Yosmite National Park

National parks saw springtime lull in visits

In other words, the time to really beat the crowds may have passed.

At traditionally popular parks from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Mount Rainier and the Great Smoky Mountains, visitation from January through May fell compared with last year, sometimes dramatically. The smaller crowds thrilled park visitors but worried the businesses that depend on them.

"The concessionaires and the gateway communities had a very tough spring," Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman acknowledged Tuesday, "but the summer will be huge."

Through May 31, Yosemite reported an approximately 7 percent decline in recreation visits compared with the same period last year; the Great Smoky Mountains' decline exceeded 8 percent.

Elsewhere, the falloff has been even more dramatic. Yellowstone recorded a 14 percent decline in recreation visits through May 31 compared with 2010, and Mount Rainier reported a stunning 26 percent reduction.

"It's rather difficult to know why," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said Tuesday. "We don't survey people who don't show up."

Nash noted that this year's visitation figures almost inevitably pale compared with the park's record numbers last year. Yellowstone also garners its biggest visitation numbers, by far, during the summer.

Many of the major, so-called "crown jewel" parks experienced reductions significantly greater than the overall National Park Service visitor decline of less than 1 percent.

The reasons can range from the parochial to the global.

At Great Smoky Mountains, for instance, park spokesman Bob Miller noted that the temporary closure last year of a major highway nearby forced many more visitors to drive through the park as an alternative. This inflated last year's visitation total and made a reduction this year predictable.

More broadly, any decline in international travel will ripple through the U.S. parks, where foreigners can make up a big share of the visitors. Economic hard times certainly can keep people at home.

"Our best guess may be that some of it is from fuel prices," Miller said, "but we don't really have a way of knowing why people don't come."

In April 2010, the average U.S. retail price for gasoline was about $2.90 a gallon, according to the Energy Department. A year later, the average price was nearly $4 a gallon.

Trip Report - Yosemite National Park, June 2011 | United States ...

Yosemite Falls. These falls are visible from various locations in the park. I found it looked best around noon when the sun glistened off the water. The approach to the Falls is very scenic and obviously very popular. One evening we walked under the falls. My granddaughter was quite pleased that she “convinced” me to run thru the light spray. The falls were also visible from the area of the Swinging Bridge (a great reflection off the water) and at Glacier Point. You just cannot miss this spectacular sight. The Mist Trail. This was one of two hikes I really wanted to do. The smartest thing we could have done was take with a stroller. I expected the hike to the bridge would be easy and that I would possibly leave my daughter and granddaughter there while I went on to Vernal Falls. Nobody told me it’s almost all uphill to the bridge. We took turns pushing the stroller and got a good workout. I went on to the Falls myself and while I had little interest in climbing to the top I went about halfway up to take photos. That was a challenge due to the spray/mist. At one point I saw a rainbow down below. Although I had a rain jacket on I still got drenched. On the way back I found a little turnoff onto a large rock that gave great, dry views of the falls. Two shuttle buses out of service on Fathers’ Day didn’t help. It was interesting to see the giant trees. Walking thru the Tunnel Tree was fun and we saw several deer just on the other side. My granddaughter got more interested when a ranger came by with a group of people. Although she told me that she didn’t understand what he was talking about, she insisted on walking along with the group and listening to his talk. Yosemite Lodge is in a great location and while basic was adequate though quite over-priced. The price you pay for location. The cafeteria prices were more like a full-service upper-level restaurant. The amount of guest parking is grossly inadequate since a complete parking lot is reserved for tour buses. Spending 15 minutes looking for a parking space and then another 10 minutes walking to the room was quite annoying. Since two of the Mariposa Grove shuttle buses were out of service, the shuttle was running every 45 minutes instead of every 20 minutes. When we took the bus not everybody at the stop was able to fit on that bus. Can you imagine waiting about 25 minutes (average between buses) for the bus and then having to wait another 45 minutes for the next one?

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