>finally visit Dead Horse Point right as the sun is setting>get to see the sunlight rising over the canyon>totally unbelievable, incredible>also see some morons sitting over the edge (lmao)What parks stood out to you?
>>2793858I visited six national parks this year. Three really stuck out to me: Biscayne, Everglades, and Lassen. I'd recommend visiting them.
>>2793858There is nothing wrong with sitting on the edge you massive pussy
>>2794377there is if you just fucking lay there and there's other people and you pretend to not notice them even though that's the best place to get a photo and you are just fucking lying there (had happened to me multiple times)Though it taught me to stop being shy and tell people to move and they usually do it.
>>2794379Well i thought your complaint was that they were being unsafe. But if your complaint was that they were in the way of your photo, I'll say you are not a pussy but instead an asshole, because only an asshole would go to a very popular front country park and complain about there being people at a the most popular viewpoint, which is a couple hundred feet off a paved road.
>>2793858I went to 3/5 national parks in Utah (Arches, Canyon, Capitol Reef) and honestly i felt it was very overrated. I enjoyed Glacier way more. I don't even understand why Arches is so popular, especially compared to Canyonlands. Both were underwhelming, at least canyonlands wasn't crowded.
Sequoia and Redwoods were always highly anticipated for me but they surpassed even my lofty expectations, I love those big ass trees. Redwoods was my first time in a temperate rainforest also (been a high desert fag my whole life) which was extra cool.>>2794418Arches is nice, besides the crowds. I find natural arches very cool and Arches has some of the best ones. Also fun to scramble around some of the arches. I usually go in the offseason when crowds aren't too bad. Canyonlands and Capitol Reef are good too but most of the best parts of both parks are lesser known areas some of which are difficult to access.
>>2793858Moraine Lake at Banff National Park in Alberta. Driving there just nothing but rows upon rows of tour buses I'm like "damn another stupid selfie spot" but when I got there and got to the viewpoint and looked at Moraine Lake I was like "okay, I get it."
>>2794566I visited Redwoods too when I was in California; Bohemian Grove is incredible but it is a bit crowded during the high season you have to reserve your parking spot in advance. Totally worth it to see those magnificent trees, though.
>>2794569>>2794566Wet season is the prettiest time to see the redwoods imo
>>2794570We were there in the dry season, unfortunately, but it was still well worth the visit. We had driven up from LA to San Francisco and this was the furthest north point in California we visited before flying back home. Those trees are truly incredible; I'd love to go back and see more of them in other parks as well as the Coastal Redwoods.
>california is great you just need to reserve your parking spot months in advancelol
>>2794573It was the same thing in Banff except you couldn't reserve in advance so we had to drive up and down the highway several days in a row to try to get into the Moraine Lake parking; I'd much rather have had the option to make a reservation in advance. Fact is that most of the really great outdoor spots, the famous internationally-recognized ones are extremely busy during their peak seasons.
>>2794569Humboldt and Prairie Creek both had trails where I didn't encounter anyone for hours. It's not just the big trees, but the ferns and sorrel and the general lush atmosphere, felt like I was in a fairy tale.>>2794570I was there in June, I think that's the dry season already but it was still rainy and foggy a couple of the days I was there and yeah that only added to the atmosphere
>>2794575Nice. We had some luck when visiting West Coast of Canada (Vancouver Island) we were at Tofino which is generally a busy spot but for some reason Long Beach was basically empty and we wandered along the shore for hours encountering maybe one or two other people on the way. It was surreal; very much like a fairy tale with the mists, tall pine trees, and otherwise complete silence and emptiness. One of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen in my life. Unfortunately the mist concealed a powerful sun and I burned my legs so badly it kind of ruined the rest of the trip, lol.
>>2794574more like national parking lots amiritenational parks exist for people to brag about visiting them as a sign of their worldliness
>>2794577I agree with you but like I said, once I actually arrived at the "selfie spot" the natural beauty was so incredible it more than made up for the fact that I was basically standing in a parking lot. Some spots are like that, they're not really isolated or "wild" but the beauty of the nature or the view is so incredible it's understandable why there's a line of tour buses headed there. Of course I'd rather have it all to myself but that's just not the world we live in. If I want to be all alone there's dozens or hundreds of lesser-known less prominent spots I can go.
>>2794574I thought reserving in advance was the only way to get on the shuttle, they open up extra tickets two days before and I got on the first shuttle like 4 days in a row when I was there in late September. And yeah it's gorgeous, that whole Lake Louise and Lake O'Hara on the other side in Yoho are probably the most beautiful mountains I've seen (Assiniboine and Mt Robson are not far behind though), I've only been in the lower 48 and western Canada though.
>>2794581Yeah if you're not driving and willing to take a shuttle that's a good option, but you have to be patient and willing to wait for a bus both ways. At one point we parked at the Lake Louise townsite and hiked up to Lake Louise but obviously turned around shortly thereafter because that's already a few kilometers uphill at high altitude and us valley people don't handle that too well lol. Came back another day, found parking at Lake Louise, and did the Plain of Six Glaciers trail which was incredible, but took all day.
>>2794576I tried and failed to get West Coast Trail permits while I was on Vancouver Island. I did parts of the Juan de Fuca trail instead and it was pretty great, still better than any coastal trail I've done in the US.
>>2794583Nice, we did the Wild Pacific Trail, not quite as impressive or remote but still really beautiful and just outside the Ucluelet townsite.
I only hike trails I can brag about to others cuz they are famous.
>>2794592I don't actually go outside, I just sit here on /out/ waiting for other people to post their outdoor adventures so I can shit on them and feel superior. The closest I've been to the outdoors is playing Stardew Valley.
>>2794595I actually hike but I almost never go to national parks. We don't really have many of those here (there's stuff like national recreation sites and other nationalized land), but more cuz most of the cool stuff tends to be in local and state parks/forests/game lands but apparently in the west its more like there's a few BIG NAME things that everyone all goes to see so there's huge crowds and lots of restrictions on where you can go, when, and where you can park.
>>2794608This thread is about parks bro.Places are made into parks for a reason, and National Parks are like the highest honor, they tend to be pretty fucking spectacular, worth visiting for anyone who enjoys the outdoors. Doesn't mean all I do is visit National Parks, if I want more solitude it's not hard to come by, just leave the park... Though even in National Parks if you want to get away from the crowds it's usually not difficult.
>>2794610Cuyahoga. Your argument is now invalid.
>>2794623>tend
>>2794623I actually went to Cuyahoga and had a good time at the Ledges.
>>2794626the closest i have been to that is hocking hills, which i guess is a state park, super crowded on the main accessible trail, with lots of local amish and plain dressers and various people in wheelchairs and cartsit was very dry, would be more fun with recent rain
>>2794626>I actually went to CuyahogaI'm sorry
>>2793858Guadalupe mountains is rlly underrated, spent 3 days there and saw like 10 people total on the backcountry trails
>>2794610Becoming a national park is a political process and therefore is not a marker of objective quality. Plenty of areas almost became parks but didn't and plenty of parks almost didn't happen, because of either local or state or federal politicking.HOWEVER, >>2794608 is dumb if they think the west is only the big name parks. Probably can't comprehend how big and inaccessible these parks are. Cartels grow weed in hidden canyons in Sequoia NP it's that rugged
>>2794637Shhhh
>>2794639I don't know how to break this to you, but Sequoia is not big enough to hide a profitable marijuana growing operation in. It also sees over a million visitors annually. There are people swarming every inch of the park.
>>2794639Weed growing is legal now in California so growing shit in sekret tunnels and parks and shit is over and instead there are tons of failing farms out in the open due to the market being so flooded. However, it was cool backpacking in southern Yosemite in the Red Peak Pass area this year after Labor Day and seeing 5 people in 5 days. It really doesn't take much to find solitude in even the most well known parks.
>>2795442>>2795447https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/news/rangers-and-partners-remove-illegal-marijuana-cultivation-site-from-parks.htmNo they are not swarming every inch. Nobody goes out in the lower foothills below the big sequoia groves, incredibly rugged terrain. SEKI (Sequoia/Kings) even has special marijuana interdiction cops
