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Traveler's View | Musings About The Parks And Related Topics

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A snowy and sunny day in Glacier National Park/NPS, view January 13, 2024 from the Apgar Mountain Lookout

A snowy weekend with the prospect of two or three feet of fresh snow had me house-bound to a certain extent with plenty of time to wonder what the coming year will bring to the National Park System and related topics.

For instance:

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Comments

The biggest question is will 2024 be the year that manned kiosks at entrances are removed in favor of electronic scanngers that will check your reservation via apple, or google app to be allowed entry.  

Cashless parks are already a thing.  How long before digital entry is required?

How long before every hike, bike and rock climb are booked via recreation.gov for their profiting pleasure?

And Pierce obviously knows Yellowstone is about to blow.  As before no one is listining out of fear of a lack of tourism.  Its deja vu all over again


Overall, a good list of questions that likely will not be answered by the NPS.


Will the National Park Service act on suggestions that it charge international visitors more to enter the National Park System than U.S. citizens?

They won't but it maybe a way to start to close some budget gaps. Heck, when I snowmobile in another state I need to pay a non-resident fee to use the trails. Should apply to non-residents of the US. Let's not get into the argument that not everone has an ID........


Interestingly enough, those same National Parks & National Monuments that have gone cashless, are still hectoring me to make a cash donation inside the visitor centers, odd that!


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