Equal opportunity to visit wild areas is always an issue. Restrict access
too much, and then the vast majority of the excluded will rightly question
why the parks should be maintained for the benefit of a few of the "elite".
Walking a bit will always get you far enough far enough from the madding
crowd. That's what attracted me to Olympus Pen equipment in the 1960's, when
I hiked the Catskill and Adirondak parks in New York state. In 1968 I
(unwisely, it seems in hindsight -- but then some people also traded off
their 1937 Packard's and Leica IIIc's, etc. during the 1940's and 1950's!)
traded my Pen S and Pen F outfit for OM1's. Olympus gear was light enough to
carry well, and tough enough to function during long excursions.
Nick Smoliga
smoliga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SvT TF12 - Investment Projects
931.454.6947
1103 Avenue B
Arnold AFB, TN 37389-1400
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Barker [SMTP:christopher.barker@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 1999 11:51 PM
> To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [OM] Traffic in National Parks (was "eat your heart out...")
>
> George
>
> Your note made me quite sad. I am also against the invasion of buses (I
> worked
> in London where, believe me, those exhaust fumes soon get to you) and
> against
> the commercialisation of a National Park.
>
> But, how else do you change from what is clearly an unsatisfactory
> situation?
> Should it be backpackers only? Better still, *ban backpackers* and
> re-instil
> the idea of adventure by having to break the law to enter the beautiful
> Yosemite
> (I'm only half-joking BTW ;-)). I don't know the answer. You should see
> Rothenberg in Germany (on the Romantische Strasse), a beautiful small
> walled
> town in Bavaria which allows no cars (good), but allows all the huge buses
> with
> tourists to disgorge their passengers to their hotels with their engines
> running
> (100%) in the centre of the town. The streets are tiny...
>
> We have only visited a few NPs in the West (saw Yellowstone in May 1990,
> still
> black in places), but one of our dreams is to save up for a holiday
> visiting the
> NPs that we missed first time round. Can anyone assure me that that will
> be
> possible in 3-5 years' time? Is the North-West (Washington) any easier?
>
> Sadly
>
> Chris
>
> > Yeah, it can be. I'm sure it'll be much better, though, after the
> "Grand
> > Plan" goes into effect.
> >
> > Let's see, get rid of the cars, bring in the buses. The smelly, noisy,
> > stinking, polluting, diesel-exhaust spewing buses. Yeah, that's the
> ticket.
> > And we'll need lots of em, we're replacing a lot of cars.
> >
> > And we'll need staging areas - need lots of room for those buses. In
> fact,
> > one is already planned to be built in El Capitan meadow. What's that,
> use
> > existing parking lots? No, we're gonna let those go back to nature. But
> El
> > Capitan Meadow is already natural. Well it's a good location. And we'll
> > require that only 1/2 of the buses there at any one time have their
> engines
> > idling. Gotta be able to see the climbers thru the haze, eh?
> >
> > Next question? Bus breakdowns? Maybe we'll need a maintenance garage
> here
> > in the valley. No? We'll just tow em back to Mariposa? Yeah, right, in
> the
> > winter? Well, we'll just have to restrict visitation in the winter.
> We're
> > gonna pull out the inexpensive, rustic tent cabins anyway. The ice rink
> > too. Why would people want to ice skate in Yosemite with a view of Half
> Dome
> > anyway? That's for the bourgoise. We've already decided that 3 of the
> > flood-damaged campgrounds will never be reopened. Well, that leaves
> > Yosemite Lodge and The Ahwanee for winter visitors. Can you say BIG
> > $$$$$$$$$$?
> >
> > Gee, I wonder how your average Ahwanee guest will enjoy transferring to
> a
> > bus 30 to 60 miles from Yosemite? Not having a car available to them
> while
> > they're in this majestic place? Hey, what are we gonna do with all
> those
> > cars the visitors are forced to leave behind, anyway? Well, we'll just
> have
> > to build huge parking garages at some staging areas on the three routes
> into
> > Yosemite. Yeah, big garages, that's it. Nice and neat. $20 a day or so
> per
> > car oughta do it. And orderly, too. When a bus that carries 30 people
> shows
> > up, there'll never be 100 or more waiting, will there?
> >
> > No, we'll use a reservation system. Maybe BASS or Ticketron. They'll
> only
> > charge a $20 or so surcharge on every bus ticket. Good for the economy,
> you
> > know.
> >
> > Wait! You! Where do you think you're going with that photo backpack?
> You've
> > already got a suitcase. You can't bring that too! These buses have a
> > limited capacity. And it's gonna get worse when we switchover to the
> > electric ones. It'll take 2 1/2 hours to go the 30 miles to the park.
> And
> > you'll only bring one carry-on.
> >
> > Besides, have you got a photography permit from Mr Ranger, sir? You
> know
> > you can't use anything but a point'nshoot in Yosemite without a permit.
> > $1600 the permits cost, I believe. Just fill out these forms and mail
> em
> > in.
> >
> > For this visit, just leave your camera gear here. The motel handyman,
> Mr
> > Staynor, will take good care of it. Yeah, the guy who was by the pool
> > talking to your wife this morning. Where is my wife anyway, she oughtta
> be
> > ready by now. Honey! Where are you anyway? Still in the pool?....
> >
> > George, who doesnt think its a good idea.
> >
> >
> > < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> > < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> > < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ~~ ><>
> Chris Barker
> Mailto: cmib@xxxxxxxxxxx or mailto: cmib@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
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