|
If you got the time, I would swing south to hit great sand dunes, drive up to Gunnison and hit Kebler Pass then loop back down and drive the north road of the black canyon. That's quite a sinuous route through Colorado but it would be gorgeous.
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2022 17:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:14 |
|
|
Zero One posted:(Death Valley was a last minute drop from my upcoming trip. Better watch out, Arches!) God dammit…. uhh… God? … I was joking… https://twitter.com/neildos/status/1561194488273387521?s=21&t=_ZPcBK65z4-jDi7WFz_YYw https://twitter.com/sltrib/status/1561416395782606853?s=21&t=_ZPcBK65z4-jDi7WFz_YYw Zero One fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Aug 26, 2022 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2022 06:23
|
|
|
Just got back from a family trip to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia national parks. What a great trip of parks all located a stones throw from each other. If anyone’s interested I’d be happy to share our itinerary or thoughts/reviews if any. One thing I’ll say off the bat is that King’s canyon doesn’t get enough credit, what an insanely cool place. Once I get my pictures uploaded from my camera I’ll post some here if I think of it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2022 19:21
|
|
|
I'm always down for national park reviews
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2022 20:03
|
|
|
I plan to do basically the same trip next week so I would love to see it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2022 20:39
|
|
|
Awesome! We’ll I’ll try to add some pics later tonight if I can, for now I’ll just type out some of the details. My wife and I were super jacked about the trip, I really enjoy climbing and fishing, so it was great to see some of the worlds most famous rock walls and boulders in person. Trip included my wife, two kids (16, 6) and my mom and dad who are both 70. 8/20 - 8/26: Yosemite Valley Lodge, Yosemite NP 8/20 Travel day, we flew from MSP to Dallas, Dallas to Fresno, picked up our rental car and made the ~2 hour trip to Yosemite Valley. The last half of the drive is more or less in the park itself, and a very pretty, but windy, road. Our kids both got a little carsick, but when we came around the corner to tunnel view, man, what a beautiful sight!! We got out and just took in the view at tunnel view for about a half hour. We then checked into our lodge and had a quick dinner at base camp eatery before calling it a night. No AC in the lodge and it was hot, but that’s the valley in august! 8/21: day 1 in the valley We were exhausted from our travel day the prep leading up to it, we spent all night in the hospital the previous Tuesday with our 6 year old as he had 8 straight days of fever, then frantically had to pack everything the next two days, which left us with less than 3 hours of sleep the night before travel day. So we slept in. After a quick breakfast at BCE, and the took the valley floor tour from Yosemite Lodge, we listened to the Ranger talk about the valley and some of the changes that have occurred in the park, and spent a little while at valley view and tunnel view. Overall I think it was a good way to get introduced to the valley, especially since I did all the driving on the trip, sitting on an open bench and taking in the views was great. If I did it over again I’d book it earlier in the morning though, it was HOT. Lunch at base camp eatery again, nothing super special, but they get the food out FAST. Be prepared to spend some money on food if you aren’t bringing your own, it definitely added up across the trip. We then drove around the valley loop and parked at one of the many turn offs to go wade in the Merced river. It was super refreshing and I’d highly recommend a daily wade to cool off. We ran to curry village for supper, ‘the deck’ had really solid pizzas with a great view of half dome! We did a bit of shopping at the mountain shop and went back for an early night. My wife and I did a short hike to lower Yosemite falls just before dark which was cool! Not really any water coming down the falls, but that allowed us to scramble around the Boulder field at the bottom which was fun. I picked up a couple beers at the gift shop at YVL, and had a night cap. They sell beers by the can in the gift shop and markets, which is great! $1.50 per can or so bests the $9-14 per pour at the bars. 8/22: Day 2, Tuolomne Meadow and Tenaya Lake For day 2 we drove over to tuolomne meadow & tenaya lake which ended up being a great day trip. We did a short home to soda springs which was neat, but not like a game changer. Stopped and sat by the creek, had some snacks, and then ran up to the little market a mile past the visitor center. We bought a loaf of bread, some ham & cheese, and everyone made sandwiches for lunch. Probably our most affordable meal of the trip lol. After lunch we drove to tenaya lake, which took awhile with construction, and the spent some time just wading in the water and takin the fantastic view. Our youngest then pooped in the woods and we headed back to YV. We stopped at Olmsted point on the way back and took in another gorgeous view. We spotted a staircase leading down from the overlook and hiked maybe a few hundred yards out to a big rock ledge that gave us a completely unobstructed view of half dome and some of the valley. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT LITTLE HIKE! We had the view to ourselves and wished we knew about it sooner, would be a great spot to enjoy a packed lunch. You’d have it all to yourself and it rivals some of the best views in the park, without a 3000ft elevation gain home attached to it! I think we had dinner that night and turned in for the night. 8/23: The Dawn Wall I’m a climbing geek(but not actually very good), so one thing I really wanted to do was get up early and watch the sunrise hit the dawn wall on El Capitan. My wife and I got up early, grabbed a few granola bars, and hit the road. We setup in El Capitan meadow and watched the sun light up the dawn wall. It was awesome, we were the only ones there and it was just really beautiful. I still can’t believe Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen free climbed it, you should all watch ‘the dawn wall’ if you haven’t yet! We then spent a couple hours fly fishing off of Tioga road, I spooked a few trout but no takers. I’m new to this fly fishing thing. We saw a bunch of really big mule deer in the way back, which was cool. We met my parents and kids for lunch at BCE, and then did a bit of exploring around some of the camps. I spent a bit of time trying to climb some boulders near the housekeeping camp, where I mainly just chickened out because I didn’t have a crash pad and man those Boulder are hard(and very tall). We then went and spent a little time in Yosemite village, hit the shops, visitor center for stamps, Ansel Adam’s gallery, etc. We had pizza again for dinner at the deck in Curry, and then went to bed early as we were pretty tired from our early morning. 8/24: A short hike at Mariposa grove, the grizzly giant, and The Mountain Room We ate another quick breakfast at BCE and then drove back to the park entrance to see some Sequoia’s! We got to mariposa grove early enough to get a parking spot(~10AM), grabbed the shuttle to get to the grove(saves like a 2 mile hike in and out), and took the grizzly giant trail. The sequoias are absolutely breathtaking, but this hike took a lot longer than expected. It’s maybe a mile and a half to the grizzly giant, with like 3-400 feet elevation gain, which seemed to be enough to tire out my mom, dad and youngest. But we made it to the grizzly giant and sat on its shadow for lunch. It was a cool experience just sitting there thinking about all the people who’ve sat in that spot, or all that’s happened over this tree’s lifetime. It’s just really surreal to stand next to something that’s been living for like 2000 years or more. We eventually made it back to the valley, my wife and I walked around camp 4 and I just kind of took in some of the famous boulders there. Pretty much in awe at what people are able to climb. Then we headed back for our dinner reservation at the mountain room. The food was good, but very expensive. We had mussels and clams for appetizer, they were very bad. But I ordered the trout for my main course and it was delicious. 8/25: The mist trail, Nevada falls, and sore knees My wife and I targeted one big hike for the trip, knowing our kids/parents wouldn’t keep up, and frankly we’re not exactly in exquisite shape either. That trail was the Mist trail. I hoped to then hike up to the top of Nevada Falls, but wasn’t sure if my wife would be up for it. We got started early, like a bit before 6 AM. Parked over near happy isles campground and got started. The hike is really broke into four parts: The footbridge, the stairs/mist trail, Nevada falls, and the hike down via the John Muir Trail. They are rated moderate/strenuous/strenuous/? Respectively. Honestly, the worst part for us was the hike to the footbridge. It’s uphill about 400 feet in a mile or less, but it’s just like a paved ramp that doesn’t really let up. We stopped and filled up water at the footbridge(the last place to do so) and sat for a bit. My wife said, ‘there’s no way I can make it up to Nevada falls.’ We then hiked to the top of vernal falls via the mist trail, which is really just a rock staircase of 600-700 stairs. Honestly, I didn’t think it was too bad! We took plenty of breaks, but got up to the falls at 800 AM or so. We sat along the emerald pool and dipped our feet in the water and ate some breakfast. It was divine! The view back towards the valley was spectacular, and after resting for about 40 minutes we decided to press on. At this point we’d gained 1000ft of elevation in about 1-1.5 miles of memory serves. The next stage of the hike is another 1200 feet of elevation gain in less than a mile. Again s lot of rock stairs and very rocky switchbacks. All in the shadow of Nevada falls and liberty cap, which is a beautiful rock dome. After a lot of breaks and rest we made it to the top around 1030. This turned out to be the highlight of the trip, it is absolutely breathtaking up there! We went upstream a bit to one of the feeder creeks, made sure to find a calm and safe spot, and had a snack and dipped our feet in the water again. Which is much safer in august than in the spring, but still be careful. We almost watched an older woman die as she walked under the bridge at the top of the falls to sit by the water. The bridge is like right at the top of the falls, she got about 3’ from the water and slipped on the rock, slid down and was up to about her waist in the water before she caught herself. She was literally like 30 feet from the waterfall edge and the water, even in august, was moving pretty good there. I think if she would have slipped another 6–12” into the water she would have been swept away. Scary and so stupid. We basked in the view for about 1.5 hours before hiking down the John Muir trail. You get some absolutely stunning views of liberty cap and half dome from this trail, truly awesome! By the time we reached the car our knees were aching and my wife legit hurt her knee. We also started almost rolling our ankles like constantly I think as our stabilizing muscles grew weak. The down hike was probably worse than the up home from that perspective. All in all, the trail climbs like 2200’ in elevation in ~2-3 miles, and with the John Muir trail down I think we were at nearly 8 miles total. Definitely the hardest hike I’ve done, but so worth it! We had dinner back at BCE that night and went back to the river in the evening to play around in the water. 8/26: our last day in the valley, el cap, swimming, and sunset at tunnel view We chose to take it a bit easy on our last day, we hiked to the base of el cap(.4 miles) and I just kind of walked/scrambled around at the base. It was actually super cool, just seeing first hand how tall and massive that wall is was something else. And the first bolts on some of those routes are quite a ways off the ground! We then went swimming for awhile after in the river right across the road, the water was cool but man did it feel good after the big hike the day before. We grabbed dinner for the kids back at Yosemite village, then the adults grabbed dinner from the 1889 bar in Curry village(the Mexican street corn was awesome), and I drove back up to tunnel view for sunset. I was about 15 minutes late, which really annoyed me, but it was still a great way to cap off the week in the valley. We got back and began the terrible task of packing everything back up. Next day we were on to our next leg, King’s Canyon. 8/27: John Muir Lodge and the General Grant tree We got up earlyish and hit the road. The drive to king’s canyon isn’t too bad, drive back to Fresno and then up to the park. We stopped at target to return the air mattress we didn’t need, hit in n out for lunch, and then made our way to the lodge. John Muir lodge was really nice, it sits at a higher elevation than YVL, so it was much cooler in the room, which was great. We got in somewhat late in the afternoon, went down the road to see the general grant tree(Awesome), and had dinner at the courtyard across from the visitor center. We hopped on a ranger led ‘what goes bump in the night’ walk up at panoramic point, which was pretty neat. Ranger Joe did a great job, and then we stayed for awhile stargazing at PP, it was really beautiful. My wife and I watched Valley Uprising on our phone before going to bed, another great climbing documentary that covers the history of climbing in Yosemite. 8/28: Kings canyon, Zumwalt meadow, an underrated place! We got up and hit the visitor center next to the lodge, and then made the drive down kings canyon to zumwalt meadow. What a wild and breathtaking valley. I found the views to rival Yosemite, but just different. Even now in august the river was running fairly fast, I can imagine it must be extremely wild in the spring, and I plan on coming back to find out. It was hot here too, but we hiked around zumwalt meadow, which was really nice! You hike through a cool Boulder field and have nice views of the meadow and surrounding canyon walls/peaks. We ate lunch at the lodge at cedar grove, and then began our drive to our next destination, sequoia. We stopped a couple places on the way back so o could try to fish, spooked a few BIG rainbows, and then drove back up the valley. We must have stopped 6 - 8 times on the way back up the valley as the views just kept getting better and better. The sun was hitting the other side of the canyon just right to just light it up. I was really blown away here, it ranks up there with anything else I’ve seen. We then made the crazy drive up the canyon, out of the park, and decided to not drive through sequoia to get to our cabin. Kids were getting carsick so we tried to take a less windy road. This meant going on something called Hog Back road and dry creek road, which turned out to be the worst road yet. Narrow, wild, and in the middle of nowhere. We finally arrived to Buckeye tree lodge and cabins around 8 PM, checked in and luckily found the restaurant next door (Gateway restaurant) was still open, everything else closed at 8. Turns out the Gateway restaurant actually had great food, but is pretty expensive. Either way, their clam chowder was phenomenal, as was their miso halibut, highly recommend. 8/29: Sequoia, our last day Our last day of the trip we planned on hitting some of the highlights in sequoia. We drove straight to Moro Rock and hiked up the ~300 stairs to the top for a breathtaking 360 degree view. The kids loved this and was just a cool experience. after our hike to Nevada falls this seemed like child’s play. We then drove up to Waksuchi lodge for lunch, which was a really cool lodge. Food was okay. Last on the agenda was checking out general Sherman. We drove to the trailhead, hiked to the tree and just took it all in. Again, you really need to see these trees in person, they are just really stinking cool. But also really sad, Sequoia NP lost like 20% of their Sequoia’s last year to fire, many of which you see as you drive through the park. Go see these trees before it’s too late. We drove back out of the park and went for a swim at our cabin(Glacier cabin at buckeye tree cabins was very nice!), then had another great dinner at the Gateway, then sadly packed our bags for the journey home. Overall, was an absolute stunning trip, and I’d recommend it to anyone without any hesitation. Cliff Notes: Stellar, awesome things to do -Tunnel view at sunset - Hike all the way up the mist trail to the top of Nevada falls and come down the John Muir Trail. - swim in the Merced river if it’s hot - Olmsted point overlook, walk to the rock ledge and eat lunch or something - Drive through King’s Canyon and spend some time there. - See some of the Sequoia’s, not sure if I’d say you need to see mariposa & general grant & general sherman, but at least see one or two of those trees. I’d probably do Grant/Sherman as they are shorter hikes, and then trade out mariposa grove for a cool hike in Yosemite or KC. - catch some of the viewpoints/overlooks at the golden hour. - watch a sunrise somewhere in YV, dawn wall was cool. - buy single beers in the gift shop, decent variety, and so much cheaper than at one of the food spots. Other Notes Food is expensive, be ready for it. But also really keep an eye on times as we missed open windows for lunch at a number of places and had to just buy premade stuff from markets. Fine for me, but my wife is picky eater and gets grumpy about it. It’s HOT in the valley, be prepared for that! We bought a bunch of snack food and stupidly a lot of them had chocolate. Our room at YVL was so hot that it all like got soft and melty and gross. If you’re doing longer hikes make sure your taking off early, as it gets HOT. We passed people starting the mist trail at like 2PM and I don’t envy their walk up the stairs in that heat. Also make sure you have plenty of water. If I was doing this trip again, I wouldn’t change much. I’d probably aim to spend like 50-60% of the time in YV, 30% in KC, and 10% in Sequoia. I felt good about what we saw in Sequoia in one day, but really wished I had another day or two in KC to check out some the hikes there. Only other regret is that I didn’t get off my rear end and hike the 4 mile trail. I really wanted to see glacier point, but with the road closed you need to hike there. Next time I’ll likely hire a fishing guide for a day and do more fishing, and maybe do a day of climbing with a guide as well. I’ll try to get some pictures up later, if you made it this far, thanks for reading! Roads got progressively windier and crazier throughout the trip, in rough order from least crazy and windy to most: Road to YV < Tioga road to Tuolomne meadows < King’s highway < hog back/dry creek road < road up to Moro rock from three rivers. Probably obvious, but be prepared for that. If you or anyone gets carsick take it slow or bring some Dramamine or something. Our kids didn’t enjoy the car rides and that was kind of tough. food notes Overall, food in the valley was decent, but expensive. Base camp eatery, YVL: Great for a quick meal, you order on a touchscreen kiosk, and the food is ready within like 3 minutes. Food was like pretty good, but nothing special. Bring your own beverage to save some money. Juice box is like $2.50, fountain pop is like $3.00. Say hi to Chongo Chuck who will probably be hanging out by the window. Mountain Room, YVL: Good food, expensive. Burgers were like $25. I’d probably not go here again just cause I’m a cheapskate and food doesn’t make me that happy. The deck, curry village: Really solid pizzas, I’d recommend eating here. Not too pricey if you’re splitting pizzas. 1889, curry village: Pretty good, on the expensive side. More apps/small plate type stuff. Street corn was awesome, wings were okay. The grill, Yosemite village: Okay, standard burger/hot dog/sandwiches. The courtyard at John Muir lodge: Slow, expensive for what you get, okay food. No other real options though, small market next door has some stuff you could cobble a meal together from. Gateway restaurant just south of sequoia entrance in three rivers: Expensive, but pretty drat good. Great service, clam chowder was from scratch and delicious. Halibut was caught by the owner in Alaska the previous week, awesome. Also they have some ringtail cats that hang outside on their roof, pretty cool little animals!
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2022 21:00
|
|
|
Really cool, I appreciate the tips.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2022 22:01
|
|
|
Glad to hear you enjoyed Kings Canyon and Sequoia! They're awesome parks, especially once you get out into the backcountry.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2022 01:52
|
|
|
Gonna try to head up to Redwoods and Crater Lake tomorrow, any suggestions?
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2022 18:14
|
|
|
Swimming in crater lake was very cool. I dove down below a thermocline without knowing, which was probably pretty dangerous!
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 21:35
|
|
|
I'm definitely going to use some of those tips next time I'm in Yosemite.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2022 21:52
|
|
|
Acebuckeye13 posted:Gonna try to head up to Redwoods and Crater Lake tomorrow, any suggestions? Prairie Creek is my favorite redwood park, and the Jame's Irvine trail (or loop with miner's ridge) is popular for a reason (though went I went around memorial day weekend it didn;t feel crowded). If you take the trail all the way to fern canyon (as opposed to parking right next to it), you don't need a permit to see the canyon. It is a long-ish hike if you go all the way there and back (~10 miles, ~12 if you do the loop). If not, even just the beginning parts of the jame's irvine trail are worth it. There are wildfires around the Shasta area now, so smoke may be an issue. Doesn't look too bad at the moment and winds should keep it well away from the coast starting ~Friday. But keep an eye on things.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2022 17:46
|
|
|
Went to Joshua Tree on a whim since this hurricane fizzled out. We had some light drizzle for a few minutes, otherwise dry. Everything is very green from the monsoon season. Very few people in the park because of the weather. Unfortunately, the people that were there were still the type of people who go to Joshua Tree. Not 20 yards from an actual bathroom at Quail Springs - 
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2022 02:31
|
|
|
Is there anything I should not miss in Shenandoah? I've sorta defaulted into having a day and a half by myself while my wife is at a work thing, and the nearest national park is Shenandoah, like somewhere in the middle near Thornton Gap. I love hiking but am between real boots so I'll be in tennies, otherwise a full day out-n-back or a loop is fine by me as long as I'm not doing anything technical.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2022 17:24
|
|
|
Gunshow Poophole posted:Is there anything I should not miss in Shenandoah? I've sorta defaulted into having a day and a half by myself while my wife is at a work thing, and the nearest national park is Shenandoah, like somewhere in the middle near Thornton Gap. I really like the white Oak Canyon run trail. Beautiful waterfalls and a lovely hike. Easy to get to the bottom. There’s a couple ways to make it a circuit hike depending on how far you want to go. Decent gain of elevation so be prepared if you’re not in shape. Edit: tennies are fine; the trails are in good shape. You may want to bring some water shoes for crossing the stream if you pick a trail that requires it. Dik Hz fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Sep 24, 2022 |
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2022 23:42
|
|
|
Trip report from our vacation the last couple of weeks to Colorado and Utah parks: Colorado National Monument: was rainy the day we visited so we just did the rim road but it was still amazing views when it wasn’t foggy. My wife was not happy with the lack of guard rails though. Like to the point of not enjoying it. Arches: was amazing, my new favorite park. Just driving around made me go wow. We spent a day and could have used another whole day since we skipped some hikes. They are doing timed reservations and initially we only got a 2 PM one but they open up more at 6 PM the day before and we were able to reschedule for free for a 7 AM one. Made a huge difference in how tolerable hiking was. That desert sun is no joke. It was crowded but not too crowded… there were always parking spaces at the stops. One pain is that they allowed re-entry but it sucked since you had to wait in the normal entrance line to get back in which wasted a half hour. Canyonlands: great views from the overlooks, some fun hikes. The park road between the overlooks is mostly boring with no views. Kind of felt like this hit the same points as Dead Horse Point State Park since they are both “look down into a canyon from overlook”. And most people do them back to back since they are both 45 mins from Moab. Timpanogos Cave National Monument: never heard of this before but we were in Salt Lake City with one day to kill and bored of the city. 30 minutes or so from downtown, and a very pretty valley. It’s a killer hike to the cave entrance (1000 feet elevation gain over 1.5 miles with no flat parts), and then a guided tour of the caves. Very interesting smaller caves, and some fun contortions needed to avoid banging your head on the stalactites. Not anything like the scale of Carlsbad Caverns but fun. We booked tickets the same day, but it was a weekday and hard to do that on a Saturday. Since it’s a tour, the parks pass doesn’t cover it. Also, we didn’t go to RMNP because we did it on our last trip and they are doing timed reservations and we couldn’t get one.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2022 21:46
|
|
|
Went to RMNP last weekend and Lake Haiyaha is a surreal color due to a rock slide earlier this summer. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2022 23:57
|
|
|
Glacier NP amid a storm a couple weeks ago. King of the Rock     Watching this was unreal.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2022 06:19
|
|
|
So there’s a new bill in Congress REI is shilling, The bipartisan America's Outdoor Recreation Act (S. 3266) was introduced by Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Barrasso (R-WY) to improve and expand America’s outdoor recreation economy while delivering sustainable economic boosts to rural communities. It includes several bills celebrated by outdoor enthusiasts, including several bills REI Co-op has advocated for and shaped. The comprehensive package contains several ground-breaking recreation bills, including the Outdoor Recreation Act, the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) Act, the Recreation-Not-Red-Tape Act, the Gateway Community and Recreation Enhancement Act, the Biking on Long-Distance Trails Act, and many others. It is supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including America Outdoors, American Mountain Guides Association, American Sportfishing Association, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Delta Waterfowl, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, International Mountain Bicycling Association, KABOOM!, Marine Retailers Association of America, National Forest Recreation Association, National Marine Manufacturing Association, National Parks Hospitality Association, National Recreation and Park Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, People For Bikes, Professional Photographers of America, REI Co-op, RV Industry Association, Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Mule Deer Foundation, The Trust for Public Land, The Wilderness Society, Vista Outdoors, Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association and Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources. You can see the actual text here. Anyone heard of this, and is it going to actually do any good? They say they’ve talked to actual park rangers and such but it’s Manchin which instantly gets my suspicions up, but also we are loving our parks to death and so many badly need fixing up and trail maintenance and etc
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 06:20
|
|
|
From the summary, seems like a bunch of random junk. Don’t think that shooting range but is going anywhere. Maybe this is just part of the bill though, seems like they combined a bunch.quote:If the public does not need to obtain a permit or reservation to access an existing picnic area, neither the Department of the Interior nor the Department of Agriculture (USDA) may require an outfitter or guide serving fewer than 40 clients to obtain a permit to access that site.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 12:07
|
|
|
smackfu posted:From the summary, seems like a bunch of random junk. Don’t think that shooting range but is going anywhere. Maybe this is just part of the bill though, seems like they combined a bunch. yeah the package is a series of bills.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 14:36
|
|
|
Oracle posted:So there’s a new bill in Congress REI is shilling, If the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Mule Deer Foundation, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and Delta Waterfowl are backing it then it is almost 1000% going to be a great bill. I need to read the full text but TRCP is one of the most public land conservation, access and opportunity focused organizations there is.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 16:19
|
|
|
It looks like a lot of authorizations for improvements to things like parking, broadband, and recreation infrastructure. They want to expand the open seasons where possible. I think they're getting rid of some of the weird restrictions on filming on federal land. There's a lot of stuff in there that allows private/for-profit entities to make money off of federal lands, so that's probably why Manchin is sponsoring it. Things like the increased use of concession/private management companies running facilities.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 16:42
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:There's a lot of stuff in there that allows private/for-profit entities to make money off of federal lands, so that's probably why Manchin is sponsoring it. Things like the increased use of concession/private management companies running facilities. Huge mistake, but it's not like there's any political willpower to fund the public lands agencies to do anything properly so injecting a shot of pure capitalism into it is the only real option.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 16:50
|
|
|
Can't wait to have our parks and forests injected with capitalism
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2022 17:56
|
|
|
Ya, that "broad coalition" looks like just industry? I guess not The Trust for Public Land, or The Wilderness Society
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2022 00:28
|
|
|
A lot of that bill seems like it is excessively and pointlessly interventionist. The digital America the Beautiful pass is actually good; the firing ranges are stupid; the way the filming and photography section is phrased is potentially controversial at certain sites (e.g. certain cultural sites that don’t permit photography; I’m not sure you could really argue taking a photograph actually disturbs the site and that seems to be the only limitation according to this bill). I’m not sure what the existing legal limitations on that last point are though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2022 06:02
|
|
|
I'm hoping this means they'll keep USFS campgrounds open year round here. There isn't any reason for them to close seasonally. It doesn't snow.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2022 14:49
|
|
|
King Hong Kong posted:the firing ranges are stupid; The designated ranges would actually be a huge improvement. USFS and BLM land already allows recreational shooting and usually does not restrict where it can occur which leads to a variety of scenarios from hunters checking their zero into a safe backstop and cleaning up after themselves after traveling cross country (me) to hillbillies dragging old washing machines, glass bottles, cans and anything else you can think of out to use as target, not picking a safe backstop and leaving poo poo out in the field afterwards. If you have a place designated to shoot in each district/forest then that should help consolidate that sort of activity into one safe location. Ideally.
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2022 17:07
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:Things like the increased use of concession/private management companies running facilities. Don't like it. In practice, this usually means less money coming into the parks directly, which exacerbates the existing funding problems. Like, you know the best way to fix parks right now? Fix the hiring system so it doesn't take five loving months to hire a goddamn seasonal, improve/expand housing so people don't have to live in literal shacks, and improve pay so the parks don't lose everyone but the most insane/dedicated people to the private sector or other agencies. It's not that hard!
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 06:21
|
|
|
What's funny is that the concession companies are having just as much trouble hiring employees as the feds. Xanterra was probably the worst part of my Yellowstone visit this year. They did not have their poo poo together.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 14:29
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:What's funny is that the concession companies are having just as much trouble hiring employees as the feds. Xanterra was probably the worst part of my Yellowstone visit this year. They did not have their poo poo together. Yeah I don't see why this has to be privatized. The areas a lot of these national parks are in have seasonal unemployment such that literally everyone gets on unemployment the day the season closes because there are literally no other jobs in the area that aren't tourist related. Just loving hire them onto the Park Service, make them federal employees and give them a stipend over the winter so they stick around, maybe make them take training classes for poo poo or something to justify keeping them on the payroll. Teachers get paid over the summer, no reason park employee rank and file shouldn't get paid over the winter for retention purposes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 15:02
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:What's funny is that the concession companies are having just as much trouble hiring employees as the feds. Xanterra was probably the worst part of my Yellowstone visit this year. They did not have their poo poo together. Yeah I just got back from my Yellowstone trip (which I'll write up later) and we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. Besides not having housekeeping (which wasn't uncommon with hotels we stayed at even in big cities) the food service was difficult. Only one option for dinner and the menu never changed. However over several nights we always got slightly different things (like bread service) as they came into and out of stock. Service wasnt great but it wasn't terrible. We were lucky though because I'm a planner and had booked dinner reservations every night. We saw plenty of starving people who couldn't get in on a wait list and had no options for food (except driving 90 minutes away to Cody, I guess). Many restaurants were just closed. At Old Faithful they had 3 open hotels with only 2 options for lunch. So everyone coming to the main place at the park had a choice between a small counter service location or a cafeteria style place with most "windows" closed.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2022 01:51
|
|
|
Working for Xanterra (or most concessioners honestly) can become straight-up hell depending on the conditions. You get to work in a cool place, but it's for bad pay and the housing can be absolutely awful - and if you don't have a reliable car (and many people don't), then it's easy to feel trapped and isolated in a very remote area. Zero One posted:Yeah I just got back from my Yellowstone trip (which I'll write up later) and we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. I don't know about Yellowstone, but at Grand Canyon Xanterra (allegedly) had a huge number of people quit when Covid restrictions lapsed and they tried to force people to have in-room roommates in their dormitories. This closed down most of their restaurants (most of which had only just reopened), and I wouldn't be surprised if the same issue occurred elsewhere, and that they're still struggling to hire enough people to cover the ones that quit.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2022 06:07
|
|
|
We stayed at the Old Faithful Inn for three nights but only ate one meal there because we were trying to save money. I regret that one meal! It was the worst buffet I've ever experienced but dressed up like fine dining with a matching price tag. Nearly everyone eating/working there seemed to be having a bad time. They could have fed everyone if they'd accepted the circumstances and downgraded the service, but I assume they didn't because it would hurt their profits. And that's why I don't like private companies operating in national parks. In better news though I just saved $40 because I had a leftover America the Beautiful pass from that trip, and the campground I stayed at this weekend accepted those in place of the fee. Those passes are a great deal
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2022 19:23
|
|
|
Would love any tips or suggestions for meal planning in Yellowstone. We are staying in the park for about 7 days, and it’s a big group. My wife, two kids, mom and dad, mother and father in law, brother and his wife + 2 kids, and my sister and her husband. We won’t be responsible for everyone’s meals, but they’ll be looking to us for advice. We have two nights at mammoth hot springs, two nights in canyon, and 3 nights at old faithful inn. Problem is we won’t have fridges at any of those places I don’t think, nor can we cook at any of them. Should we just plan to eat at off-times to try and avoid the rushes ?
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2022 05:05
|
|
|
What's the reason you can't cook at those sites? Camp stove, boxed dinner stuff (hamburger helper, and so forth) and styrofoam coolers can all be done a few days at a time out of super markets.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2022 05:44
|
|
|
Try to reserve your meals in case the restaurants are still in disarray (they probably will be). You can also buy simple premade meals like sandwiches in some of the stores (there's a convenience store by Old Faithful that sells these anyway). Imo though do whatever you can to bring your own food. The restaurants are a rip-off, and the park is full of some of the world's most beautiful picnic spots. The mediocre meal is made up for by the fact that you can watch bison while you eat it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 19, 2022 13:00
|
|
|
^^yup. Bring nice sandwich meats, cheeses and breads. Premake some breakfast sandwiches, I like bacon, egg and cheese biscuits. Cheap and delicious.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2022 01:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 22:14 |
|
|
Looking at going to Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef in early February (already been to Zion and Bryce). Anyone been to these at that time of year? Seems like will be cold but any snow shouldn’t be enough to shut areas down and seems like stuff in Moab area are open and cheap around then. Trying to get an idea of if trails will still be able to get on most trails and just get general idea of what the area is like in early February.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2022 03:33
|
|
