I vote no. $70 for a carload of people is too much considering:
- We're already paying for the national parks through taxes.
- People don't tend to stay in one park for a week; rather, people tend to visit several parks in one vacation OR they go to one park for a long weekend.
- $70 is a great deal of money to many Americans (remember, many of us need to drive long distances to reach the parks, then there's food and other costs), and we should be encouraging people to use these fantastic lands -- not throwing up obstacles.
I wonder if this is an attempt to push people towards the America the Beautiful pass.
I love the national parks, and I agree that they should remain public properties -- and protected by law. That will assure us that these wonderful places are available for future generations.
I'd say this entire thing would be done to dissuade people from visiting. I'm not sure if you've been to any of the major national parks during peak season, but they're packed! We have entirely too many visitors to the national parks during peak season.
Yes. This. Like I said before, we tend to visit off season (kids vacations).
We have been to Bryce, Zion, and Yosemite in late March. Zion especially was just packed. Absolutely packed. We had to make sure we got there before a certain time in the morning to even be able to park. The buses inside Zion were also packed. The hikes...packed.
Bryce was a little bit better.
Yosemite in March - cold, like Bryce and Zion, but not quite as busy. I think because our spring break does not line up with Bay Area spring break.
We went to Mesa Verde this summer. There were a lot of people. We didn't plan ahead very much. When we arrived, the tours were all booked for the days we were there except for the 4 pm tour.
This means, in order to go see the ruins up close, you *have* to sign up for a tour (and I don't think they are free. I don't exactly remember.) This limits the # of people trampling on over.