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Getting Away From It All In The National Park System

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By NPT Staff - January 8th, 2018

With crowds continuing to descend on the National Park System, this leftover promotion for the National Park Service's centennial in 2016 might have met its shelf life.

In addition to parks considering reservation systems because of crowding, in recent years there also have been debates over adding cellphone towers or service in places such as Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, and Theodore Roosevelt national parks, and calls for better Wi-Fi service, services that seem to conflict with the theme of "getting away from it all."

True, one can usually escape these intrusions by heading off deep into the backcountry, but despite that option, the bulk of national park visitation is huddled around front-country areas where it is more difficult to escape others searching for signals, chatting with friends far away, or trying to upload selfies of themselves.

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Submitted by ecbuck on January 8, 2018 - 9:09am.

True, one can usually escape these intrusions by heading off deep into the backcountry, but despite that option, the bulk of national park visitation is huddled around front-country areas where it is more difficult to escape others searching for signals, chatting with friends far away, or trying to upload selfies of themselves.

Remember the old Yogi Berra saying:  "Nobody goes there anymore, its too crowded."  Could it be that people stay in the front-country with its stores, amenities and wi-fi because that is the way the majority of the people want to experience the park?


Submitted by whatever on January 8, 2018 - 9:06pm.

Could it be that people stay in the front-country with its stores, amenities and wi-fi because that is the way the majority of the people want to experience the park?

When the parks become all about the front-country, stores, amenities, and wifi, we have lost our parks.


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