Good observations. Personally though, I think this is kind of the "proper" usage of a passenger car: getting out of the city/town, but not going to another. The

Good observations. Personally though, I think this is kind of the "proper" usage of a passenger car: getting out of the city/town, but not going to another. There's no viable mass alternative to getting out to the woods -- this is the proverbial last-mile transport, even though in reality it's a lot of miles. And if you're driving a gasoline car, the cleanest way to do it is at a consistent high speed. Hybrids, of course, are even better. It's not really viable yet, as far as I know, to use a full electric for a weekend camping trip. Charging isn't widespread enough and takes too long. (I'd love to be corrected on this, though!) It's also worth noting that some amount of infrastructure in these areas is necessary for caretakers: rangers/foresters and firefighters need roads. Resource extraction (logging) too. Except for the real high-volume locations like Yellowstone, I'd venture a guess that most of the roads in conservation areas were not built particularly for visitors.