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A Look at Overnight Stays at US National Parks
- contrahax 7y agoIs there a link to the raw data anywhere? Wasn’t able to find it via the NPS website or data.gov
- jffry 7y agoI believe it's https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park - drill into an individual park like Yellowstone and you'll see the "Overnight Stays" data
- mooreds 7y agoSee https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/ https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/ Here's the list of stats for Rocky Mountain: https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park/ROMO https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park/ROMO Looks like OP pulled from the Recreation Visits By Month report.
- myroon5 7y agohttps://github.com/JordanVincent/jordan-vincent.com https://github.com/JordanVincent/jordan-vincent.com
- orliesaurus 7y agoThe graph look amazing but they're a bit hard to read. I was hoping for some toggles to switch labels on/off! Maybe I'm just bad at reading graphs...
- bahmboo 7y agoFor several of the sites elevation is everything. Mt Rainier? Good place to die.
- lubujackson 7y agoSee that yellow bump in the winter for Yellowstone? You can access a fair bit of Yellowstone in the winter and I highly recommend it! If you've ever been there in the summer the experience is much different. Instead of lines of cars and crowds of tourists you almost have the place to yourself. Drive to the base and they will take you on a snow cat up to the lodge. From there, you can cross country ski, take snow cat tours or just walk around and experience amazing things surrounded by quiet nature - snow-caked bison, wolves, foxes hunting mice in snow. My wife and I were by ourselves waiting for Ol' Faithful to blow when a coyote walked by us heading toward the hills, passing no more than 20 feet away. It's not for everyone, but if you want to do something awesome and skip the crowds, it's a great experience!
- malandrew 7y agoI would add the caveat that you stay off any slope greater than 25-degrees or below the runout of any slope greater than 25-degrees or below slopes where the ridgeline has cornices unless you've got at least AIARE 1 training. If you don't know how to measure slope angle, you probably shouldn't be on anything other than the gentlest of slopes. Avalanches kill.
- brudgers 7y agoThough most of the park is only accessible by snow cat or skis in winter, the fifty miles of road between the North Entrance at Gardiner and the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate is maintained. Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt, and the Lamar Valley are accessible by car (depending the weather).
- jrumbut 7y agoI can second this! Was in the area (roughly) and had a rented car. Just drove out there for an afternoon in February and it was magic. Saw a pack of wolves harrassing a handful of elk (and heard a howl! It's a totally different experience than hearing it in a movie), got stuck in a bison traffic jam (repeatedly). It was just astoundingly beautiful. Not even more bison than people, more wolves than people. I hear I got lucky seeing them though. I'm sure if you cross country ski, ride the snow cat, stay at the lodge it's fantastic but if you ever show up in Montana definitely just go regardless.
- mbostleman 7y agoLottery applications for non-commercially guided snowmobile permits begin today and run through August. Winners are awarded in mid-September. Four permits per day. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/ncgsap.htm https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/ncgsap.htm
- superkuh 7y agoThis guy should work on his website a bit. It's just a blank white page with no content.
- mushufasa 7y agomaybe you disabled js? it's ember. if you meant that as a snide remark, i don't think that's fair. i don't require js for my websites but it's fairly standard practice. this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing sites i've seen this week.
- rrrhys 7y agoThere's always one. As if you don't know.
- ilamont 7y agoIt would be great to see the longitudinal trend at the national parks. There was a recent report that "camping" (including in tents, RVs, and cabins) is way down in the Adirondacks, a state park system in northern New York. According to survey data, just 11% chose to camp in 2018, compared to 33% in 2013. Hotel, motel, resort, and rentals are up. Regardless of accommodation, average length of stay has dropped from 5.1 days to 2.8 days. This apparently follows national trends: More and more, Americans are showing a preference for short getaways of three nights or less, he said, spurring the industry term “micro-cation.” Millennial and Gen Z travelers, who make up a significant portion of the region’s visitors, typically book accommodations at the last minute and stay two to three days max, McKenna said. “They take a weekend trip, leave Thursday and come back Sunday,” he said. “That’s a trend we think is going to continue. We’re also seeing people take multiple trips spread out over the course of a year. (Young travelers) are less seasonal. They take trips in the summer, the fall and the winter.” Fewer people chose to stay outdoors last year than in prior years, and more opted for hotels or short-term vacation rentals, according to the study. Hotels remain the preferred accommodation for visitors. Source: https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2019/07/study-shows-adirondack-tourists-staying-fewer-days-spending-more-money-camping-less/ https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/20...
- malandrew 7y agoI wonder if that has more to do with the nature of work in recent years than actual preferences. I would love to take longer trips but usually can only ever fit in 2-3 day trips because of work.
- whenchamenia 7y agoBingo. About 2 weeks is the sweet spot for me when not pressed for time.
- ip26 7y agoFor me, I figure 2-3 day trips made over a weekend cost me only 1 vacation day, so annually I get 2-3x as many days on trips for the same number of vacation days. Of course, then you exclusively contend with weekend crowds. I dream one day the work week is culturally decoupled from M-F, and people's "weekend" is any two days of the week. It would mean less crowds for everyone and more regular business for tourist towns. K-12 school schedule is probably the chief impediment.
- prawn 7y agoI’ve camped in (or free-camped near) 15 of these this summer in the US during a roadtrip. Almost everywhere has been hot and while that has meant some places are less busy than peak, I can definitely recommend favouring those at elevation. Or to avoid crowds, look for accommodation in state parks or national monuments that don’t have that top-shelf brand. Bryce is currently walk-ups only so you can grab a site before midday, be close to the rim and not get cooked.
- pimlottc 7y agoThese are pretty cool! However, as a person with red/green colorblindness, I can't really reliable tell which line is "tent" and which is "backcountry". Also, does the line thickness mean anything, or is it just correlated with the radius?
- nphase 7y agoWish there was a version better suited for colorblinds!
- bane 7y agoMany of these parks are in or near quite remote areas. If you can't get a site reservation there's often some great farms or ranches around that you can stay at. For example, we stayed in a tiny, but full service cabin on a ranch in Southwest Utah very close to quite a few State and National Parks. It was awesome, there was literally nobody else for a couple miles around and the stars...my god the stars.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- justinator 7y agoThe, "Gates of the Arctic" graph is somewhat funny: devoid of RV camping 365 days of the year! Got back from that place last month after a 2 week stay. No RVs to be seen, either. Well, there's no ROADS into the Park, either! We took float planes. My idea of what a, "desolate backcountry area" is, has been recently redefined.
- thrownaway954 7y agothat is probably the most beautiful way of displaying data I have ever seen. hands off to the author.
- freetime2 7y agoLate October, when the crowds have thinned but before the heavy snows arrive, is my favorite time to go backpacking in the mountains. It’s a completely different experience than visiting in the summer months. It does tend to get cold at night (below freezing, even) and can snow on occasion, so you need to plan accordingly.
- dkeyes 7y agoI love the design of these graphs -- can I ask what you used? Thanks!
- Dowwie 7y agoIf you are planning to backpack to official Backcountry camp sites at any of the popular parks, you will need a permit. Expect to book roughly 6 months in advance, to the day, within minutes that your site is available to reserve. Not all parks offer 6 months in advance. Some are less. Backpacking the national parks is a lot harder than tent camping at a campground but so rewarding. My shoulders can't take the weight for too long, though, and it's hard to convince family to tough it out to see parts of the park that few others venture into. Yet, doing so exposes you to incredible sights and animals that stay far away from people.
- ravedave5 7y agoVoyeurs is NOT tundra and NOT part of Alaska.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoI'm amused that they featured Acadia as the first park in the "continental" section after summarizing by saying those parks were in the midwest.
- xcskier56 7y agoAlso amusing that they include Voyagers park in Minnesota in the "Tundra" category after saying these parks are all in remote parts of Alaska
- logfromblammo 7y agoShould have included a lakes and rivers category, probably. You're not going far in Voyageurs/BWCA/Quetico without a float-plane, canoe, or kayak.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoI think you misread that. It mentions "parks in the midwest" as a subcategory of "continental".
- superdimwit 7y agoI feel the circular plots make the data harder to read. I suspect some boring line plots with time of year on the X axis would be much more visually efficient
- rconti 7y agoI generally hate radar plots, but I thought it worked perfectly for visualizing seasons, which operate in a circle. Linear graphs of months of a year always look funny to me.
- mcpherrinm 7y agoWhere do you put the break in the graph, then? Winter solstice, maybe? I think for data which is circular in nature (in this case, as the Earth goes around the Sun), it makes sense. Yes, a linear presentation works too. For me, that would be harder to read.
- ravenstine 7y agoCircular graphs are half the problem I see on the "dataisugly" subreddit. At least this one isn't too bad.
- superdimwit 7y agoHmm, the first plot took me a long time to understand - way too much going on.
- jefe_ 7y agoSecond this, my mental calendar is a circle, but running counter-clockwise with January 1 at the 12, Feb at 11, etc. I have no problem looking at linear timelines, but viewing these clockwise representations of the year, with January at the 8 position, was surprisingly difficult. That said, the data is really interesting.
- ISL 7y agoIt is so interesting to me that your mental calendar goes counter-clockwise. What is the intuition that picks that handedness?
- superdimwit 7y agoWhat's the difference between backcountry and tent? I feel like they overlap - I often camp with a tent in the backcountry..
- brudgers 7y agoThe term backcountry is a generic descriptor for areas of a park unit outside of highly developed front-country zones. http://npshistory.com/publications/wilderness/white-papers/4.pdf http://npshistory.com/publications/wilderness/white-papers/4...
- qntty 7y agoProbably tent-camping campgrounds vs no campground. They didn't want to label it "campground" because that could refer to an RV campground too.
- teej 7y agoExactly this. To go back country camping in Denali means jumping on a bus that drives the length of the park and telling it to stop wherever you want to begin your adventure. Tent camping is a traditional campground.
- alexhutcheson 7y agoDrive-in campsite vs. hike-in camping area (which may or may not have "campsite" facilities).
- mieseratte 7y agoGoing off of my experience with my state park system, there are four types of camping one can do: 1. Building Rental (Cabin, etc.) 2. RV / Camper 3. Park and Camp (Tent) 4. Hike and Camp (Tent) With #3 you park in a nearby lot and walk to a designated camp site, often times with things like tent pads, benches, tables, grilling areas, etc., roughly a mile or so from the parking lot, usually closer than not. With #4 this is non-trivial hiking and camping in proper wilderness. Sometimes they will have designated camping sites, sometimes it's completely up to you. I would assume "Tent" is just #3 and "Backcountry" is #4.
- bradford 7y agoSometimes, it's really hard to find information that confirms a negative. (i.e., confirming that a scenario is not supported) A while ago I was trying to plan a trip to Death Valley and I was exploring backcountry camping as a possibility. Backcountry camping is possible in Death Valley, but looking at this chart I can see that no one really does it, and it might be best to reconsider my plans. This is valuable information for individuals planning an overnight stay at any park. (Of course, it's possible that the data is missing, but I think my point is still valid)
- ppierald 7y agoI just got back from a trip to Death Valley. While it was extremely hot (116F), it was very beautiful. The mountains are where you probably want to go for hiking and camping. The valley floor is where all the heat gets trapped in. I highly recommend Death Valley. Many people stay tuned for the short-lived super blooms of wildflowers that pop up from time to time in spring after perfect conditions allow. It is supposed to be quite spectacular.
- matthewowen 7y agoi don't think death valley requires permits for backcountry camping, so i suspect it doesn't show up in the dataset. btw, death valley has a lot of semi-backcountry options: places that require high clearance vehicles to access via road, may or may not have vault toilets, may or may not have water, and are generally pretty light in terms of utilization. they might be worth considering.
- brudgers 7y agoCurrently, backcountry permits are voluntary. https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/backcamp.htm https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/backcamp.htm
- japhyr 7y agoBackcountry camping in Death Valley is magical if you know what you're doing. It's also a place that will kill you if you don't know what you're doing and you get lost, or panic when something goes wrong. Death Valley is also a park that's relatively easy to explore by vehicle and through day hikes, so it will always have a lower ratio of backcountry camping to other forms of camping than most other parks.
- hnaccy 7y agoThis is why I like winter camping, no people!
- jcranmer 7y agoMore importantly, no bugs!
- enobrev 7y agoIt took me a bit to understand the graphs, but I appreciate them. That huge drop in tent-camping at Big Bend during the summer is a solid warning. If you do, I highly recommend doing so in the mountains, where it can be 20-40F cooler than the lower altitudes. I camped at Chisos Basin in July a couple years ago. We were hoping to canoe and camp along the river for a night, but that section of the Rio Grande was mostly dried up at the time. The days were in the 90s and the nights were mid-80s. At lower altitudes, the temps were around 115F during the day. Regardless, I highly recommend the park overall. It's absolutely breathtaking. We did the Lost Mine trail, which is about 5 miles round trip. The view at the top is just outstanding.
- prawn 7y agoI’ve just finished a three month trip driving twice across the US, hitting 21 states and camping in most of those (wife and three young kids). In summer. It’s been very hot and Big Bend was particularly brutal. We were up in the Chisos Basin the first night where it was cooler and then down near the Mexican border the second night where a storm made it bearable. We camped in a mixed of national parks/monuments, state parks, water authority areas, BLM, etc.
- lorenzq 7y agoHow do you find BLM spots? I've often had to resort to google satellite photos and referenced flat dirt patches with BLM territory maps to make sure I wasn't on private land. Wish there was an easier way.
- prawn 7y agoCampendium (site and app) has been quite reliable. I set my search to Public and Free. Or if that reveals nothing, I untick free. We bought a shuttle bus in California, ripped out most of the seats, put in beds, then drove it over to Florida and back again. Literally hours away from flying back to Australia tonight. I’ll go through and review each site on Campendium when I have a minute. @isaacforman on IG for anyone interested. Lots of action in the stories.
- xcskier56 7y agoThe Denali graph is interesting. You can see how the climbing season for Denali (May-June) skews the bulk of backcountry camping much earlier in the season than the weather would predict
- evil-olive 7y agoInteresting spike in backcountry camping in the Great Smoky Mountains relatively early in the season (starting in March). Probably thru-hikers on the Applachian Trail, hiking northbound?
- robmiller 7y agoI hiked the backcountry there two spring breaks during college. That was 20 years ago, but I don't really recall it being crowded. Beautiful time of year, but a little scary when I had to forge a river of snowmelt.
- kwesthaus 7y agoThe thruhiking bubble also likely contributes to the similar rise in backcountry visits to Shenandoah in May and June.
- avip 7y agoDon't know that place but if it has good cliffs April could be the climbing season.
- jofer 7y agoIt's also the nicest time to hike in that area, i.m.o. Thru hikers probably do contribute to the spike, but I'd bet a lot of it is just that April and May are the best weather.
- OrgNet 7y agomost of them are very similar... they basically say don't travel during school summer break?
- hammock 7y agoThere is a variable missing on the axis somewhere: why doesnt the "average temperature" coloring extend all the way to the edge? It should be shaped like a pie slice as I understand it.
- kamkazemoose 7y agoI'm not sure if I totally understand your point. But from what I'm seeing on the graph, the temperature coloring is only present when the average temperature is above 70 (in red) or below 50 (in white). So there is no coloring around the edges in spring/fall for many graphs because the average temperature is likely between 50-70.
- hammock 7y agoYes but why doesn't it look like a pie slice - outlined by "clock hands." The circle graph treats the year like a clock. There is no reason that if Aug 5 is above 70 on average, that the coloring only goes halfway on that day. It's a binary yes/no.
- inglor 7y agoI presumed that represents the number of days in that month where the temperature was above (or below) that certain threshold. This is rather common in weather sites.
- hammock 7y agoOk so that's what I mean by missing variable - the "number of days in that month" is not represented on the graph. It also makes more sense that this is plotting 12 points and smoothing the curve, in my mind me I had assumed it was a daily plot of the data.
- kyleblarson 7y agoI live just outside North Cascades NP. It's only backcountry accessible but is absolutely stunning and you likely won't see a single other person while out there.
- ahelwer 7y agoEh, Marblemount ranger station definitely has a line before opening on the weekends. Everything requires permits and permits go fast for the well-known stuff. No fees though, which is nice.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoI remember car camping there once around 20 years ago, am I mis-remembering the park? The nps site, at least, provides some evidence that I’m not imagining that. https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/camping.htm https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/camping.htm
- brudgers 7y agoThe Ross Lake National Recreation Area is a corridor along Washington Highway 20. It bisects North Cascades National Park and the Park has two sections separated by it. The Recreation Area has car camping, Like the Park, it is under the National Park Service but has different rules. Technically, there is only backcountry camping in the park. But the car campgrounds are essentially surrounded by the it.
- craz8 7y agoI once drove 50 miles on the North Cascades highway and saw no-one. Mostly due to fires in the area though, so the air quality wasn’t great We stopped at one point and heard a motorbike come up the valley for 10 minutes before it passed us! And that’s a fairly main road - I can only imagine how isolated it is once you’re deep in the park