Petition to NPS to ease bicycle camping
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iamkeith
Dec 7, 2012, 5:50:30 PM12/7/12
to RBW Owners Bunch
A friend just sent me a link to this petiton on the whitehouse.gov
website, and I thought many of you would be interested. Since its
political and everyone is entitled to have their own views, I'll stop
short of saying "sign it."
But it's a nice idea: If someone arrives at a National Park Service
campground under self-propelled power, but the campground is otherwise
full, then the campground would have to accommodate them anyway. If
you've ever been stuck in a national park late at night without a
place to camp, miles from the next possible location, and not even
knowing if it will have availability, you understand what a nice thing
this would be.
Otherwise, I don't know much about the petition process or the
individual/organization who started this one. Looks like it has met
the minimum number required to be officially "posted" "or "searchable"
but it still needs a lot of signatures in the next few days in order
to meet the author's goals.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/require-national-park-service-allow-camping-all-self-propelled-visitors-even-if-campground-full/f5TJCW7Q
website, and I thought many of you would be interested. Since its
political and everyone is entitled to have their own views, I'll stop
short of saying "sign it."
But it's a nice idea: If someone arrives at a National Park Service
campground under self-propelled power, but the campground is otherwise
full, then the campground would have to accommodate them anyway. If
you've ever been stuck in a national park late at night without a
place to camp, miles from the next possible location, and not even
knowing if it will have availability, you understand what a nice thing
this would be.
Otherwise, I don't know much about the petition process or the
individual/organization who started this one. Looks like it has met
the minimum number required to be officially "posted" "or "searchable"
but it still needs a lot of signatures in the next few days in order
to meet the author's goals.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/require-national-park-service-allow-camping-all-self-propelled-visitors-even-if-campground-full/f5TJCW7Q
Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery
Dec 7, 2012, 6:10:44 PM12/7/12
to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Is this a problem? In my experience, NPS campgrounds have either "unlimited" capacity hiker-biker sites or they have campground hosts that are willing to make accommodations for a weary cyclist.
iamkeith
Dec 7, 2012, 6:28:27 PM12/7/12
to RBW Owners Bunch
That's a good question. I assume the author had some direct
experience that motivated him. In decades past, I found myself at the
very small campground end of the very long road into Arches National
Park late at night and without a spot. Other campers were nice enough
to allow us to share their spot, while the campground host had more of
a "tough luck" attitude. Its a different situation different there
now, because you sign up for a spot before you even enter the park.
But the system doesn't work well for bikers. If you are one of the few
lucky souls to get a spot when they dole them sharply out at 7:00am,
you still have to "prove-up" by riding all the way in and pitching
camp within a few hours. For a biker, that doesn't really make sense,
since you'd likely rather savor the journey or make it the last task
of the day.
I live in the Grand Teton/ Yellowstone region. Many of our
campgrounds are first-come / first-serve. Some do have a limited
number of "walk-in" sites that don't get released to vehicular
campers, but not all of them. If you found yourself at one of those
other locations, I think you'd be at the mercy of other campers - just
like I was. But I don't have first hand experience bike camping
here. Funny how you don't take advantage of the things that are close
to home.
On Dec 7, 4:10 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com>
wrote:
> >https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/require-national-park-servi...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
experience that motivated him. In decades past, I found myself at the
very small campground end of the very long road into Arches National
Park late at night and without a spot. Other campers were nice enough
to allow us to share their spot, while the campground host had more of
a "tough luck" attitude. Its a different situation different there
now, because you sign up for a spot before you even enter the park.
But the system doesn't work well for bikers. If you are one of the few
lucky souls to get a spot when they dole them sharply out at 7:00am,
you still have to "prove-up" by riding all the way in and pitching
camp within a few hours. For a biker, that doesn't really make sense,
since you'd likely rather savor the journey or make it the last task
of the day.
I live in the Grand Teton/ Yellowstone region. Many of our
campgrounds are first-come / first-serve. Some do have a limited
number of "walk-in" sites that don't get released to vehicular
campers, but not all of them. If you found yourself at one of those
other locations, I think you'd be at the mercy of other campers - just
like I was. But I don't have first hand experience bike camping
here. Funny how you don't take advantage of the things that are close
to home.
On Dec 7, 4:10 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> - Show quoted text -
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