In this age of informational instant gratification, how has your national park experience changed?
For Millennials, who grew up with smartphones, texting, and Facebook, not so much.
For Baby Boomers, who learned to read with actual newspapers, books, and magazines in their hands, whose phones were attached to the wall by a cord, who had to take the film from their cameras to a shop to get developed, a great deal. Is that change for the good, or the bad?
The question bubbles up in light of all the information sources we have today: Facebook, twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, QR codes, and all the rest. Four decades ago, we learned about national parks from magazines such as National Geographic, Sunset, Life and several others that usually would show up just once a month. There was the occasional documentary on one of the three commercial networks (plus the usual PBS station), and that was about it. To garner information, you would write to a gateway community for information, or perhaps a state travel bureau, maybe the park itself.
Today, those are all old-school approaches. But they had merit. Sitting back in a comfortable chair or couch with the latest National Geographic that had a 6-page spread on a national park was, and remains, a great way to get interested in visiting a park. Waiting for a packet of information to appear in your mailbox built anticipation of learning all you could about your chosen destination.
But times are changing, and media is too. That National Geographic article can be read on-line; the Traveler itself lacks a print publication, instead offering all its content through cyberspace; you can surf over to a specific park's website to learn more about it, and; promotional information is just an email away. You can share photos from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with family and friends with your cellphone. You can even book your next park vacation from your current one.
Has that transformation made your national park experience better? Or has it turned all too frentic? Do you enjoy being surrounded by cellphone-chatting crowds while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt? Do you like being able to check lodging availability via smartphone while driving to a park itself? Do you like learning about wildlife sightings by smartphone, or dread the crowds those can generate?
Tell us, travelers, what's good, and bad, about our national park experiences these days?
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Comments
As a hiker, the 'wired world' makes an enormous difference in my NP experiences. Most NP maps only note the popular, well traveled trails. If I am lucky, and manage to find a ranger that knows the trail system of the park and has some suggestions, I may find an 'off the beaten path' trail. But, with the web, I can get detailed information on almost every trail in existence. Often, there are waypoints, trail updates, mileage and elevation information, that you cannot get at a ranger station. And with my In Reach, I know that others have access to my trip and plans and I have access to assistance if I need it.
The 'wired world' was a great help for us at Coyote Buttes South; it helped us find the best route in, gave us knowledge of sand trap areas in the roads, even told us when to find optimal light for shooting the formations.
If not for the 'wired world,' how many people would know the White Pocket Fold exists? Yes, it is a double edged sword - more people knowing means more people making the trip. But, the best way to preserve beautiful locations is to make sure people are aware they exist. Counterintuitive but, unfortunately, necessary.
As a baby boomer I still enjoy print in hand; maps, guide books, magazines, etc... But I now use smart phone for bird ID, bird songs, info about an area I am in, places to stay, places to eat, maps, basically to answer almost any question I have. I guess how it has changed for me is I do not have to wait until I am home to look up the answers.
The wired world now puts me in daily touch with information about the parks wherever I happen to be. Thanks to the internet, I'm now back in touch with many who I once worked with in Yosemite, Crater Lake, and Zion National Parks. I think the NPS is also doing a great job using social media to reach out to a growing public constituency. National Parks Traveler is definitely my favorite independent source of park information.
"To garner information, you would write to a gateway community for information, or perhaps a state travel bureau, maybe the park itself."
I always wrote to the park for official information. Now I get my information from the official NPS.GOV sites and always go to the Traveler to see if the park I was to visit is on the site. Sometimes, I go to the park's Facebook page.
But information flows both ways. I blog, write about the parks and put a link on my FB page.
As for cell phone chatter. That may happen in the visitor center but reception on the trails is minimal. I hiked Hemphill Bald in the Smokies yesterday. The trail was deserted until I got to the actual bald where two other people were there -- not on their cell phone.
So as long as the parks keep printing their iconic brochures, the rest is definitely an improvement.
Danny www.hikertohiker.com
Download the wonderful Independence smartphone app for a good example of how the park experience can be enhanced. It includes information on 35 different sites (32 associated with Independence, and the 3 other Philadelphia National Park sites). Descriptions, photographs, hours, costs, contact information, directions -- laid out in a very convenient manner. This can be very helpful when you're dealing with a lot of different sites spread out across 6 or so city blocks. It also includes maps of the city with the sites marked off, and different themed audio tours that guide folks from one site to the next. None of this stuff sounds all that innovative, but the thing is just really well designed, and if you're wandering around Philly, this can absolutely enhance your experience.
Lots of other parks do the audio tour thing well via smartphone. Not every tour can be a guided ranger-led tour, but this helps ensure that you can still get some interesting information. I recently did the Fayette Station tour at the New River Gorge using the audio tour on my smartphone. The commentary indicated that the tour was prepared for CD format, but I'm sure no one can argue that it's a lot cheaper and more convenient for users to be able to simply access that online now instead.
I'm conflicted. Pre-smartphone, and in the earlier days of cell phones I was very much against their use, not only in our parks but out in public in general. I've softened my stance but still find myself irritated when I have to listen to others carry on personal conversations in public and especially so in the parks. That said the parks have become more crowded and noisy through the years and I'm learning to ignore or getting better at escaping them at least. I also find myself owning a smart phone myself and do love having the ability to look for camnpsites or lodging along the way rather than planning everything in advance from home. I use it to look for trails, get weather forecasts and it can at times offer some sense of security should the need arise. All of that said, I miss the old days when there was much more a sense of adventure do to all the unkowns, be it trail conditions, weather, what your campsite might be like or where you end up spending the night etc.... My best memories are when the unexpected happened. Smartphones have made that happen less often. Maybe it's an age thing but I miss that. Maybe I need to just leave mine at home :)
I took my kid to Yosemite for the first time about a month ago. We didn't end up connected to the internet at all times, but we did find that our portable electronic devices could be used to whittle away at the occasional boredome. And that did become an issue - trying to provide power to recharge batteries, whether it was a portable battery power source, the limited output of a car power supply, or finding an empty power plug at Yosemite Lodge or some other restaurant.
I think it really helped because we brought a young child who certainly enjoyed the experience, but could get restless without something like an iPad loaded with a favorite movie. These devices are also the preferred means to take photos as they're less bulky than most real cameras and are already with us.