Close the roads to National Parks?

[MuddyWaters]

Creating access to special places, destroys them.

What humans are best at, is destroying the earth. Thru ignorance, greed, carelessness, and just plain self-centered activities.

What will be left for your grandchildren, and their grandchildren?

[rocketsocks]

I'm gonna think on this topic as it deserves that. My first thoughts are that wild places are ever failing and one day there will be none. The infrastructure that is in place today...well it's there...but I don't think we need anymore...and I agree with Walter that earning or gaining a vista makes it just that much sweeter, there is no guarantees in life, and if you can't make it to these places, well that sucks...but we should protect our wild places and keep them wild, no more concessions for services, no roads, hotels. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few...Mother Nature being the many.

Edward Abbey had some things to say about this...dwindling wild places...particularly Desert Solitaire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Solitaire

[johnnybgood]

Having a visually impaired daughter(legally blind) who LOVES the outdoors and hiking, I usually drive to a location of a trail that is more accessible to her, therefore the trails in SNP and Smokies are best tailored for that. Do I find myself agitated by the congestion of tourons in the summer ...heck yes ! But like I said, my daughter loves nature and will, and has hiked many hikes with me.

[Odd Man Out]

The Ken Burns film series on the National Parks highlighted the fact that the NPS has the self contradictory mission to both preserve the parks AND provide them for enjoyment "...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.

I don't agree that limiting access is a good thing. Looking at the history of the parks in the Burns film, you see that early visitors were not looking for a natural experience but expected to be entertained, as seen in the Yosemite Firefall or the Yellowstone bear feedings or the Grand Canyon Lodge staff performances. Our understanding has evolved and I would like to think access has helped educate the public about appreciating nature on its own terms and not our terms.

However, access to the parks does not necessarily require more roads and fewer restrictions. I have observed that Americans unfortunately define "access" as how close you can drive your own personal vehicle and do whatever you want. Inevitably there is push back when parks propose replacing private cars with public transportation as they have at Zion and Grand Canyon. Of course transportation systems, rule enforcement, and education programs require money. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

[finish9]

War Veterans have earned the right to any road or place or whatever in the U.S., those with disabilities need the special access. They have protected our freedom so that we can have the trails/roads to those majestic places so lets not use a broad brush to paint everyone with. We owe the brave men and women who protect us so that we can see our family everyday, sleep peacefully at night and can take the weekend off.

[mrcoffeect]

while we are at it I think we should get rid of the ugly trails, and force those who can, to bushwack through the woods to get to theses places. If you can't use a map and compass, then the woods aren't for you.................... sounds pretty elitist does it not. just because someone doesn't like shelters or roads, doesn't mean that all people have to subscribe to that idea. I have never heard a car camper that doesn't hike say that we should remove all trails, because they scar the wilderness. this whole topic just sounds like "enjoy the wilderness my way or not at all"

[moytoy]

• https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...80895339_n.jpg
  A high school buddy took this photo on 6/4 on the Cades Cove Loop. While I can't totally agree with all that Tipi said I do agree this type of traffic should be stopped.
  
  
  
  
  

[coach lou]

It has been my experience that 5 miles outside most "NPs', is country equally as beautiful as on the tarmac. I've been in one or 2 bear/elk/ wolf jambs, then we park and hike into the boonies and no one is there. I wonder how many of us would be here, were not for our first trip through a NP or stay in a shelter on some trail. Absolutely our wild lands are being loved to death, but what to do about it?

[peakbagger]

I have always been a fan of shuttle buses for access to the parks. It reduces the impact of vehicle traffic and the bus driver can reduce the temptation to harass wildlife. Unfortunately, many parks are divided by state highways so a shuttle concept will not work well

[Mrs Baggins]

I could not disagree more.

The roads in most of are National Parks barely scratch the surface of all they have to offer. For all the horror stories of massive crowds at them, barely a few miles in from the trailhead they fall away to a trickle. And then there are the National Forests and other public land around them that see fewer people still.

Enjoyment of nature and natural beauty is not something that needs to be paid for -- earned -- through physical effort. It may feel sweeter that way, but that's it.

As for the shelters leaving a big trace, hardly. They may represent something that you rail against, but almost zero ecological impact. And if you want to argue about their aesthetic impact, I will grant you there is some but it's limited, and easy enough to bypass al together.

I agree. The "as long as I can get there on foot, screw the rest of you" attitude is sickening. What about the elderly, handicapped, very young children, healthy adults who simply have about as much interest in hiking as you probably have sewing bridal gowns...their tax money pays for those parks and they do have the right to drive there.

[Coffee]

If access to the National Parks is made impossible or very difficult for the majority of people who will never walk more than a mile or two from a trailhead, the political support for the system will be eroded dramatically. In most places, crowds seem to thin out a mile or two from a road. This has definitely been my experience in places like SNP and even Yosemite (although more like 4 miles from a road). Interestingly, I just finished a rim to rim trip to the Grand Canyon and encountered literally hundreds of people each day. That is probably due to the facilities and development within the Canyon. Not roads but human development nonetheless. Many people were there who clearly were not physically capable of being totally self sufficient. If Grand Canyon NP was being created today and the land was in pristine shape, there is no way that much of this development would be allowed. But the fact is that up to a reasonable point, taxpayers supporting the parks rightfully want some access and most people are not capable or inclined to go on self sufficient backpacking trips. I think that radical moves to limit access will boomerang with large cuts to the NPS budget and end up harming backcountry travelers the most.

[Pedaling Fool]

The solution is simple---close the roads.

Solutions to many problems are simple when you propose a solution to your liking. The problem with it, it is too simple; living in a society is difficult because you must compromise with many interests. Your solution is naive.

You talk a lot about the evils of cars. Do you drive a car?

The thing about roads, is that everyone complains about them, but everyone wants them to take them where the go. Even the greenies that live in "sustainable" communities would fight to keep their road access.

[dmax]

I don't consider myself one of the elitist hikers who wants to keep the parks to only the hikers. Everybody deserves the opportunity to visit a NP. Even if that means cars and motorcycles. .... If you don't want to drive to the top of Grandfather Mt, .. Don't. I ain't gonna stop you. Look around. Within 30 miles there are plenty you can walk to the top with no road access. ..... And about Cade's Cove, was that over Memorial weekend? I normally drive through there during the off season. Sometimes we don't even see another car. ..... I like going to the beach too. During the summer when the crowds are out I head to the OBXs. Some other family members go to Myrtle Beach. It's bumper to bumper traffic. I can't stand it. So I don't go during the summer. Who am I to say what beach they should go to. .... I guess what I'm trying to say is that if there is a road in a NP and your against it, don't go there. There are plenty of other beautiful places to go.

[Malto]

Access shouldn't be limited, it should be controlled. Likely the worst traffic congestion I've seen has been in Yosemite Valley in the summer. In areas such as this I believe Marta approach of shuttle buses etc should be in place. This controls the problem and allows access without the enormous human footprint.

In other areas such as SNP it is what it is. That is a very narrow strip of land and in some respect that is a "road park". If you want peace and solitude, find another place to hike. I hiked SNP last Memorial Day weekend and was never far from the sound of Harley's. but I knew that going in and wanted to finish that section. Will I hike that section again, unlikely because I enjoy being much further from civilization than that allows.

So while I would love to have huge expanses of the east set aside for wilderness experience that just isn't reality. If you want that go hike the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the off season. 88 miles, 4 people seen within a couple miles of the end and a few sets of human footprints. Wilderness exists, it might not be in your backyard.

[Pedaling Fool]

When it comes to keeping the wild wild it's not the roads that are the major culprit. It's agriculture. And it doesn't matter if it's modern farming or "natural" organic farming. Both destroy natural habitats. And you can't look at the size of individual farms, rather it's the total and the space between, i.e. habitat fragmentation.

[memphistiger02]

Why cant people respect land and property that they do not own. Would you go over your friends house and write on his walls, leave trash in his house, or not clean up your own crap?

[StealthHikerBoy]

Sadly, the rat-box shelters are LEAVING A BIG TRACE just existing. Dismantling them is the first step in the right direction. Another thing---many national parks have easy rolling couch potato (vehicle) access which causes gas-huffers and the wheel addicted to get too close to whatever is "wild". The solution is simple---close the roads. Instead of kicking all humans out, kick out the cars. Make it difficult to reach these spots. They have to be earned.

The shelter system is what creates the AT community and sets it apart. It results in people talking, interacting, helping each other out. I would say that if there were never any shelters on the AT, WhiteBlaze wouldn't exist, as it would just be a trail and not a community. I am not saying shelters are good or bad, but they are what has made the AT what it is.

Regarding the National Parks, they are public assets and everyone deserves to have access to them. There needs to be a balance between access and preservation. The shuttle systems and the back country permit systems in Zion and the Grand Canyon are good examples of ways to achieve this balance, in my view.

Hey ... ideally I'd like the Parks to be preserved so that just me and my friends can use them, but at the end of the day everyone deserves to see them.

[Nutbrown]

This argument shouldn't even be happening. It should not be about access, which I thing is needed. The argument, or what action should be taken, should be centered around the disregard of respect. Respect for the nature that you are going to see. Respect for those that help maintain the areas. Respect for your sisters and brothers that want a clean, beautiful, fulfilling experience.

Clean up after yourself, notice how loud you or your vehicle is, thank a volunteer (or volunteer yourself). Then the grumps (sorry Tipi) that want to go to extremes will find something constructive to do with their ire.

[Slo-go'en]

For better or worse, National Parks draw big crowds. However, they are easy to get away from if you walk a little ways into the woods. I once spent a whole summer wandering around Yellowstone. Once in the woods, I would rarely see another person.

Granted, it is a bit more difficult to avoid other people in our east coast parks as many more people live near-by and the parks are much smaller. But it isn't impossible. And there are still many other places to go which get little traffic. We are still blessed with large tracks of undeveloped land here in the USA and a multitude of trails which are available to the public. Maybe it's time to get off the AT and out of the NP's and explore some of the other lesser known and used trails and National Forests.

[Tennessee Viking]

I remember a number of years ago that there was a study that proposed the closing of the Smokies to vehicle traffic for 3 to 10 years just to start decreasing the smog pollution.