National Parks are the most crowded they’ve ever been. It can be hard to get the views you want, hike the trails you’ve planned on hiking, and don’t even get us started on the crowded campground situation…
Do you think it would make things easier if reservations were required to enter any or all of the popular National Parks? If so, would you like to see reservations required seven days a week or just on the busiest weekend days?
After you vote in the poll, please leave a comment with your thoughts. Thanks!
I can see SOME sites being reservable, just not all.
I answered just on weekends, but also the reservation needs to be kept. If someone reserves a site and they don’t show up or call in to say they are delayed within 12 hours then give it to someone waiting for a cancellation. Of course this would require someone at the check in desk to do something besides play a game on their phone.
And stipulate this in bold letter in the making of reservation and repeat in bold red at the end of the reservation.
I agree with Ed. Some camp sites should be reserved, some should not. However, remember, if backpacking in, all of their campsite have to be reserved. We have too many people competing for too little space. Eventually there will be campsites based on rig length.
All Bps should have a registration process it gets everyone to follow the same process rather busy or not.
Camping reservations should be required wherever you intend to travel. I make my plans the previous year and my reservations. This would also eliminate the overcrowding at all state/federal parks. No reservation – no entry!
I vote NO because of the ability of internet to have some computer capture the the reservations and then resell them. Try and get a ticket to a concert, secondary market has the ticket at a much higher price. Unless a ID to admission, the ability to receive a pass, and the government has shown it is not efficient at many things.
This is where the Feds run the tour businesses out. Must make your reservation on line through the park reservation system. The parks run the buses or can contract with a local bus company and taking a percentage cut to put back in the park.
NO, NO, NO. I have life pass and I am a US citizen, pay my taxes, a veteran of the Vietnam war and I have to make a reservation to visit a NP!!!!! What’s wrong with this picture. Where are we going? National Parks, US citizen first.
Thank you for your service Lee. I totally agree, especially US citizens first. Let foreign sightseer tours make reservations.
yes we could cut out visitors, but those that come should be charged as they help parks with money to help hire part-time workers. Just like other camp grounds.
We all have to share Lee sorry and rather you served or not. I too have served my country for 20 years, but I am willing to share with my U.S. citizens.
Reservations on week-ends and holidays. Leave spots open for first come-first served. In the popular parks, limit length of stay.
You’re question says to enter a National Park. It does not specifically say anything about camping, though the preceding article mentions it.
I voted no because it would be impossible for the NPS to reserve times for people who only want to sight see.
I would have said NO, but while traveling this spring from South to North, we stopped at a COE . The park had 2 campers and 3 work campers. After several years of depending on a night’s stay at COE we were turned away. Told all entry now must have on line reservation prior to stay. It was about 5pm. We turned around wondering why we had not heard about this new rule.
We found a place overnight. A lesson learned
Leave it dependent on each park. If one requires it, implement it. Make it clear on the website.
Absolutely! There is nothing worse than visiting a National Park that is absolutely swarming with people. If reservations are the only way to get visitor numbers back to manageable size, then so be it!
Flaw in the question: Weekends don’t exist in National Parks during peak season. Tuesday traffic looks just like Saturday traffic.
NO to enter the park. But most parks you need reservations for camping or hotels. If your driving thru or staying outside a park for several days, how do you get in everyday?
If you’ve never been to Yellowstone, and just driving thru for a day, you shouldn’t need a reservation to see the park.
Purchase a one time weekly pass to that specific park.
I say no, but IF your going to implement some form of entry it should be for US citizens only and not bus loads of Chinese or europeans like you see every summer in Yellowstone and all the other big NPs.
I think half should be reservation only, the rest first come. I think making the reservations to only be a month in advance would be better than a year in advance. I also think stays should be limited, reserved sites 4 days, then you could stay longer by using the first come option. Limit for stay should be 7 days total.
Our parks are beautiful and I think everyone should have a chance to enjoy them. When traveling to other countries I want to be able to see all their wonders.
Tough question. The population continues to grow, as do the numbers of RVs roaming around, but our most popular national parks can’t keep up. There are ways to regulate visitation so the parks don’t get trampled and we don’t lose the unique experience of being there. Nobody wants more reservations. Shuttle buses help. I’d rather see 40 tourists arrive on a tour bus than in 20 separate automobiles. It’s a sad dilemma that’s getting worse every year.
Would have loved a “yes, but….” answer 😂. Yes at certain times, yes but SOMEHOW has to be made so it’s fair, no scalpers allowed, no allowable mass buys for tour groups etc…… I also struggle with why don’t we as Americans and taxpayers of these parks get first dibs over international visitors. Not trying to start a debate, just my honest thoughts 🧐.
If a reservation system is put in place, only people paying for a tour would get in as the tour companies would reserve as soon as day opens up.
Why tour companies. The feds could set up a system to generate funds making it self supporting and money making to maintain the park and have better control.
Perhaps the solution isn’t restricting access, rather building new, bigger and better NP’s. Just take a fraction of the billions DC sends in foreign aide to hostile countries and pork programs and use it to make life better for Americas. America first.
With the United States alone, we have 63 National Parks and 423 national parks sites maybe people just need to broaden their horizons. Also being more flexible, less penny pinching and less entitled the crowding problem would solve itself.
AMEN
NO Special Treatment… First Come, First Served… 🌞
Really? Can you even imagine how long the line would be outside the park waiting for someone to leave so the first in line can move in? Then there would be those who would not leave once they finally get in…occupying the spot for as long as they could.
Yep.
Think about it. You travel 3,000 miles to see a park for a week and only get reservations for 4 days.
Whom said 4 days I think a 7 day span is plenty.
Yes for parks that have too many visitors! There’s nothing worse than driving hours to a National Park and being stuck in a traffic jam that’s moving at 5 mph. I’d rather stay home or go someplace else.
However, that’s complicated. It needs to be a better reservation system than the ones used for campsites and it would need tied-in to the campground reservation system for the park.
The bigger problem is vehicles not people so maybe tour buses count as 4 cars.
If not reservations, then some other way of preventing excessive numbers of vehicles from reaching the park!
All National Parks should have a limit to the number of visitors daily. By using a reservation system, you know before you arrive if you can get in. So many of the Parks are getting over used and they need to be protected.
Any National Park entry reservation system should be available well in advance, similar to the campground reservation window. It seems logical, as some have suggested, that a portion be at 30 days, and the remaining portion be available same day. We have just made our reservations for Glacier NP, we did this 2 weeks in advance. The recreation.gov reservation system is not friendly to portable devices, generally speaking. There are those in the camping community that simply will not be able to go through the necessary hoops for a reservation online. The park service should not implement this without fast pass lanes and/or scanners for a QR code. Most NP entrance stations will probably have to be re aligned and reconfigured for this new program, I would think.
I answered NO. However if you had to pay full amount at time of booking then it’s a maybe. Just think of how many no shows there would be if no $$$ is involved. We have all been at a campground that advertised as full and there always seems to be open spots for several days and even a week, even when deposits were non refundable. I also agree with Jen, tourist companies will scarf up all the bookings and then everyone will be paying through the roof to visit a park, exactly the opposite of the idea of the park system. Look at booking a Florida State Park during the cold season, Park Rangers have told me that they know people are manipulating the system but cannot stop it
I agree about none refundable reservations & no travel or tourist outfit buying up spots…
I hate to say yes but last time we went to Yellowstone the traffic was horrible. Just not the way I want to view a beautiful area. My Dad took us every year while growing up and it was so peaceful.
I replied YES because of all the slobs that are out there now that should stay home. These newbies are totally irresponsible and need to be fined heavily for the trash they leave behind and the destruction they have done to the trees and plants where they camp. I’m so sick of seeing this trash and destruction from these dirtbag newbies.
I’ve mentioned this before, but back in 1979 I did a solo bicycle trip from Chicago to San Francisco. I took in Yellowstone and Teton NP. In Yellowstone, every morning the roads were clogged (all day) with bumper to bumper campers and RV’ers going from campground to campground. I just whipped between all the cars and went from “Bike & Hike” to “Bike & Hike” with no issue, and vowed to NEVER return to that madness. It must be worse now, and I’m even more adamant about not going back. Give me a nice boondock site that no one else knows about . . .
Nobody likes having to deal with reservations (especially if it means having to delay getting in. But overcrowding is just as bad or worse. You picks your misery.
Yes and no. But there needs to be a better registration system and more info gathered during registration like RV VIN and once entered reservation made your done for your 7 day yearly visit at that park giving others an opportunity it’s called respecting others and sharing the advantage. I think tourist excluding natural born citizens cannot register for in park reservations they can RV park outside of parks having passes for day travel through the park only. I know it sounds mean but it is what it is and maybe change as the newbees start over time to vanish. I have talk to 10 family that they have put there RVs up for sale as they found out it’s not their bag of fun. You know the dump your own poo, cooking, bed making, baby sitting service (play ground or amusement park, the list goes on). We have gotten to this point of to much over crowding. Run tour buses through the park would lesson vehicles in the park. Do not expand campsite within the park bad idea on the environment.
In todays world so many are looking to escape and get outdoors. It is inevitable that parks are crowded. If reservations is the decision I would hope it would only be on week ends
Would allow more visitors to experience each park.
I have no issue with a reservation system, especially when RV’s are selling like crazy. It would be nice to know we wouldn’t be crowded out of enjoying our experience at the park we were visiting.
i chose yes because I would hate to educate my grandkids about the park and then arrive and have it be so crowded that we couldn’t enjoy the environment. I also think it must be very difficult for the Rangers to have a crush of visitors. Our National Parks are jewels and we should strive to keep them that way.
Of course the problem is caused by the population explosion.
Most readers here remember when we just drove up to a park–especially state parks–and picked a site.
No, what there needs to be is for people to be more respectful of others and to understand that a Park should be a place where one can enjoy and connect with nature without people partying, yelling, and generally acting a fool.
National Parks are no longer enjoyable. Too many people. Limit number of vehicles in the park at any
one time. Limit camping to 7 days. We are done going to NPs. They are a nightmare. Very Sad 😭
It’s only this way now bc of covid. When everything else gets going again, visitation will drop off significantly. Be patient. Don’t create permanent extra hassel when it’s only a temporary need.
Sadly, parks like Yosemite are overrun by traffic. What is the point in going if you can’t find a place to park?
That’s the Natives Americans land don’t you think we have taken enough, come on man really
Reservations are the heritage of elitists intent upon reserving pleasurable experiences for themselves. It’s a legacy of colonialism and class prejudice that signals privilege.
It’s a good problem to have in that Covid has introduced more Americans and their children to the great outdoors again. Parks should hold off on doing reservations and see what happens first in the next couple of years as the pandemic resolves.
My fiance and I traveled all the way from Florida to Glacier. Spent money on hotels and airfare to get backhanded at the gate, this includes the futility of trying to get a reservation online, which appears to be not only impossible but bots are are buying the tickets up. The way I see it is simple: If it is not open to the public that funds it then it should unfunded and closed.
Yes. The very limited capacity at these parks is sucked up by bots, and by regular repeat visitors who consider this their annual summer cabin, and know how to ‘work the system’. The average American making an occasional trip to see these wonders is locked out because of poor management and unfair policies.
These parks are huge, and the Park Service needs to admit things are not working and build new campgrounds, and new overlooks, and new roads where necessary. They can spare the land, they just have had their funding strangled and it seems ‘anti-wilderness’ to build capacity. Well, what are the parks for, if citizens cannot visit them? If they insist on keeping small, old-timey capacities, fine. Then limit visitors to one lifetime visit.