Guy wrote:
There is a potential for a lot more driving time waiting and just general and faffing around!!
This could cause confusion and redundant effort in the short term, as with any new system or process. But as people learn about the system, it should reduce the kind of chaos you're describing, which is currently happening not due to the permits but due to the overwhelming demand.
Bosterson wrote:
The "modest fee" you suggest is one more layer of bureaucracy in between people and access to public lands, not to mention the "pay to play" aspect for access to land that we are all supposed to be able to access for free.
If there literally isn't enough room at some trailheads for all the cars that people want to put there, then what's a better system:
1) Everybody gambles and if they don't score a spot, they park illegally, or keep driving from trailhead to trailhead until they find something.
2) People make reservations and then they'll have a better idea of whether their plans are realistic or if they should research other options.
The same number of cars are parking there either way, which means the same number of people are hiking either way. It's just a matter of how much uncertainty and improvising everyone has to deal with to get on the trail. If we're all about access for all, why is #1 better than #2?
Sure, buying a day pass adds a step, but to me that feels easier and more accessible than trying to squeeze my car into a questionable spot at a crowded trailhead and then spending my hike wondering how I'll get home if my car gets towed.
Please note that my comments are based on a hypothetical idea of how this could work, not how the system actually works, because it hasn't started yet. I was curious to give it a try and the reservation process was pretty easy. Ideally it would have a similar benefit as those red and green lights in the parking garage at PDX, where you can look down the row and see if a parking spot is empty, rather than driving up and down all the rows, or like the info signs on the interstate that tell you which of two routes is currently less congested.
Water wrote:
Myself, if I want advanced planning I prefer to advance plan myself, and have some backup dates in case conditions or whatever variables might be in play point to a less than ideal trip, than be forced to plan an outdoors excursion months and months in advance
I didn't say advance planning is a benefit; on the contrary, I'd rather not have to. But compared to the uncertainty of whether or not I'll actually be able to hike from the trailhead I'm driving to, it's the lesser of evils IMO.
I guess different people are stressed out by different things. Online reservations don't stress me out, but overfull parking areas do.