Help with government shutdown needed

**Bruce Watson** · 5-Oct-2013, 08:43

Originally Posted by john borrelli

I don't know the area around here that well, does anyone out there know places I could try that are state parks but not national parks or national parks that you can be around but not in to do some photography. Any advice would be appreciated. Apologies for the typos, using my wife's IPad.

You're in luck, sorta. Some of the best parks are the coastal redwood parks, and most of them are actually CA state parks, even though the NPS claims them. Long drive north from SF, up near the Oregon boarder, but if you're going to do a national parks project anyway, you'd want to hit these parks sooner or later. Well worth the drive IMHO, these parks are well worth seeking out, photography project or not. Spend some time with these trees, and they'll change you. If you're open to it. Just ask Vaughn.

I was there just a few years ago, and even though I'm 3000 miles away, there's not a week goes by that I don't think about going back. Been like that since I first found them, way back in 1978. I don't get back nearly enough. Sigh...

**Drew Wiley** · 7-Oct-2013, 09:47

John - I'm surprised Smokey is out on parole already. Usually arson convictions require more actual prison time ... but ya know, these overcrowded jails and budget
cuts, etc. People should have known all along. How come a bear that doesn't even know how to drive just happens to be the one always at the fire first?

**paulr** · 7-Oct-2013, 13:16

There are lots places where it should be easy to sneak into the parks. Many of them are bordered by national forest or state forest land, where roads and trailheads will be open. Roads and park institutions can be closed, but you can't close a mountain range. I'd suggest avoiding situations that would require a rescue.

**Drew Wiley** · 7-Oct-2013, 14:15

We've got a catch 22 at the moment here. The NP lands are closed, and the adjacent regional and state parks are under high fire danger watch. So I just did house painting this past weekend. The weather is due to change in a few days, with the dry wind pattern ending, and it should be cool enough to lug the 8x10 again closer to home. Many of our parks are interconnected. In fact, after a three block walk, I could hypothetically be on uninterrupted public land for about thirty six miles, with just one freeway catwalk crossing in route. The most I've ever done in a day around here was 22 miles, but that was with the 6x7, not an 8x10. To do the complete circumference of the Bay Trail requires also using some paved bike paths etc. I don't have much interest in that. In our system,some parking areas collect fees, some don't, but walk-ins are completely ignored. Entering from dissimilar parks, one to the other, is actively encouraged as part of the whole collection. And new open spaces and parks are being added faster than I can personally visit them. The taxpayer base is quite supportive of this, since it's
one of the key amenities of living around here. And crime is low in most of these parks, with the exception of a few pot busts in remoter wooded areas.

**Vaughn** · 7-Oct-2013, 19:38

Originally Posted by Bruce Watson

...Spend some time with these trees, and they'll change you. If you're open to it. Just ask Vaughn...

I'm a changeling, alright! Message me if you have any questions about the redwoods up here. Many nice places in Redwood National Park -- but nothing much better than in the State Parks!

**Bruce Barlow** · 8-Oct-2013, 07:15

I'm screwed, too, wanting to start tomorrow with Grand Canyon and tour north through the parks in Utah. Oh well.

By the way, ALL of the guvmint employees I have encountered in Federal places - NPs, NFs, BLMs - have been WONDERFUL! Friendly, knowlegdeable, and just plain nice. The only grumpy people were outsourcers at a campground. And I have been to a lot of federal places over the past three months.