[39 / 13 / ?]
The 2018 numbers are late due to the shutdown, but here are the 2017 statistics. Which parks are overrated, underrated, etc.? How many, if any, have you visited yet, /out/?>1. Great Smoky Mountains (Tennessee; North Carolina) - 11,338,893 >2. Grand Canyon (Arizona) - 6,254,238 >3. Zion (Utah) - 4,504,812 >4. Rocky Mountain (Colorado) - 4,437,215 >5. Yosemite (California) - 4,336,890 >6. Yellowstone (Wyoming; Montana; Idaho) - 4,116,524 >7. Acadia (Maine) - 3,509,271 >8. Olympic (Washington) - 3,401,996 >9. Grand Teton (Wyoming) - 3,317,000 >10. Glacier (Montana) - 3,305,512. Note - contiguous with Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada (568,807). Combined total: 3,874,319 >11. Joshua Tree (California) - 2,853,619 >12. Bryce Canyon (Utah) - 2,571,684 >13. Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio) - 2,226,879 >14. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes (Hawaii) - 2,016,702 >15. Hot Springs (Arkansas) - 1,561,616 >16. Arches (Utah) - 1,539,028 >17. Shenandoah (Virginia) - 1,458,874 >18. Mount Rainier (Washington) - 1,415,867 >19. Gateway Arch (Missouri) - 1,398,188 >20. Death Valley (California; Nevada) - 1,294,827
Anonymous
>>1450793 >21. Sequoia (California) - 1,291,256 >22. Capitol Reef (Utah) - 1,150,165 >23. Haleakalā (Hawaii) - 1,112,390 >24. Badlands (South Dakota) - 1,054,325 >25. Everglades (Florida) - 1,018,557 >26. Saguaro (Arizona) - 964,760 >27. Canyonlands (Utah) - 742,271 >28. Crater Lake (Oregon) - 711,749 >29. Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota) - 708,003 >30. Kings Canyon (California) - 692,932 ...
>31. Denali (Alaska) - 642,809 >32. Petrified Forest (Arizona) - 627,757 >33. Wind Cave (South Dakota) - 619,924 >34. Mesa Verde (Colorado) - 613,788 >35. Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) - 587,853 >36. Glacier Bay (Alaska) - 547,057 >37. Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico) - 520,026 >38. Lassen Volcanic (California) - 507,256 >39. Great Sand Dunes (Colorado) - 486,935 >40. Biscayne (Florida) - 446,961 Anonymous
>>1450794 >41. Redwood (California) - 445,000 >42. Big Bend (Texas) - 440,276 >43. Channel Islands (California) - 383,687 >44. Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado) - 307,143 >45. Virgin Islands (US Virgin Islands) - 304,408 >46. Kenai Fjords (Alaska) - 303,598 >47. Voyageurs (Minnesota) - 237,250 >48. Pinnacles (California) - 233,334 >49. Guadalupe Mountains (Texas) - 225,257 >50. Great Basin (Nevada) - 168,028 ...
>51. Congaree (South Carolina) - 159,595 >52. National Park of American Samoa (American Samoa) - 69,468 >53. Wrangell–St. Elias (Alaska) - 68,292. Note - contiguous with Kluane National Park, Yukon, Canada (29,743). Combined total: 98,035 >54. Dry Tortugas (Florida) - 54,281 >55. Katmai (Alaska) - 37,818 >56. North Cascades (Washington) - 30,326 >57. Isle Royale (Michigan) - 28,196 >58. Lake Clark (Alaska) - 22,755 >59. Kobuk Valley (Alaska) - 15,500 >60. Gates of the Arctic (Alaska) - 11,177 (end)
Anonymous
>>1450793 GSM is my personal favorite, and I think it's way under rated, but it's also way too full, stay the fuck out.
I've visited (camped in most listed):
*GSM
*Grand Canyon
*Yellowstone (lived there)
*Olympic
*Grand Teton
*Glacier
*Sequoia
*Badlands
*Lassen Volcanic
*Redwood
*North Cascades
I hit most of them during off seasons, and often had them largely to myself. The few times I've been during tourist season, including my time of living at Yellowstone, I found the crowds to be truly maddening.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450809 BTW, when I was at Yellowstone, the annual tourist count was at 2.2 million, so it's since doubled, which I cannot fathom.
Anonymous
I don't think North Cascades is accurate because there is no gate/sign-in, there's no way it's that low (not that it's crowded).
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1450819 English Plantain leaf sticking out there, my daily source of greens! These are spectacular photographs.
Anonymous
Should "Gateway Arch" really be a national park? I think it was a 'National Monument' but then inexplicably got upgraded, even though it really doesn't fit the spirit of the national park system. The only other park that comes close to an urban preserve is Hot Springs, but HS dates from the 1920's and is kind of a special case.
Anonymous
Literally all of these are memes.
Anonymous
>>1450794 >Kings Canyon (California) - 692,932 probably my favorite park in the sierras
did the rae lakes loop summer of 2017, had a blast up there
Anonymous
>>1450819 >>1450818 That water clarity... hot damn.
>>1450824 Never realized it was edible! Does it suck? Probably mostly eat younger leaves?
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>1450824 thanks.
Here's another rare NP - Great Basin
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450797 More people went to Isle Royale than PR? Surprising
Anonymous
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450793 The Olympic is my backyard. Love that place, the rain usually keeps away a lot of people too.
Anonymous
>>1450855 Every single normie I've offered it to has thought it sucked, but I love it, and it grew on me over time. And, over time, you notice subtle flavor dynamics varying with plant size, seasons, and mystery factors. To me, it's quite reminiscent of raw, uncooked peanut. It's also known to be good for various skin issues, which I verified with some sort of lower leg rash. I chewed it a bit, then rubbed it all over the rash on both legs, and they immediately stopped itching.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
The smokies are cool, but the accents are not
Anonymous
>>1450883 Awesome, thanks for the info. That sounds really appealing, I'll try next time I'm /out/ and see some. Do you always eat raw, or do you cook it with dinner sometimes?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450889 I always eat it raw, just run it between my thumb and finger to knock off any debris. When I first got into wild edibles, it was (and remains) the most readily findable just about anywhere. There's another, Greater Plantain, that has broader leaves and shorter shoots, and usually just about any patch of grass I've been on has one, the other, or both, and both are edible. I figure cooking would fuck with the vitamin/mineral content, which is supposedly much more rich than store greens. It was a common setter food. It's my primary source of greens. When eating, I am intentionally mindfully focused on getting direct, totally fresh sourced sun energy, which to me helps expand consciousness of both primal, and cosmic, and also bridges them.
Anonymous
>>1450839 pinnacles is the same. i love it (been there probably 40-50 times), but bumping it from a monument to a park was strictly a political move and not reflecting it's true stature.
>>1450849 nice. i went backpacking out by north guard for my brother's bachelor party last summer. i never understand how sequoia is always 2x kings canyon.
Anonymous
>>1450910 Who wanted pinaccles bumped to park status?
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450940 one of our senators or representatives, i've forgotten which one. it sucks because now it's on every asshole's checklist. fortunately they all stick to the 2 main trails and i still get everything else to myself. assuming i can get a parking space.
Anonymous
>>1450910 Pinnacles at least has an interesting kind of beauty to it. Gateway Arch NP is just a bunch of grass and some buildings surrounded by a river and... St. Louis.
If I had to pick a park to upgrade, I'd probably turn part of the Eagle Cap wilderness in northeastern Oregon into an NP. That would include some of the Wallowa Mountains and some rivers/canyons/valleys. It's kind of surprising it never became one.
Anonymous
>>1450973 Kys and never mention that again
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450973 There's a pretty sweet museum in St Louis called the City Museum. They converted a shoe factory to part playground, part art exhibition. It has a Ferris wheel on the roof and an 11 story spiral slide into a man made cave in the basement. There are hidden rooms, passages everywhere and you can slide into everything. There's outdoor sections too connected by steel tunnels. It's a pretty amazing place.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450793 I've been to 5, 7, 20, 24, 33, and 42. As far as Big Bend goes, fuck off they're full. I kind of wish I'd could say "we're full" but I travel in January, not August.
I'm planning a roadie to 29 (can't believe it's that high!) and I have 35 and 49 on my list. I should have 47 and 57 on my list but I'm kind of a pussy about backpacking.
Anonymous
>>1450982 Eagle Cap is already well-known. I wouldn't worry about it being "discovered" - it's fundamentally too remote and has too few roads for mass-tourism like you'd see in Yellowstone or elsewhere.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
I have made it to 2, 10, 11, 13, and 20. Glacier was my personal favorite, and I hope to make it out there again at some point in the next 2 or 3 years to spend a week or 2 there. I just moved to Chicago for work, so I am hoping to check out 24 and 29 sometime this fall when I have some time off.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
I've been to 2, 8, 10, 17, 21, 28, 41. Glacier was the best, but all of them were nice in their own way.
Anonymous
Going to Joshua Tree for the long weekend to do an overnight.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1452760 Probably the first hike mentioned in any other research you did, but Ryan Mountain is a 3ish mile hike pretty close to the Northern end of the park. From the top, you get a pretty expansive view of that area of the park. I think it is close to the farmsteads and whatnot as well
Anonymous
>>1451529 What’s the point of making it a park when it’s already a wilderness besides to draw more visitors? Seems like the only thing that would change is hunting and gathering would be banned.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1452847 probably to get permits to build certain infrastructure. but who knows tbqh.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1452847 It's a different way to protect land and suits different needs. National Parks, in general, tend to spring out of huge tourist draws that would get loads of people anyway due to a combination of beauty and access, so a degree of control is necessary to ensure that those areas are adequately protected. The Teton Range is a pretty good example of this, though in those kinds of parks there are far and away places that nobody visits and could still be considered de facto wilderness (in addition to land already classified as wilderness such as most of Yosemite, King's Canyon, Death Valley, and Sequoia). Park facilities are jumping off points for anything from a more curated and gentle outdoor experience such as taking a nice stroll along the shores of Lake Jackson, or for a more intense experience such as summiting the Grand.
Wilderness simply means that it's hasn't been developed and retains its special "primeval" qualities and is a recognition of that fact that closes it off to development. Wilderness also implies a distinct lack of access, usually a few roads on the outer edges and maybe a parking lot with a pit toilet if you're lucky, and those areas tend to cater to the more individualistic and adventurous spirits. Wilderness is generally a more intense experience, lack of facilities and lack of access means that there's nobody there to run to your rescue if you get stuck, or help could be far away if you happen to have some way to signal civilization.
TLDR version:
Parks - People are going to come here anyway so we should probably manage it. Greater Access, Greater Monitoring.
Wilderness - Most people aren't going to make the effort, so a more hands off approach is good. Less access, less monitoring.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>1450840 T. Guy that has never left his house in a flat geography
