OT: Free Admission at All National Parks This Week

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

If you have one near you and don't have a pass, or don't normally go...

National Park Week 2010—

Share a Park, Shape a Life!

April 17th–25th: FREE Admission All Week at Every National Park!

This National Park Week, we invite you to celebrate your ownership of the nearly 400 national parks across the country by sharing it with our youngest generation.

AZ-Twin · 04-17-2010, 07:55 AM

Thanks Craig. We are going camping in the Chiricahuas tonight. This might actually work to my advantage.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

Someday I want to get down to Saguaro and Petrified Forest National Parks,

BumbleBeemer36 · 04-17-2010, 08:13 AM

Petrified is kindof a snooze. I'd spend my whole week in Zion and Bryce if I were you.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by BumbleBeemer36

Petrified is kindof a snooze. I'd spend my whole week in Zion and Bryce if I were you.

No national park is a snooze, it simply depends on your objective. My objective is surely different than yours.

As far as Zion or Bryce, I've been to both many times. However I can be anywhere in the two best (by my definition) National Parks in Utah in a matter of minutes. So why would I want to go to an overcrowded park? Zion and Bryce are best from November through February.

I am simply letting other board members know about the free entry. I buy the $80 annual pass every year.

AZ-Twin · 04-17-2010, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckcarr

Someday I want to get down to Saguaro and Petrified Forest National Parks,

I went through Petrified in 04 or 05. The sad story is that years of theft has left petrified forest picked clean, most of the pieces small enough to be carried off have been. When we were there they told us they may have to close the park, not sure if there is any new info on that front or not.

I want to go over to Organ Pipe Cactus and check out some of their 4x4 trails after my son is a bit older. 4x4 trails, a good way to avoid the RV traffic.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ-Twin

I went through Petrified in 04 or 05. The sad story is that years of theft has left petrified forest picked clean, most of the pieces small enough to be carried off have been.

That's the sad legacy of many of the National Parks and Monuments. Which is often why they ended up being National Parks or Monuments.

Places I look for, that I've seen in old photographs, are often not the same. Kivas are broken, artifacts are gone, the ruins are knocked down and rebuilt - or not. Not from the plundering of 100 years ago which was bad, but a relatively new phenomenom, within the last 10-15 years. I have a secret spot by Hanksville that is full of petrified wood, or at least to my eyes in this present tense. But what was it like just 50 years ago before the uranium boom? My friend at work Lantz used to live in Ahwatukee and go out in the desert by Phoenix when it was fairly pristine and Phoenix was small. Now, with the influx of people, the illegal traffic, and general overuse he says it's just trashed with garbage. Makes him want to cry like the indian in the old commercial.

All I know is that this is the now and tomorrow will be worse.

Guest24 · 04-17-2010, 12:24 PM

I got my free for life card last year at Black Canyon, ck. Remember, being old has some benefits.

AZ-J · AZ-J's Garage

I was at Petrified in 1973 and again in 2004. I did not recognize the place - it was a hollow recreation of itself.

BTW, in 2004 I was also at Grand Canyon and sorta felt the same way. Then I realized in 1973 I was at the North Rim, not the South Rim (where I was at in 2004). Given the time and the choice, see the North Rim, the South Rim pales by comparison.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I have the annual pass and was at Saguaro NP in December. I am insanely busy for the next few mos., but #1 on my list to visit is Big Bend NP.

This was in November en route to Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Ricochet Rabbit · 04-19-2010, 08:17 AM

My wife and I considered a ride on the Shenandoah's Skyline Drive, but the 35 mph speed limit is just too slow - even for my MGB with skinnier tires than my R1100S We're not speed crazed loons, but it' just not that much fun. The Blue Ridge Parkway is 45 mph and free.

signit98 · 04-19-2010, 08:33 AM

Very cool info, Craig... thank you.

I usually buy the pass the first time I enter a park at any given year... just have not been to one this year. Soon, I guess...

BumbleBeemer36 · 04-19-2010, 09:12 AM

I did a project for the USGS in 98-99 where I GPS'ed all the trails in Petrified so they could try and monitor proximity to wood thefts. I didn't find being in the middle of a desolate country with no living trees and a few hunks of petrified wood particularly stunning. They didn't have much in the way of a visitor's center as I remember either. It was summer and I stayed in the un-airconditioned staff dorms so perhaps that's why I'm bitter.

We're going to Yosemite next month (first time in 20 years) and Zion in June (first motorcycle trip with my wife piloting her own bike). We went to North Rim (Grand Canyon) two years ago and it's now hard to get excited about the South Rim. North Rim feels like a private retreat due to the low number of tourists.

I actually liked Bryce's lodge better than its scenery - sad, I know.