Anonymous wrote: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!

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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.....

Acadia.

Anonymous wrote: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.

The fee isn't creasing for all NPs, just 17 of the most highly visited.

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.

I thought Mammoth Cave was awesome but we were kind of frightened by the surrounding area.

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 wrote: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.

We all loved Joshua Tree. It was so alien and beautiful. I think that's my kids' favorite one--they loved climbing the rocks.

Anonymou[b wrote:s]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.[/b] 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!

Besides the fall foliage, it's a let down.

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 wrote:Acadia this past summer and it was 100% worth it.

The question was which parks are overrated. Are you saying Acadia was or wasn’t overrated?

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!

I've been blown away by every National Park I've visited (maybe 10 total).

Acadia this past summer and it was 100% worth it.

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......

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.