50+ thread

Old news.
That's from last year, most everything is already in effect like timed entry at arches and lottery for hikes in zion

 

Zion was a shit show. Dont care to go back now that @Cuffs moved on.
When I was down there you couldn't do anything but drive because every single parking space was taken. cars were parked along the roads even where there was no shoulder so you couldn't even pull over for a minute to see the view. the 15 minute parking at the visitor center was taken up by the same cars for over an hour. i circled the lot at the VC for 45 minutes looking for a space and no luck. Campgrounds were full. There are no bathrooms in the park except at the VC. I had been on the road for about 5 hours at that point and really needed to stop somewhere soon. a long time ago i had helped design the grocery store in Springdale and remembered that there was a public bathroom in the front of the store so I left the park and made a mad dash there. Forgot that the underground parking at the store had a 7' clearance and with my RTT I didn't fit so i had to circle the block and park in the oversized/RV spots. Bought some snacks and took a minute to regroup. I just about up and left then and there. It was my last stop on my trip and thought maybe I'd be better off to go home a day early. There was a camp on the east side that I had checked out on line. Took a gamble that if I just showed up out of the blue and they had a vacancy then it was a sign I should stay. Drove back through the madness, pulled up to the camp, they let me stay in the tent camp and i paid I think $12 for a site. It was a little rough around the edges as they were in the middle of remodeling/expanding but I had no neighbors, access to laundry and hot showers, wifi, mini golf, tennis courts, basketballs courts, business lounge, swimming pool, hot tubs. All for $12! So I stayed. Got an early start the next morning but I wasn't really impressed.
Yellowstone....as much as I love Yelly the crowds have gotten out of control and the rangers are spread too thin to really keep things under control. Used to be that it was only really busy between memorial day and labor day and the shoulder season was more tolerable. Now its busy all the damn time. i haven't been down there since Oct 2020. Closing weekend, 20* weather, usually would have been just me and maybe a handful of campers. Nope. Camp is packed and I had to wait in line for 2 hours for a site. Unreal. All of my "secret" camping just outside of the park that i didn't think anyone knew about or would venture to due to limited access are now packed with giant RV's and are a filthy mess. Its killing me that I haven't been to the park in almost 18 months but i just can't tolerate the clueless hoards.

 

some camps are still first come first served. for some reason they decided to close 2 camps last year for no real reason. and the largest camp they closed for remodel. did not help the situation at all.

maybe up to 5 years ago i could drive down and get a site no problem. never bothered with reservations. it wasn't something they advertised but if you show up about 30 minutes before the camp office closes for the day there was usually a couple sites they were secretly saving for last minute arrivals and single night stays. and the CAMP FULL sign would have been posted since the morning. just a nice thing they tried to do for folks who got delayed or had to change plans last minute and had no other option. show up at noon - nope sorry camp's full. show up at 10 minutes til closing - oh, hey what do you know we have a spot!

please dont post pics of the poo pit.

 

you need to come hang out with me in MT...
you could drink this with a fork.

 

you hit it right beofre things got super crazy here, be thankful.