What in the heck is going on?

[Vaughn]

So far the on-line reservation system for Redwood National Park is not done through recreation.com, and is free.

I use to get to the Redwood Park visitor center at 9am to get the backpacking permit and road pass/combo for hiking up Redwood Creek. Usually not much of a wait, trying to be patient as the Ranger describes every trail within 20 miles to some nice people who probably will never get further than 200 feet from their car.

Now I have to plan at least 48 hours in advance to get the online reservation...no problem. Most of the time I plan ahead at least that far...not always. Navigating the website is as difficult as finding ones way up the changing channels of Redwood Creek, but doable. And free. And they email you back with your permit and the gate combination to drive to the trailhead. On onwards into paradise.

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah... its web presence can be a bit of a maze with respect to certain jurisdictions, but nowhere near the maze it was last year. Maybe that's due to all the forest fires opening up the view, and probably why Smokey the Bear is still on the government payroll.

[Alan Klein]

It seems natural that the federal government would furnish websites like this. States are already doing this with their state parks. Who uses the yellow pages any more?