Advantage Planners

[HDRider]

I read this article this morning and thought it would be good to share with the group.

 

Eighteen parks broke annual visitation records in 2021, according to National Park Service data. One — Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas — saw record visitors last year.  Overall visits to national parks jumped by 5% in 2022 versus the year prior, to 312 million recreation visits. 

• Some of the most heavily trafficked parks have instituted advance reservation systems to address congestion in popular hikes and roads. A few require reservations for full park access.
• They include: Acadia, Arches, Glacier, Haleakalā, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite and Zion National Parks.
• The free permits and reservations generally come with a processing fee of $2 and up.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/10/national-park-trips-you-may-need-advance-reservations-and-permits.html

 

 

 

[routlaw]

Correction on Zion. I called them earlier in the year and the ranger on the phone said they have not implemented this RSVP system for this year. Regardless it is a very crowded park and it is my understanding visitors have to take the shuttle bus up the Virgin River Canyon beyond the turn off to Carmel Junction although I do not know what the cutoff dates for this are. Most likely available on the nps website though. The unfortunate and sad part is we are loving the national parks to death. There may be some relief coming though based upon the plummeting sales of new RV's this year. Winnebago and Thor Industries stock had taken a dive earlier in the year due to this very issue. One would assume this is a barometer of the over all industry with two major manufacturers with very diminished sales and demand. 

My goals this year are to explore and reach out to far lesser known or visited wilderness places.