Same old in the National Parks

The problems of American tourism became painfully clear in a three page article MSNBC ran, titled "National Parks (minus the crowds) - Avoid the taillights and tourists.” I thought perhaps the author would have some well worn advice told through sore feet at a coffee shop in Moab or Whitefish MN. Rather, the author simply reinstated the ironic dualism of cars and nature, apparently only flirting with the irony part. The article briefly circumnavigated the country’s National Park system, offering up the most stunning drives and at one point even daring the term “road trip heaven.” There were offhand mentions of a few hikes and at one point a suggestion of a whitewater motor boat tour.

Unfortunately, not much of the American way has changed since the days of Desert Solitaire. We need more than ever, the spirit of Edward Abbey to shock us out of the numbness of the road trip. Americans, and foreigners in growing number, still swarm our parks through the summer months with salivating cameras desperate to “do” Arches or Yosemite, to make the loop drive in a daze of window bound wonder, much like the author of MSNBC’s article suggests.

Of course to attempt a visit to a National Park for the sake of having “done it” is no different than a birder who chases a rare feather for the sake of crossing it off his list. Can anyone really appreciate a bird of paradise who has never contemplated the hardiness of the chickadee or perceive the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon without giving thought to the complexities of a backyard creek? We know by now that Americans, or anyone living in the age of information, craves constant stimuli, that there is little time to stray far from the car and get your shoes dirty. There will always be roads to help exhaust permeate our parks, that will never change. When Yosemite managers contemplated closing the famed valley to personal vehicles, using instead a fleet of buses, they met with a barrage of protest. People will always drive, as I have, to get to landscapes of interest. It seems only American to have the right.

So we have a demonstrated interest in nature - that’s a positive. Only we rush to see it as if quantity has once and for all trumped quality. The National Park system makes it easy for the masses to taste the experience much like the back cover of a novel offers a glimpse of the story. Perhaps we need a campaign of slow down pull over and park; pulling the “one less car” stickers off all the bikes, slapping them to our asses and forcing one another to go for walk. Maybe a scrape on the knee, or extending a hand to help a friend up a steep slope, or camping away from the car, or even seeing the track of a big cat can really help us wake up. Maybe we would go home and fill up the bird feeder or just take a long look at what our back yards once were.