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  1. #1
    Seasoned Camper Likes to tow's Avatar
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    Significant change coming to the RV lifestyle!!

    Now timed entry passes will be required at many National Parks. The number of passes available will be limited and there will be a specific time you are allowed to enter and how long you can visit. This has a major significant impact on my lifestyle!! The current list is short but other parks could be added at a moments notice? Folks this is a major disruption to my way of life!!
    Watch this video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZxXpHEN6A

  2. #2
    Fireside Member
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    Not amused. What if it rains on "your" day?

    "So sorry you drove halfway across the country, but there aren't any passes for tomorrow."

    Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Likes to tow View Post
    Now timed entry passes will be required at many National Parks. The number of passes available will be limited and there will be a specific time you are allowed to enter and how long you can visit. This has a major significant impact on my lifestyle!! The current list is short but other parks could be added at a moments notice? Folks this is a major disruption to my way of life!!
    Watch this video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZxXpHEN6A
    There may be even worse restrictions planned, or possibly now in place. Check me against facts; I'm reporting something I was reading about at least three years ago while at Zion National Park in Utah.

    At that time National Park Service officials were publicly musing about controlling not only the numbers of people in some parks but where they went and what they did once inside the park. Zion was then believed likely to implement a system under which visitors would be assigned to a parking area on entering the park on their reservation and would take shuttles from there to various highlights within the park - no cars on the roads, no more car parking near features and highlights. Yosemite was then reported to be the other park where such a system would soon be implemented, and Yellowstone was mentioned as being considered for the same treatment. I had visited all three that year and certainly encountered busy spots (esp. in Yosemite) but IMO nothing close to situations requiring such restrictive measures.

    Dunno if these things became reality or are still being considered but they were. Frustrating.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

  4. #4
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 when the population of the United States was about 38.5 million. There were few visitors from overseas at that time and most US citizens didn't venture farther than 5 miles into town from the farm to buy supplies. Per the 2020 census, there are now 332,639,000 people in the US. On top of that, the last time we visited a national park (2019), it seemed to me that at least 1/3 of the visitors were from Europe and Asia. The bottom line is that there are just too many darned people on the planet. Personally, I haven't camped in a National Park since the late '70s. We now stay outside the parks and enter the parks in our car. Between the choice of letting the hoards trash the parks or limiting access, which would you choose?

    Rob
    Last edited by Second Chance; 04-16-2021 at 05:33 PM.
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  5. #5
    Seasoned Camper fmartinmn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Likes to tow View Post
    Now timed entry passes will be required at many National Parks. The number of passes available will be limited and there will be a specific time you are allowed to enter and how long you can visit. This has a major significant impact on my lifestyle!! The current list is short but other parks could be added at a moments notice? Folks this is a major disruption to my way of life!!
    Watch this video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZxXpHEN6A
    We ran into this at Rocky Mountain National Park last year. We were able to book in advance but we had limited choices as we didn't discovery this until we arrived. We did take shuttles in the park as parking was full at the most popular sites. Also last year we visited Smoky Mountains National Park without restrictions (other than Covid requirements). That was pretty disappointing as you could not park in a lot because they were all overflowing by mid morning. We parked on the side of the road where possible and walked about a half mile to each site we wanted to visit. Given the two experiences back to back I preferred the controlled access.
    Frank & Jolynn Martin
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  6. #6
    Site Sponsor GeoffnCheri's Avatar
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    They did this last year at many larger parks. Not new
    Geoff and Cheri
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  7. #7
    Rolling Along RV Sailor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Second Chance View Post
    Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 when the population of the United States was about 38.5 million. There were few visitors from overseas at that time and most US citizens didn't venture farther than 5 miles into town from the farm to buy supplies. Per the 2020 census, there are now 332,639,000 people in the US. On top of that, the last time we visited a national park (2019), it seemed to me that at least 1/3 of the visitors were from Europe and Asia. The bottom line is that there are just too many darned people on the planet. Personally, I haven't camped in a National Park since the late '70s. We now stay outside the parks and enter the parks in our car. Between the choice of letting the hoards trash the parks or limiting access, which would you choose?

    Rob
    Totally agree
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  8. #8
    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Second Chance View Post
    Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 when the population of the United States was about 38.5 million. There were few visitors from overseas at that time and most US citizens didn't venture farther than 5 miles into town from the farm to buy supplies. Per the 2020 census, there are now 332,639,000 people in the US. On top of that, the last time we visited a national park (2019), it seemed to me that at least 1/3 of the visitors were from Europe and Asia. The bottom line is that there are just too many darned people on the planet. Personally, I haven't camped in a National Park since the late '70s. We now stay outside the parks and enter the parks in our car. Between the choice of letting the hoards trash the parks or limiting access, which would you choose? Rob
    I took the following photo on a cold day in mid-June about four years ago. Beautiful. Peaceful.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Then I moved back thirty-forty feet and took this photo.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Would it have been a more-enjoyable experience if I was alone? Of course. Was my experience ruined by those people being there? Absolutely not! I arrived, parked, spent about 40 minutes there and left, all on my own volition. I'd take that experience 366 days per year over the experience of waiting for and being herded onto park buses and being shuttled around to "enjoy" the park as officials have decided I should enjoy it.

    "Trash the parks"?!! I've thoroughly visited 32 of the 60 U.S. national parks - most in a car, no trailer - which is most of the parks in mainland U.S.A. I haven't seen much of any "trashing" and I've been in many of them multiple times and sometimes at peak times of year. I've been to Yosemite three times, Yellowstone four times, etc. Again, of course it would be nicer to be there with fewer people, but my eyes say that impulses toward strict regulation are appearing under pressure not from real "trashing" of the parks but from people who feel that they have a right to the 1872 eco-experience in these parks, even if it constrains the ability of others to enjoy them.

    The parks and their staff have by any visible measure coped well with the pressure on them, and in the absence of serious trashing it seems to me that experiences as unfettered as possible - rather than officially-designed theme park tours - will improve public appreciation for them and ensure impulses to preserve them and the same experience for others.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

  9. #9
    Seasoned Camper tortise's Avatar
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    We experienced this timed entry system in Acadia last fall and in my opinion, the system is well intentioned but has serious flaws. Though you are restricted to entry during a narrow window of time (30 minutes ) there was no assurance of a parking spot so the result was cars circling the lots waiting for someone to leave so congestion was as bad or worse then before. The reservations could only be made online and much of the park and the surrounding island has poor or nonexistent internet service. Then of of course there is the weather issue, we were totally fogged,in during our alotted time on Cadillac Mtn.
    I have discovered similar issues for our planned stops, in Zion and Glacier this summer with additional restrictions on windows to make a reservation. Zion road access is limited to shuttle busses and commercial tours, Glacier tickets required for access to Going to the Sun Road but they are good all day. Then there is the need to find good internet access on the road the day and time reservations become available.
    Still researching other parks on our route.
    2018 Reflection 27RL
    2017 GMC 2500


  10. #10
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    We had plans for going to Zion this summer, but may just stay away because of this. I've got a special needs daughter who won't live by a rigid schedule, so I guess we'll go in the off-season..

    Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

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