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I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

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Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#181

Post by lakkal »

kleiba2 wrote: post #29
notpachet wrote: post #5

If you haven't tortured yourself on the Devil's Corkscrew switchbacks on the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon, on the hottest day of summer, have you really National Parked?? All joking aside, I disagree with the author regarding the Grand Canyon. Havasupai Gardens -- the verdant oasis at the bottom of the canyon, where you can camp and recharge -- is one of my favorite places I've camped. There are areas for w…

We drove to the Grand Canyon in a rental car from Vegas. "We" that is my old parents and I. We don't gamble, drink, or do hookers, so we didn't really like Vegas very much. (Stop! Hold your horses. It's a joke. I know there's other things you can do in Las Vegas. It's a joke.) We arrived at the canyon before sunset and the setting sun hit it so beautifully from above. The colors were incredible. We were gonna just sp…

That's similar to my experience. I used to go to LV for the DefCon conference, and a classic gaming expo one year. But I'd go for a week, and also drive around the area, including over to Death Valley. I eventually started spending most of my time on Death Valley and only visiting LV briefly.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#183

Post by JeremyNT »

jobs_throwaway wrote: post #19

> Every day hike in Zion Canyon is kind of like waiting in line at Disney World. You’re waiting in line in a magical place, but you’re still waiting in line. You ask a dead-eyed park ranger to recommend you a less popular hike, and he spits in your face. There is no such thing as a less-popular hike in Zion Canyon. You will wait in line on the trail and you will be grateful you piece of shit. Yeah, you can safely dis…

> Yeah, you can safely disregard anything this idiot says. This is simply not true. When I did the Zion traverse we went a full day without seeing people at one point, never waited in line. If you want to the Disneyland version, yeah it'll be crowded.

Zion is great in that it does have the theme park stuff for those where accessibility is an issue and it also has strenuous backcountry stuff for those who can handle it.

We did the top-to-bottom narrows hike, where you start above the beginning of the canyon and hike down. We had some older hikers with us so we decided to spend the night in the canyon at the halfway point.

We saw nobody outside of the small group who rode the van from the outfitters with us for the entire first day. It was amazing.

The next day we finished the hike, which ends at the theme park section. It got increasingly crowded as you got closer to the bus stop until you could find people with all kinds of mobility restrictions still able to enjoy the park.

I left thoroughly impressed at what the NPS had accomplished.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#184

Post by wmlavender »

bombcar wrote: post #159
warmedcookie wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall Alaska being particularly bad when I went in July. The mosquitoes I did encounter were huge though.

Apparently Alaska has "mosquito seasons" which are exceptionally bad ("blot out the sun" type) but relatively livable at other times. Places like Wisconsin aren't as bad but it's all season long.

I thought that the joke in Alaska was that mosquitoes are the state bird.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#185

Post by jerlam »

unzadunza wrote: post #103
microtonal wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We went a lot to the US in my teenage years. I have been to the Grand Canyon two or three times (you start losing counts at some point). One time we were there with our family and my aunt/uncle + kids. We hiked down the canyon because my dad was sort of the group leader and he goes on such adventures without necessarily thinking it through. So we went down with a small amount of water and food. I heard sometime years…

I also did one of the hikes to the CO river in the 90s with 3 friends when we were in college. We got off to a late start so jogged down a good deal of the way (dumb). We carried a 1 gallon water jug each (not even close to enough). We had no extra clothing (dumb). Two of us (me being one) made it out that day. The other two didn't. A group of smart hikers with water filters and iodine tablets found them belly up on…

There's a great book compiling all the Grand Canyon deaths: https://a.co/d/09qGmU0C

I read all the chapters on the hiking and falling deaths before I hiked rim-to-rim. So many of them are "Family hikes down to the canyon, young child complains of heat. Sits down and dies." Or "Someone takes a shortcut, walks down an un-climbable hill. Dies of exposure."

There were a lot of completely unprepared tourists on the way up to the South Rim. They had walked down a little bit and couldn't walk back up. We weren't in great condition ourselves but we had been hiking for the past 12 hours.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#186

Post by kaydub »

bsimpson wrote: post #94

I'm from the West Coast. My national park experience includes Yosemite, Volcanoes, Arches, Zion, Bryce, Redwood, Crater Lake, and Lassen. (I've technically also been to the Grand Canyon, but it was so foggy, it was more like going to the Sears Portrait Studio - you couldn't even see the canyon.) I used to say "I've never been to a national park and wondered why it's a national park - they all have an obvious and imme…

Acadia is a beautiful park and it definitely reaches National Park level for the East coast. I don't really agree with your assessment there, especially since it doesn't sound like you saw much of Acadia if you think it's only Cadillac mountain and a single hike.

The East coast just doesn't have as many untouched lands as the West. West coast parks, pretty much all the parks West of the Mississippi, are next level. If you're accustomed to that then none of the East coast parks are going to wow you.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#187

Post by kaydub »

Xcelerate wrote: post #166
bsimpson wrote: post #94

I'm from the West Coast. My national park experience includes Yosemite, Volcanoes, Arches, Zion, Bryce, Redwood, Crater Lake, and Lassen. (I've technically also been to the Grand Canyon, but it was so foggy, it was more like going to the Sears Portrait Studio - you couldn't even see the canyon.) I used to say "I've never been to a national park and wondered why it's a national park - they all have an obvious and imme…

> they all have an obvious and immediate majesty to them. "Grandeur" is not the only criteria for nice national parks. I'm from the east coast, and while all of the breathtaking views in California were amazing, after a few years of living there I began to get frustrated that I couldn't find anywhere "cozy" to visit during the weekends. Some locations along the Russian River probably came the closest, but the jagged…

Interesting perspective, thank you.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#188

Post by kaydub »

ghaff wrote: post #164
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even my Mainer friends say "we don't know why Acadia is a park - there are so many other places in Maine that are at least as pretty." I believe that private ownership of land is the biggest answer.

Acadia is a bit of an odd setup with a patchwork of private and public land (along with some of the recent additions from the Rockefellers). But, while many areas on the Maine coast are very nice I'd still argue that Acadia in unique. Obviously different from the big lakes and Baxter.

Have you been to Orcas Island or the San Juan islands in Washington?

I think Acadia is a great National Park, especially for the East coast. But I moved to Seattle a few years back and only more recently got out to Orgas Island. It's insane how similar it is to Acadia.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#189

Post by ghaff »

kaydub wrote: post #188
ghaff wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acadia is a bit of an odd setup with a patchwork of private and public land (along with some of the recent additions from the Rockefellers). But, while many areas on the Maine coast are very nice I'd still argue that Acadia in unique. Obviously different from the big lakes and Baxter.

Have you been to Orcas Island or the San Juan islands in Washington? I think Acadia is a great National Park, especially for the East coast. But I moved to Seattle a few years back and only more recently got out to Orgas Island. It's insane how similar it is to Acadia.

I live in New England and did a weekend sea kayaking trip to the San Juans for reasons I don't really recall when I was in the area anyway. My recollection was that it was fun but, as someone for whom Maine was just a few hour drive away, not something I'd make a point of doing again given how similar the two areas were.

Re: I went to America's worst national parks so you don't have to

#190

Post by tristor »

vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #46
jobs_throwaway wrote: post #19

> Every day hike in Zion Canyon is kind of like waiting in line at Disney World. You’re waiting in line in a magical place, but you’re still waiting in line. You ask a dead-eyed park ranger to recommend you a less popular hike, and he spits in your face. There is no such thing as a less-popular hike in Zion Canyon. You will wait in line on the trail and you will be grateful you piece of shit. Yeah, you can safely dis…

With most parks the crowds quickly disappear once you are 2 miles in. That's the case pretty much all over the world. I remember in Iceland there were these huge crowds at a water fall close to the bus stop. I hiked 3 miles in to another similar waterfall. There we had less than 10 people.

Very much true. I heard so many complaints both of the times I lived in Colorado about how everything was crowded and that was really only true in the parking lot/road in at the trailheads. Once you got a couple miles in, the only people you'd see were those on their return trip passing you by going in the opposite direction, and for the parking situation if you go early enough that you're starting your hike in earnest just after first light, you'll be the one passing people on your return trip.
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