Which National Parks did you think were "overrated"?
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Anonymous
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So I know this is very subjective, but the potential steep increase in entry fees next year, I suspect many of us will have to think more carefully about which National Parks to visit (vs. a cheaper nearby state park). What parks did folks find overrated?
As a side note, it will be interesting to see if the fee hikes will have their desired effect of raising revenue. I get that many of these parks need more $ for maintenance, but I'm not sure that making them less accessible to low/middle income folks is the best way to do it. |
Anonymous
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I think the fees will discourage locals who visit a close by national park one or two days a year. I know I would not pay $70 to visit Shennandoah for a day or two.
If the yearly pass stays around $80-100 the I would probably buy that. However, I can't see it deterring most visitor from going to parks that they usually head to for vacation. $70 to enter a park that you will be visiting for a week is really not that expensive and in the grand scheme of a vacation it's just a small fraction of the cost. I'd gladly pay that to visit some of my favorite NPs including Zion, Arches, Olympic, Tetons, Glacier...... |
Anonymous
| Acadia this past summer and it was 100% worth it. |
Anonymous
| I've been blown away by every National Park I've visited (maybe 10 total). |
Anonymous
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Shenandoah actually. The leaves were beautiful, but just drive through any of the local VA towns and they're the same. The visitor's center wasn't good and everything was run down. I can't afford $70 for it and at $20 it was already expensive for a 4 hour trip.
That being said, I've been to hundreds of national parks. We plan our entire vacations around them. I love national parks! |
Anonymous
The question was which parks are overrated. Are you saying Acadia was or wasn’t overrated? |
Anonymous
| I've been to several and loved them all except for one -- Joshua Tree was kind of meh. It's charms ran out pretty quickly. |
Anonymous
Besides the fall foliage, it's a let down. |
Anonymous
We all loved Joshua Tree. It was so alien and beautiful. I think that's my kids' favorite one--they loved climbing the rocks. |
Anonymous
| Hmmm. I've been to approximately 20 of them and can't think of any that I'd call overrated. Note that two parks are free (I think it's only two, maybe more are?): Capital Reef in Utah, and Smoky Mountains. |
Anonymous
| I thought Mammoth Cave was awesome but we were kind of frightened by the surrounding area. |
Anonymous
| I grew up very close to a couple small national parks out weest. We used to go there for weekends, and a lot of teenagers went on senior ditch day or for short day hikes. I'd imagine the increased fares will decrease the number of teens and families doing that. |
Anonymous
The fee isn't creasing for all NPs, just 17 of the most highly visited. |
Anonymous
| Acadia. |
Anonymous
. I rather agree. I like Shanendoah, but it gets so crowded and I find that if you do not plan months in advance it is impossible to get a campsite. Find myself going there less often the longer I live here. I agree with the PP that the fee hike will more likely discourage local visitors- would I still pay $70 to spend a week somewhere? Sure. But I’m not spending $70 to hike Old Rag..... 
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