what's the point in allowing people to go to a park in such a way that it destroys the park? a national park simply cannot handle a limitless amount of traffic.
i went to rocky mountain national park on what happened to be labor day weekend. it sounds weird, but we actually didn't plan on going there while in colorado but ended up going due to other things changing. it was insane. cars, traffic, lines, massive congestion on trails, trash, etc. the park was completely overrun. lines for the shuttles were hours long. obviously, myself and my girlfriend were part of the problem (in terms of adding to the visitor numbers), but many didn't seem to care. it felt like almost being in a gold rush. people swimming with god knows what chemicals in delicate ponds and glacial lakes, trash, etc.
unprompted by anything other than my experience, i asked one of the park rangers / shuttle drivers if the park planned on implementing some system to reduce numbers in peak travel times. she basically said that it had been considered and talked about and that she felt that they were going to have to. she mentioned that the traffic of people on foot and cars was destroying the park. wildlife are constantly hit by cars, ranging from big to small. just a month or two earlier, a bear, already in dwindling numbers in the area, had been hit and killed by a car.
humanity acts as if the world must bend to its unchecked population growth. well, it will bend, then it'll break, and then it'll snap back.
Not sure they did miss the point, by my reading at least. Outside of impact of vehicle traffic on animals who otherwise roam, you're talking about a very specific part of the park, not the entire park. Huge portions of it are inaccessible to tourist vehicles and seen by very few. The difference between the main areas and backcountry are significant. Both you and the grandparent had experiences that confirmed their comment - you came away very aware of the human impact on our environment.
I don't mean to discount your broader position, I just don't think you're actually arguing against your comment's parent. Yes, the parks are absolutely swamped and many will gradually bring in shuttles or lotteries and the like. Zion runs a shuttle, Bryce also. Half Dome and The Wave have lottery systems as it is. Getting a camping spot in the big name parks during peak season is miserably difficult. When I went to Rocky Mountain last year, we drove Trail Ridge Road and found a parking spot just once that allowed us to stop. Every parking spot was otherwise taken along the entire drive. And the main, named trails' trailheads fill up daily too which meant we didn't even try. But that's not the entire park. Think of it like the ocean where almost everyone plays on the beach but you have to be well-equipped, skilled and aware of risks to dive at a continental shelf or cross oceans or whatever. (Just pretend cruise ships and trawling boats don't exist for this comparison...)
what's the point in allowing people to go to a park in such a way that it destroys the park? a national park simply cannot handle a limitless amount of traffic.
i went to rocky mountain national park on what happened to be labor day weekend. it sounds weird, but we actually didn't plan on going there while in colorado but ended up going due to other things changing. it was insane. cars, traffic, lines, massive congestion on trails, trash, etc. the park was completely overrun. lines for the shuttles were hours long. obviously, myself and my girlfriend were part of the problem (in terms of adding to the visitor numbers), but many didn't seem to care. it felt like almost being in a gold rush. people swimming with god knows what chemicals in delicate ponds and glacial lakes, trash, etc.
unprompted by anything other than my experience, i asked one of the park rangers / shuttle drivers if the park planned on implementing some system to reduce numbers in peak travel times. she basically said that it had been considered and talked about and that she felt that they were going to have to. she mentioned that the traffic of people on foot and cars was destroying the park. wildlife are constantly hit by cars, ranging from big to small. just a month or two earlier, a bear, already in dwindling numbers in the area, had been hit and killed by a car.
humanity acts as if the world must bend to its unchecked population growth. well, it will bend, then it'll break, and then it'll snap back.