Road Wisdom: Our National Parks

So, this is the type of Road Wisdom that we would usually come up with as the busy summer season approaches. However, recently we have been fortunate enough to spend a good amount of time in some of our National Parks, which are still very busy. So here goes.

Whether it’s the Ken Burns documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, people trying to save a few bucks by going outdoors for vacation, or President Obama sightings at the Grand Canyon, National Parks have been reporting increased visits across the country. The reports for the first half alone of 2009 showed that National Park visits had increased by 4.5 million. This is great news for the parks and great news for those concerned about ‘nature deficit disorder’.

So, in honor of America’s Best Idea, we wanted to offer a few reminders to all National Park visitors. These were some of the most common impacts (in no particular order) to our Parks that can be easily fixed by us, the visitors:

• Trash – When visiting the Parks be ready to pack your trash out to the nearest trash cans or recycling bins.
• Pets – Check the Park regulations about leash requirements and be prepared to pick up after them.
• Wildlife – Feeding wildlife can not only hurt them, but could hurt you as well.
• Speeding – Speeding kills numerous animals every year in our Parks, over 20 bears have been killed in Yosemite National Park alone in 2009 by speeding vehicles.
• Trail etiquette – Remember, hikers always yield to pack animals and bikers always yield to hikers and pack animals.
  

See ya out there,

JD & Emily
Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers