No Crowds!

[John Kasaian]

The summer tourist season has arrived big time, yet I'm amazed to see how uncrowded some of the less popular but no less scenic parks are. I was in Seqouia/Kings Canyon NP on Saturday and there was no traffic, no lines, no (well hardly any) people! A couple of week ends ago I was driving through Yosemite NP and it was gridlock!

So, what tips do you have for people visiting your neck of the woods? What notable scenic areas offer the physical space to set up your tripod?

[Steve Hamley]

I'm in the Smokies and if I had to give only one tip, it would be "Avoid Pigeon Forge no matter how far you have to drive - you'll save time."

Tip#2: Avoid Cades Cove on the weekends.

Tip#3: Head for the Blue Ridge Parkway if you can. The southern portion "dead ends" at Mt. Mitchell above Asheville and that's reduced traffic. Great scenic area to beat the heat.

Favorite less traveled Smokies place: Tremont area.

Steve

[David E. Rose]

Try downtown Detroit. Almost no people around on evenings and weekends and lots of beautiful old decaying architecture to shoot!

[Bill_1856]

I don't think I can afford to go anywhere again this year. Last month I went from Florida to Tennessee for my Mother's 102th birthday, and found it was cheaper to fly and rent a car than it would have been to drive my Toyota gas guzzzler! I'll bet that there's some real bargains on hotel rooms in London right now, though.

[Keith Laban]

Despite the fact that I've been taking photographs for more years than I care to remember I could count on the fingers of one hand the times that I've encountered another photographer.

[Paul Butzi]

I just returned from photographing and co-leading a workshop on the WA coast. Conditions were beautiful, the weather was cooperative, and there were very few people on the beaches - unusual at this time of year and at the time when the low tide lines up with sunrise.

Beach 3, Beach 4, Ruby Beach, even First Beach and Rialto (all the way north to Hole in the Wall) were essentially deserted, at least before about 10am and after about 5pm.

[Michael Kadillak]

I agree with Keith. Out West the landscape is so broad that you practically have the place to yourself if you are a photographer. The obvious exceptions are the national parks that draw in the tourists in droves. After about September 1st however, even these vacate pretty effectively.

On the other end of the spectrum a fly fisherman by the very nature of the sport is relegated to some rather tight places and it has gotten progressively worse over the last few years. I was trying to remember the last time I was out with one of my rods and I could not remember.

I also find that a personal request to make a photograph on private property is so rare and unusual in this day and age that it always rates a positive response.

Time to head out to the hills!

Cheers!

[mark blackman]

Summer? It's approaching autumn/winter on half of the globe. Where is Seqouia/Kings Canyon NP? I checked my London AZ and couldn't find it. What is a parkway? Beach3, Beach4, is this somewhere in North Korea? Out West - Lima, Kerry, Saint Louis, Chowghat, etc? Are you all, perhaps, making parochial assumptions? It’s bad enough putting up with ‘jokes’ from morons about exploding Muslims, now I have to deal with insular pinheads who contribute to a thread entitled “Location/Travel” and give details about minor issues in a tiny corner of the world. Why not post this stuff somewhere appropriate and not clog up a LF forum?

[Bill_1856]

Mark, have you ever met the other LF user from the Southern Half of the planet? You'll like him. I think he's probably gay, too. His name is Omar, or something.

[Brian Ellis]

When someone mentions a location that sounds interesting and I don't know where it is I usually just email the person who mentioned it and ask where it is. Over the years I've found that to be more effective than calling them pinheads.