WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
Results 21 to 30 of 30
  1. #21
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-30-2005
    Location
    NW MT
    Posts
    5,468
    Images
    56

    Default

    Wow. It's funny, but the author has a diseased mind to even think of these criticisms.

    But what do I know? My next vacation is a MONTH in Death Valley. ;-)
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  2. #22
    Registered User No Directions's Avatar
    Join Date
    04-12-2012
    Location
    Marietta, GA
    Age
    65
    Posts
    217

    Default

    I prefer places that most people don't want to visit. Some people just don't get the beauty of the wilderness. While I would love to see Yellowstone it is not high on my bucket list due to the masses of people that I would have to wade through.

    The title of the article got me thinking about what is the purpose of our national parks. While I couldn't immediately find it on the NPS website I did find this on Wikipedia which I think sums it up pretty well.

    " the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride"

    I'm sure there are many places in our national parks that are not visitor friendly and that's ok with me.

  3. #23
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-25-2012
    Location
    Lurkerville, East Tn
    Age
    64
    Posts
    3,717
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by No Directions View Post
    I prefer places that most people don't want to visit. Some people just don't get the beauty of the wilderness. While I would love to see Yellowstone it is not high on my bucket list due to the masses of people that I would have to wade through.
    Don't let its popularity discourage you! Yellowstone is an awesome place! Crowds or not, it's still pretty cool to watch Old Faithful and feel its spray if the wind blows in your direction, or stand with others on a boardwalk looking down into a deep pool of hot water, or to see buffalo up close. I haven't visited all the parks on the list in the article, but I can't think of a park I've regretted visiting, except maybe a dumb theme park or something like that.
    http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/...Pool1966-1.jpg
    http://image.shutterstock.com/displa...w-80251996.jpg

  4. #24
    Hiker bigcranky's Avatar
    Join Date
    10-22-2002
    Location
    Winston-Salem, NC
    Age
    61
    Posts
    7,937
    Images
    296

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Odd Man Out View Post
    We did that trip many years ago when the kids were young. I did get "attacked" by a prairie dog at Custer St Park (which is awesome, BTW).
    +1 on the major awesomeness that is Custer State Park in South Dakota.

    Also +1 for visiting Yellowstone. The key for avoiding crowds (which works in every national park) is to be on the trail at first light, and/or hit the backcountry.
    Ken B
    'Big Cranky'
    Our Long Trail journal

  5. #25
    Super Moderator Ender's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-12-2003
    Location
    Lovely coastal Maine
    Age
    49
    Posts
    2,281

    Default

    That article made me laugh. I love snark like that. Good stuff.
    Don't take anything I say seriously... I certainly don't.

  6. #26

    Join Date
    08-07-2003
    Location
    Nashville, Tennessee
    Age
    72
    Posts
    6,119
    Images
    620

    Default

    With such a quaintly provincial intro as this, you know the author has limited awareness--

    It’s always fun to come up with rankings for the “best of” travel – and ... there is always a spirited competition between the likes of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, and the Tetons....
    Like someone who wants to speak of the best food in the world, and mentions only a limited European fair.

    I wonder if his name is an appropriate pseudonym? "Fink." LOL. (See. The "humor" angle makes it all okay.)

    Rain Man

    .
    Last edited by Rain Man; 01-30-2015 at 15:15.
    [I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35

    [url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]

    .

  7. #27
    Registered User kofritz's Avatar
    Join Date
    03-19-2007
    Location
    Tennessee
    Age
    65
    Posts
    114

    Default

    Badlands and wind cave, Rushmore, are not disappointing!

  8. #28

    Default

    "In the Great Smoky Mountains, our most polluted national park, ozone pollution rivals urban areas, and even exceeds that of New York City, and Washington, D.C.," said Harvard Ayers, chairman of Appalachian Voices."

    For more Fun With Technology and Traffic see---

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...rks.pollution/

    http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/air-quality.htm

    http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/permit...GRSM/index.cfm

    To me it's all about breathing. When the GSMNP Head Honchos write about Finding Solutions, THERE'S NOT ONE MENTION of limiting car and truck and motorcycle traffic in the Park or charging a $20 entrance fee per vehicle. This is lunacy. And yet overnighters on foot needs reservations and cash money to sleep out every night.

    The worst thing about our National Parks? They have become Motor Loops and parking lots for fat American rolling couch potatoes. Walking has been engineered out of American society and the Park system.

    When I'm out backpacking in the mountains near the GSMNP and get to a high point I can't help but see the brown orange haze of pollution. No wonder Knoxville people say Go Big Orange---they must be talking about the mountain and valley smog. Maybe the tourist bureau should say, "We like calling East Tennessee home . . . For Bladder Cancer."

  9. #29

    Default

    I hope he writes reviews of Yellowstone and Grand Tetons (in the same voice he used here), and the number of visitors goes down. :-) I had the pleasure of being in Yellowstone last fall, the weekend before the park closed. I could stand in the road in Lamar Valley and take pictures of the road with no vehicles on it in either direction... well, except for mine. Pringles

  10. #30

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by No Directions View Post
    I prefer places that most people don't want to visit. Some people just don't get the beauty of the wilderness. While I would love to see Yellowstone it is not high on my bucket list due to the masses of people that I would have to wade through.

    The title of the article got me thinking about what is the purpose of our national parks. While I couldn't immediately find it on the NPS website I did find this on Wikipedia which I think sums it up pretty well.

    " the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride"

    I'm sure there are many places in our national parks that are not visitor friendly and that's ok with me.
    Saving wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride is a very low priority for Americans. We have shrinking postage stamp-areas of wilderness surrounded by sprawl and development. An Ed Abbey quote comes to mind---

    The most common form of terrorism in the U.S.A. is that carried on by bulldozers and chain saws.
    – Edward Abbey

    I call it a jihad against nature as we chew up everything in sight. It's apparently part of our religion. America the Beautiful?? We're quickly losing the beautiful part. And the wilderness areas and national forests are on the chopping block.

    In the Southeast where I backpack there are a handful of designated wilderness areas---Big Frog, Little Frog, Snowbirds, Cohutta, Slickrock-Kilmer, Citico etc---and most days all you hear are a thousand jets flying overhead and racing motorcyclists on the so-called "scenic" valley roads. I am surrounded by the airports of Atlanta, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Asheville. This must be the "terrorism of 'dozers and saws" Abbey talks about.

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •