I can't enjoy wilderness amongst huge crowds. That's why I only go to Yosemite in the dead of winter. Still quite spectacular, and not so crowded. Nor too hot...
I can't enjoy wilderness amongst huge crowds. That's why I only go to Yosemite in the dead of winter. Still quite spectacular, and not so crowded. Nor too hot...
Apparently, you're pissed you let your tripod get stolen. And, I'm sorry you're having a bad national park day. The real problem here that no one ever addresses is overpopulation. That (and greed) are the two worst problems plaguing mankind and this earth. Even worse than the current presidential administration. Someone posted a good piece of advice here. Get out in the parks early, do your shooting, and get out before the masses fill the place.
Jason,
I visited Yosemite in May, and I think you were bit by a unique confluence of events this year. The amount of construction underway in the Valley is extremely unusual, but it is supposed to be completed this year and is only an interim nuisance. I also ran into road resurfacing around El Portal (all the turn-outs I like to use to photograph the Merced River were closed!) so I too got a bit frustrated. But as others have said, overall Yosemite Valley is not in bad shape, and has actually improved versus past years.
If you want to photograph the standard sites in the Valley, then simply don't go during the summer. I prefer March or April at the latest weather permitting, or after Labor Day.
In NM you only see a handful of people at the different parks, and there are millions of acres of blm property where it would be unusual to see anyone.
There are real wilderness areas, you just need to work a little more to get to them.
Our parks and wilderness belong to the country and all the people. Are there to many visitors? Apparently so, reading this thread, but as some seasoned park photographers here have mentioned timing is everything and especially so the parks in summer!
I bet you can go to many parks in Florida right now and see a hand full of folks during weekdays. Weekends folks want to swim in the rivers and lakes associated with many of our parks.
Temperatures in the 90's and humidity as high allows Florida folk a chance to have their state back during the summer months. From September to April my home state is under assualt from folks from up north all the way to Canada and around the world. (Up north for me is everything north of interstate 10 -GRIN-)
And! Our poor park rangers are not required to be college grads or take sensitivity courses when dealing with tourist. Most work hard to please their visitors for really low wages! With funding cuts being the norm from Washington DC they are most likely understaffed and overworked like so many of the White House remedies for America there is just another addition to the list that must be cleaned up after the current administrators return to where they come from.
As for the quality of tourist, if they are anything like those I see coming to Florida, I wish they would go to the Mall of America instead of coming to this state. However, our gator population has recovered and although the sharks are dying off the gators should be able to fill the gap and cull out the really stupid ones. Medicines intervention in the "survival of the strongest" has yeilded a ton and a half of stupid tourist and their heards of stupid tourist offspring!
My extremely biased 2 pennies worth! Paul
And before I get slammed I did not run a spell checker!!!
Paul, the FL park rangers I've chatted with have all been very nice, usually delighted to meet someone who's interested. And the fish and wildlife people who've stopped to check that I had a valid FL fishing license -- don't fish without one in Florida, especially if your car doesn't have FL plates -- have all been very polite, friendly, and willing to chat. But then, neither my wife nor I is agressive and we both seem to come across as interested and not totally ignorant. Another benefit of age and experience.
As for the gators culling tourists, dream on. The gators know the rules. For example, this Feb. when Pat and I went down to Flamingo, we stopped at one of the ponds to enjoy the birds on the other side. I even took a few pictures, Questar 700 time, none of my lenses for 2x3 has the reach. Anyway, there was a gator hauled out dozing in the sun. We gave it considerable room, on the grounds of why not. As I was standing there shooting birds, a Canadian idiot walked up to the gator and kicked it. Instead of attacking the man, it just went into the water. Remarkably tolerant animals, gators.
"recently drove from Lee Vining to Lake Tenaya for the first time in 35 years. I was amazed to see how many more trees there are in what used to be meadow. Tuolumne Meadows is now forest! The difference is just dramatic."
According to Carl Sharsmith (former yosemite botanist) Tuolumne Meadows sits on stream deposites rather than lake deposites. The water table does fluctuate below the meadow. Sharsmith (1972) suggests that changes in the water table ( i imagine a drop) accounts for invasions of lodgepole pines. Massive invasions have been documented prior to 1920 and in 1903 and 1905. Plant communities certainly are not static in nature.
Hello Dan,
I must agree with you 100% I have always enjoyed meeting with the Florida Park Service folks as well as the Fish & Game, and to be quite honest the Florida Highway Patrol as well. We Floridians love our state and all its natural beauty so most service folks share their knowledge with visitor so they can appreciate this garden as well. Tourist like to go to places like Orlando and the beach scene. Floridians head to the springs and crystal clear spring fed rivers and lakes `cause we keep em hidden from ya all'
I think this thread and the other concurrent one "hassled by the man" are presenting opinions both + & - but we have to remember these folks in uniform at the parks are everyday folks like the rest of us. If someone approaches you with their hackles up I do not think you are going to be real passive and gentile.
Dan, please allow me to pass on a tip to you from experience? I wish to do this because I truly value you as a member of this community who shares his knowledge. When in a canoe, never get between a nesting gator and its mound! If I had a recorder you would hear it was "Jurassic Park!!!" bubbles blowing snorting and growling. I inched out backwards with as little ripple as possible. Gators are fascinating but they have once more established themselves in full and a 8 to 10 foot gator is more common than the last 50 years. The most dangerous of all gators are those who get fed by humans. Once a gator looses it fear of humans they have to be destroyed. The next thing is aggression and if a gator can get your hand it will. Very similar to the problems other areas have with the bear and wolf. It is not the animals fault at all, it is people closing in on the wilderness edge. So look before you leap!
I believe that there is an organization called the Nature Conservancy.
http://nature.org/
that does just that. It buys up land for the exclusive purpose of saving it for the future. No one can use it for anything after that.
I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean, but TNC buys unique and ecologically important properties, which are often open to many uses including hunting, hiking, etc.
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