12DRVR]

BigSkyFamily wrote:
No, I would not. I live 20 miles from Glacier National Park and I refuse to pay the $35 they want for entrance.
I live in Montana, I see wildlife in my backyard, and know many places to go play outdoors that don't cost me a dime and are every bit as nice as the park.....with thousands fewer people to trip over.

I'm sort of at this point but with a caveat. I grew up in Alaska and spend as much time there as possible (chasing filthy lucre takes me out too long). I won't spend a dime to get into McKinley park partly because I can see similar scenery in a dozen different places in Alaska and partly because (having grown up in the area), the "Glitter Gulch" area is just repulsive to me.

I would pay $41 (or more) to get into other national parks. Can't remember what I paid to get into Grand Canyon Natl Park 3 years ago in October, but it was worth every penny since I'd never seen it before. Same thing for the Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, and, yes, Glacier......but I wouldn't pay to get into a National Park that was next to equally scenic state or undesignated land that I otherwise had access to.

[BigSkyFamily]

No, I would not. I live 20 miles from Glacier National Park and I refuse to pay the $35 they want for entrance.
I live in Montana, I see wildlife in my backyard, and know many places to go play outdoors that don't cost me a dime and are every bit as nice as the park.....with thousands fewer people to trip over.

[noe-place]

monkey44 wrote:

noe-place wrote:
Makes my free national parks pass look even better.

Just hope you get to keep it, and it actually works in the future.

I just used it last week at Fort McHenry in Maryland.

[time2roll]

pnichols wrote:

qtla9111 wrote:
I don't think the current system is what Mother Nature intended. BTW, we didn't use a generator, only solar. Everyone is pushing solar, why aren't more rvers who are interested in nature turning to solar?

We're nature oriented motorhome owners ... the DW even was a Natural Science major for her degree. We're also rockhounds and boondock camp a lot, so our RV generators are not an issue for non-existent neighboring campers.

National Park? or National Forest?

I keep thinking we are talking about National Parks where fairly close quartered campgrounds are the norm.

If you are out boondocked... let it rip 😉

[qtla9111]

I didn't say people shouldn't use generators. On this trip this summer we traveled four months through Canada and the U.S. We purposely didn't bring our generator with us to see how well we could live with solar only. It worked.

That said, I wouldn't be caught in the desert boondocking without a generator in the summer. Nothing wrong with using it when needed. National parks, I'm not so sure. You can't make rules to cover everyone's likes, if you did, there wouldn't be any rules and no conservation.

Maybe it should be backpacking ang tenting only and then I would be left out too. But if that's what it takes to make sure future generations can enjoy it, I'm all for it. I can learn to tent just as well. I have to look at it from the standpoint of what is best for the future, it's not about us in the moment.

Again, there are those who feel it is here for us to "use up", or I pay my taxes.

[pnichols]

qtla9111 wrote:
I don't think the current system is what Mother Nature intended. BTW, we didn't use a generator, only solar. Everyone is pushing solar, why aren't more rvers who are interested in nature turning to solar?

We're nature oriented motorhome owners ... the DW even was a Natural Science major for her degree. We're also rockhounds and boondock camp a lot, so our RV generators are not an issue for non-existent neighboring campers.

So far we don't have solar in our RV for at least six reasons:

1) We don't want any more holes in our roof than are there already.

2) We can't afford the foldup-and-store-in-a-drawer portable solar panels we would prefer (over $600 each).

3) The sun is not always available when we want it.

4) We years ago had given to us for battery charging one of the world's quietest small generators that is a relatively rare one that hasn't been available for purchase for years.

5) We're short-stay campers so our RV's battery bank gets fully charged by the alternator between campsites.

6) We need air conditioning to be comfortable in the desert, so we must have a larger generator along anyway.

[qtla9111]

We stayed three nights on forest service land right outside the gates of the Grand Canyon (boondocking, no charge). After all, it is government land, you know, owned by the people. We payed $25 for the week to enter the park but we were happy to see and hike the canyon including the fantastic sunsets.

That said, driving around the park was a zoo. It was all about selfies, jumping on and off tour buses, and eating in restaurants with miles of pavement and concrete everywher. To top that off, we toured a couple of the campgrounds. Ridiculous. Looked like a prison camp not to mention when we checked out the laundry and showers it reminded me of the camps in Grapes of Wrath. Everything was clean and neat no doubt but that wasn't it.

I think the parks should all be primitive, in other words, no electic hookups. Or, do like Flying J does with their dump stations. You pay, receive a code, enter it and it opens the drain. No pay no dump. The electric could be hooked up the same. If people have to pay for what they use they would think twice.

This has been hashed a dozen times. When you charge a flat rate for hookups, people will abuse it to "make sure I get my share" even to the point where people use hot plates, electric skillets, and more.

I don't think the current system is what Mother Nature intended. BTW, we didn't use a generator, only solar. Everyone is pushing solar, why aren't more rvers who are interested in nature turning to solar?

[colliehauler]

bukhrn wrote:
"would you pay $41 to enter a National Park? "
$40. just to enter, NO !

Would that be like $4 dollars in the 60's?

[bukhrn]

"would you pay $41 to enter a National Park? "
$40. just to enter, NO !

[wintersun]

At the present time there are private tours that have a guide/driver and that increase the odds of their customers seeing wildlife. If someone is inept or lazy or short on time they can join one of these tours in the park. During the winter months this is often the only option for getting to parts of the park where the roads are not plowed.

No reason to charge everyone to have more rangers to show more people the bears. Actually this would be a negative action on the part of the park service as more encounters would harass the bears and could provoke more attacks, either way not a desirable outcome.

Reminds me of when Nixon proposed building monorails through the parks to make it easier for people to see the sights without having to go through the major inconvenience of having to walk hundreds of feet.

[pnichols]

Us much as we can achieve it, there are no other campers anywhere near where we camp.

Our air conditioning and charging generators are gas, clean burning, and quiet to very quiet in sound level to both us and others - helped by use of synthetic oil and these spark plugs:

http://www.e3sparkplugs.com/

As always there's a right way and wrong way to do, or use, most everything.

[time2roll]

pnichols wrote:

pasusan wrote:
Argh... How can you say generator noise and camping out in nature in the same sentence?

Hmmm .... have you ever traveled with a small but fully equipped RV 25 miles each way on extreme washboarded roads into the pristine, serene, and otherwise spectacular Oregon Outback to explore, rockhound, and camp under brilliantly beautiful but sometimes high daytime temperature skies - without RV air conditioning so as to be able to nicely rest and sort through what you found?

Try it ... then you might learn how generators and a true nature experience can, and must, indeed go hand in hand at times. Whether we did this very much or not I wouldn't own an RV at what one pays for them that couldn't do it, just in case our tastes changed.

More like the first part and then the diesel generator just up wind on the gentle breeze fires up and you are gagging on the fumes to the point you just need to get out of the RV and head out on another place to rest. BTDT.