Too Many Tourists In Colorado

[digitaldeath]

Ya, haven't you noticed its everyman for himself out here in America. Fkn bootlicker

[old goat]

I was at Arches two years ago--huge line to get in, Delicate arch lot full and road side parking nearly so, mobs of people on the hike and at the arch. Trail to the backside of the arch--didn't see a soul. Same at the Windows. Got hit in the head by a selfie stick. The "rough" trail around the back--I was the only one there. No doubt it's getting harder to get away from the crowds and will continue to get harder yet, but it's still not that hard. It is a problem as the knees and other body parts start to give out.

[stfu&gbtw]

I was at Arches two years ago--huge line to get in, Delicate arch lot full and road side parking nearly so, mobs of people on the hike and at the arch. Trail to the backside of the arch--didn't see a soul. Same at the Windows. Got hit in the head by a selfie stick. The "rough" trail around the back--I was the only one there. No doubt it's getting harder to get away from the crowds and will continue to get harder yet, but it's still not that hard. It is a problem as the knees and other body parts start to give out.

Therein lies the rub... As more people come to CO, the locals are going to have to start being as good at getting after it as up until now they've only had to tell their friends back home they are.

Do you even live here bro?

[neckdeep]

Fair points...curious, do you agree with doebedoe's point that a quick walk yields the place "to yourself"?

Yes. But what's the point of that? Meaning, being someone who lives within sight of the parks, I can and do wander around in the woods to my heart's content without making a big $50 day trip hassle in the parks. Plenty of empty places, here. But, when I have visitors, they want to go see the Fountain Paint Pots, Grand Prismatic Spring, etc. That's kinda the point of paying the $50, to get a fucking parking spot at the damn thermals. Without the thermals, you might as well go hiking for free in the Wind River Range, the Tetons or the Absarokas. Those are way better mountains than anything inside Yellowstone. $50 is a total gouge for what you get, considering the same stuff (without the thermals) is available for free right next door.

[babybear]

one funny thing andrew has talked about this summer with all the chinese tourists in yellowstone is that they tend to congregate into big crowds around the most popular features.
like at Old Faithful he will walk his guests around to a nice quiet viewing area whereas the chinese see a crowd and immediately want to be in that spot too, no matter whether there is a clear viewing zone maybe 100' away lol

it has really gotten busy in GTNP too- in past yrs wd never really see parking overflowing at the parking lots but in the past couple summers there are always cars parked out on the side of the roads, full lots etc when we come back from our hikes etc (since yea we usually head out early to avoid this scenario)

although we did see the bears last w/e with only about 5 or 6 other vehicles around. But then again when I took my sister and cousin hiking last week we got stuck in a legitimate moose jam. cars were gridlocked/ not moving for several minutes.
Not sure the answer. in a way, glad that people are getting outdoors more/ enjoying nature although getting loved to death seems somewhat appropriate
I find millennials as annoying as everyone else but I can't see getting ornery and closing the door on others who were seeking the same things I was as a youngin'
ho hum

[fastfred]

Yellowstone is stupid busy at the popular photo-spots. But walk 500m off a paved trail and you have the place to yourself. It's wonderful. We saw 3 couples in 4 days of backpacking in the height of summer this year. Hard to see so few people at RMNP.

was just in a national park and didn't see any body for miles and hrs on a hike, ended up passing through certain spots and it was literally bus loads of people, all in one spot taking the same pickture

[fastfred]

We have the CO-9 Breck/Frisco project which is in what... year 10 of 12 to add lanes to less than 8 miles of road?

enough can't be said about that, on top of this mess they still haven't funded or figured out the section of road from the hospital to the county commons light, what the fuck? So get ready for one more section to be completed in the next five years

goverment under funding and goverment beurocrates at their worst

[Benny Profane]

Who has the fucking clout to clear my good name is god damn summit county. Who is going to stand up to the man and make them eat it

Get on your knees and show us the cash, bitch.

[digitaldeath]

Get on your knees and show us the cash, bitch.

[east or bust]

As more people come to CO, the locals are going to have to start being as good at getting after it as up until now they've only had to tell their friends back home they are.

Do you even live here bro?

That's sig worthy shit right there.

[doebedoe]

enough can't be said about that, on top of this mess they still haven't funded or figured out the section of road from the hospital to the county commons light, what the fuck? So get ready for one more section to be completed in the next five years

goverment under funding and goverment beurocrates at their worst

At least folks in government can spell. If you hate the slow updating of infrastructure, blame TABOR and insanely low property taxes. The folks at CDOT aren't the problem -- their budget is.

[uglymoney]

I still think the worst 'locals' are the rad JH bros who move there for a year or two. The arrogance can get a little overpowering. Colorado peoples (locals, immigrant locals, Iowegian expats) are almost always awesome to us (except maybe rich assholes in the usual towns) but I almost never go anywhere there that is overrun because as a general rule I hate people as much as I love them. TGR seems like an outlet for everyone in Colorado to express the outrage at the happy melting pot they live in.

And interesting Yellowstone stats. We went last summer and the Chinese tourists have zero camping etiquette and they can really make it stressful but they probably aren't any worse than camping next to redneck off roaders in Colorado. We went with the dog and kids to Yellowstone and had a blast but I will never, ever, ever, return without a backpack. Good thing that the Winds are right down the road and basically empty of people that are annoying.

[stfu&gbtw]

At least folks in government can spell. If you hate the slow updating of infrastructure, blame TABOR and insanely low property taxes. The folks at CDOT aren't the problem -- their budget is.

And TABOR is the voter's fault.

I couldn't put my finger on exactly when we truly came to expect that we can get something for nothing, but whenever it was, this shit will be the death of us. Doesn't matter if we're talking about wanting low taxes and good infrastructure, or cheap goods and a strong manufacturing industry... The day people decide they're willing to invest their time, money, and effort in the things they want, all this bullshit goes away. Until then, enjoy the recession of the middle class.

[BmillsSkier]

You can get more than your fill of lye soap making and butter churning in Gatlinburg, Smokey Mountains National Park for next to nothing.

The middle class love it.

[WTF is dat]

At least folks in government can spell. If you hate the slow updating of infrastructure, blame TABOR and insanely low property taxes. The folks at CDOT aren't the problem -- their budget is.

I've told fastfred this numerous times before about TABOR and our taxes but it doesn't compute

[fastfred]

I'll say it again then tabor is great!

best thing ever, don't know why every state doesn't use it, the problem is the gov't workers and pussy politicians don't know how it works

they go and ask for a 50 cent gas tax, they ask for bonds, they ask for increased income or property taxe rate increases, the voters get to vote on the increase and we either have new roads or shitty roads, but poltiicians don't want to look bad so they are to scared to ask for a tax increase, it's easier to look like champ and just raise taxes and get re elected instead of asking the people to vote on a tax look bad and maybe not get re elected

[hatchgreenchile]

Yes. But what's the point of that? Meaning, being someone who lives within sight of the parks, I can and do wander around in the woods to my heart's content without making a big $50 day trip hassle in the parks. Plenty of empty places, here. But, when I have visitors, they want to go see the Fountain Paint Pots, Grand Prismatic Spring, etc. That's kinda the point of paying the $50, to get a fucking parking spot at the damn thermals. Without the thermals, you might as well go hiking for free in the Wind River Range, the Tetons or the Absarokas. Those are way better mountains than anything inside Yellowstone. $50 is a total gouge for what you get, considering the same stuff (without the thermals) is available for free right next door.

More good points. I know the feeling, having to take many visitors on the Dream Lake hike in Rocky. Always full lots and a conga line in summer.

My point would be that we're talking about concentrated parks vs crowded parks. If the place is a ghost town outside of the A+ sites, well, I don't see that as busy. In many popular NPs or Wilderness areas, there are minimal options to have the place to yourself. YMMV.

[capulin overdrive]

I'll say it again then tabor is great!

best thing ever, don't know why every state doesn't use it, the problem is the gov't workers and pussy politicians don't know how it works

they go and ask for a 50 cent gas tax, they ask for bonds, they ask for increased income or property taxe rate increases, the voters get to vote on the increase and we either have new roads or shitty roads, but poltiicians don't want to look bad so they are to scared to ask for a tax increase, it's easier to look like champ and just raise taxes and get re elected instead of asking the people to vote on a tax look bad and maybe not get re elected

Yup, all the zillion people that moved to the front range have to do is vote for what Fred mentioned. Tards in a Dallas burb just voted to build a 70 million dollar high school stadium. Same could be done in your hood.


Being a Baca county tax payer, I'm plenty happy with Tabor and could give 2 shits how long you city fuckers spend in traffic. Just keep your ass north hwy50!

[Meadow Skipper]

?.. I almost never go anywhere there that is overrun because as a general rule I hate people ...

Yeah, it's not that I hate tourists so much, I just hate people and a lot of them around here are tourists.

(Yeah, I know, I totally quoted out of context, but Ir serves the point I wanted to make. )

[summit]

Being a Baca county tax payer, I'm plenty happy with Tabor and could give 2 shits how long you city fuckers spend in traffic. Just keep your ass north hwy50!

What do you do in Baca?

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

I can't speak for other locals or towns but in my experience the thing that bothers most of the locals I know here in Aspen isn't all the people on trails or in the backcountry, it's the day-to-day in town mess that sucks. Out in the woods it's easy to get away from people usually, as everyone has pointed out. But the traffic and crowds in town you can't escape from.

This summer the inbound traffic stretched bumper to bumper from town to the ABC pretty much all day every day from F&W until the middle of August. Anytime you wanna leave town it's an extra 15-20 minutes to get back into town, not to mention the extra traffic at normal commute times. Parking rates increased this summer as well, which really just penalizes locals who drive into town for work. And the thing here is a huge increase in the traffic is contractors/service vehicles, not even tourists. I've lived here 11 years and by any of this towns standards would be considered pro-development, but the last 3 summers are making me rethink that sometimes. And the only real way to curb those crowds is a good recession where the rich quit buying and remodeling/rebuilding their second homes and the commercial developers slowdown their redevelopments.

The county and city here always trumpet how all the extra tax revenue helps pay for all these great services, which is true and many of the amenities of living here are awesome. But I know a lot of locals who would give up some of those nice but non-essential services if it means they can spend less time in their cars everyday staring at the mountains and more time outside enjoying them with all the tourists.

[Lindahl]

Bus and bike? Welcome to city life

[Benny Profane]

The only real way to curb those crowds is a good recession where the buying and remodeling/rebuilding their second homes and the commercial developers slowdown their redevelopments.

Dude, we had one of those recently, starting in '08. It is still called the Great Recession. How did that work out? Fuck, where I live, they're tearing down 3 million dollar homes to build ten million dollar homes. Aspen? Fuck.

[Name Redacted]

The mountain resort towns have always wanted this. More more more. Now they have it but the rapid increase has not been matched in infrastructure. You can't improve infrastructure overnight, especially when it depends on tax dollars from the people you are trying to accommodate.

[summit]

Bus and bike? Welcome to city life

Bike only works part of the year in the mountains for most people, as you know, but we do have a sweet bike path system.

Maybe you experienced the joke that is the county bus system in Summit while you lived in Breck? It is inefficient and horrifically slow.

If you want to go from Breck to Keystone in the summer, it is 3 county buses, 1 hour 40 minutes, then add the Breck and Keystone buses you transfer to.

But it is FREE! It pretty much exists for locals with suspended licenses, people going out who don't want to lose their licenses, the poorest/foreign workers, and maybe a bike shuttle. It is too inefficient for anything else. Maybe it works better in other mountain communities.