What is the most money you have ever paid simply to be able to park or enter a gate to park in order to complete a hiking trail (day, not camping)?I think the most I've paid is 30 dollars, for Shenandoah National Park. I find the concept of pay-to-hike parks fascinating yet evil.
>>2796379$7 for a day at a state park iirc, but now I buy the annual pass. Got my free veteran pass for federal lands.
I've probably tried the lottery for "the wave" in Arizona about 10 times, I did succeed on my first try a few years ago actually, but every time I'm in the area I try the geofenced daily lottery a couple times, so I'm probably over $50 since my success now.took me three tries for Mt Whitney, so that was also like $50Havasu Falls is easily the most expensive for camping I've done ($450). It did hurt me to pay that much for camping, but it was pretty great. I am into the /out/ side (heh) of things but I'm also just into travel in general with a focus on nature. So when I think about it as spending $450 to visit an amazing new place for a few days it doesn't feel that bad.
>>2796379I pay $80 every year for the America the Beautiful pass. I also buy the Canadian equivalent, which is 75 leaf bucks.
>>2796379>I find the concept of pay-to-hike [...] evil.Who exactly is supposed to maintain the trails?
>>2796396>America the Beautiful passYup. I also found out recently that it'll get you into National Conservation Areas and National Monuments as well.
>>2796400The Department of the Interior. GSMNP has ~4,300 miles of trails (second to Yosemite which is like 4,800 or something), more visitors than any other park, and no entrance fee.
>>2796411>Great Smoky Mountains National Park does not charge an entrance fee. However, parking tags are required for all vehicles parking for longer than 15 minutes. lol okay
>>2796412>Interagency passes (aka America the Beautiful passes) are not accepted in lieu of the parking tag and do not provide a discount for the purchase of the parking tag.lol this park sounds terrible
To think people used to just exist in nature for free
>>2796379$0
>>2796400Trails don't need maintenance.
>>2796400local state and federal governments and well as private non-profits and community groups
>>2796480lol
I've hiked and camped and hunted all up and down the East Coast from Maine to Florida and the concept of paying for parking is completely foreign to me. I don't know where you even find places where you have to pay.
>>2796379Why would you pay to get into a wilderness area? What's stopping you from parking down the road and walking through some bushes
>>2796379>I find the concept of pay-to-hike parks fascinating yet evilHow the fuck is charging a parking fee "evil"? I cam understanding wishing for it to be free, but "evil" seems like a stretch.
>>2796379I have payed approximately 0, but, i am not American, or Canadian, and i think paying for that is mostly a "new world" thing.you could count gas for the car, train or plane tickets, but you pay that regardless.
If an area is popular enough that it requires organization to mitigate impacts and to protect the resource from people (and people from the resource) then there has to be a fee to pay for that organization. That's not evil.
I used to think it was gay but it's becoming a necessity on the coasts, especially in the post instagram era. The normoid cattle see a spot online and then trample it to death and it winds up getting closed for years, or worse, gets a paved trail built to it. Lotteries are technically more fair for an area meant to be "public", but also if $20 is a lot of money to you in 2024, you've got bigger problems than the park charging an entrance fee.
The money is whatever, but I've grown to appreciate the convoluted process getting hiking permits in Yosemite can be sometimes. I'd like to think it filters out a lot of tards.
>>2796383>Got my free veteran pass for federal lands.what did you use for proof of ID? they dont accept DD214s apparently and I dont have anything else
>>2796383Welfare queen
>>2796379Entrance should be free if you can show proof of last years tax return as a WHITE MAN
>>2797581I'd settle for US citizens getting discounted admission to our own national parks while foreigners pay more. Why should we pay the same entrance fees as someone from China or India? It's not even a matter of affordability. It's a matter of principle.
>>2797639I would settle for them just having to pay more and having blackout dates. Why are foreigners allowed to litter, trample, and crowd the land? They should be paying 3x-5x the entrance fees on a National Park.
>>2796379>MUH GUNS>WE HAVE GUNS>FREEODM>GUNS>MUH GUNS AND FREEDOM>have to pay to walk in literal wilderness.
>>2796379There are numerous access points to Shenandoah (not along Skyline Drive) where you can enter by trail and avoid the feeThat being said, I paid $20 over the summer at Harpers Ferry to hike Loudoun Heights- figured the parking jannies would be out on a Saturday
>>2796400Let the logging company come in. They'll pay you to do logging you need done. Now, you'll have money for goys to spread woodchips.
A famous outdoorsman once complained how my state has no national parks. Instead, I get to go to places with far fewer people for free. It's good to be a resident of an overlooked state.
>>2797639Only us citizens can get a number of the passes, like the senior lifetime pass.
>>2797581>White Man>Pay TaxesOkay Rabbi, whatever you say.
>>2796412The parking tag is new. I think it started in 2023. Prior to the money earned from that, there were no paved roads or established hiking trails.
>>2797663>National Parks>wildernessThose are two entirely different things.
>>2797732eurps have no actual concept of "wilderness", they obliterated their own wilds centuries ago, so they really can't comprehend an outdoors environment beyond a tightly managed and processed park setting or agricultural fields.
>>2797658noooo that would discourage tourism!what they should do is raise general admission fees and then offer a hefty discount to US citizens to skirt the issue.
