Strong Positions Developing As Yosemite National Park Officials Again Attack Merced River Plan

I'd love if all the tent cabins and stuff were taken out of the valley and the only way you could get in was by foot, bicycle, or bus

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dqniel
I'd love if all the tent cabins and stuff were taken out of the valley and the only way you could get in was by foot, bicycle, or bus

"and stuff" = ?

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

If we could also find a way to keep any children, elderly, or disabled people out of the park so that only able-bodied hemp necklace wearing vegans with backpacks could access the valley (but only for 2 days per week for 6 hours at a time) that would be great too. Seriously, I'm all about wilderness preservation, but for an established (i.e. developed) section of a national park there is no need to allow access only by foot, bike, or bus. I'd personally rather see a permit/reservation system for limited car access before anything that extreme.

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Ryno98
If we could also find a way to keep any children, elderly, or disabled people out of the park so that only able-bodied hemp necklace wearing vegans with backpacks could access the valley (but only for 2 days per week for 6 hours at a time) that would be great too. Seriously, I'm all about wilderness preservation, but for an established (i.e. developed) section of a national park there is no need to allow access only by foot, bike, or bus. I'd personally rather see a permit/reservation system for limited car access before anything that extreme.

I'm not advocating that private cars not be allowed in Yosemite Valley, but there is precedent in the NPS that doesn't shut out those with mobility difficulties.

At Zion NP, there is a mandatory shuttle for most of the peak visitation summer months. The parking lot at the entrance fills up quickly, although there is an additional shuttle that operates from most of Springdale to the entrance. Reserved guests at Zion Lodge can receive parking passes that allow them to drive from the entrance to the lodge, as well as park only at the lodge. In addition, drivers transporting a person (including possibly the driver) with a disabled placard can park at the various parking lots. In the non-peak months, anyone can drive into Zion Canyon.

At Grand Canyon NP, there's a mandatory shuttle on Hermit Road starting at Grand Canyon Village and ending at Hermit's Rest. Again - anyone with a legitimate disabled placard can be transported via private motor vehicle.

Even in Yosemite NP, there are areas where the disabled can gain access by motor vehicle while most people have to walk or travel by bike. The Happy Isles Loop Road is open to those with disabled placards/plates. I've been on the Mirror Lake Road with a car with disabled plates passing by most of the pedestrians.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/access.pdf

Although it would negatively impact my own use of the valley, I would welcome any plan that seriously reduces automobile traffic in the valley during specific periods. There are simply way way too many cars during summer months, especially on weekends, that greatly mars the experience. The majority of vehicles come into the valley after 10am and leave before 5pm. The loop road becomes one enormous packed auto merrygoround. Often lots of inconsiderate speeding drivers. So they need to take another look at the park out of the valley then bus in options. The most difficult issue is many of us have a lot of gear including camping gear when on road trips and if bussed in would only be able to bring in a modest amount even if only for a few hours. One way to minimize that would be to build alot more small lockers that people could temporarilly store gear at using say their own combination locks. Another issue if this became reality is there would need to be more frequent busses especially on the valley loop route.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2010 09:03PM by DavidSenesac.

David, have you tried carry a view camera on a shuttle bus?