Posted by Steve Hamley on February 18, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Interesting statistics from the NPS morning report 2/18/2009. The Parkway trumped everything - of course it is 469 miles long. I imagine the stats for the Parkway would be even more impressive if you added Skyline Drive which is pretty much the same road.
Visitation Statistics For 2008 Released
Visitation statics for 2008 are out. Overall, there were approximately 275 million visits Servicewide, about the same as last year. Since 1916, there have been 11.7 billion visits to the National Park System.
The top ten most visited areas in the NPS last year were:
1. Blue Ridge Parkway – 16,309,307
2. Golden Gate National Recreation Area – 14,554,750
3. Gateway National Recreation Area – 9,431,021
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park – 9,044,010
5. Lake Mead National Recreation Area – 7,601,863
6. George Washington Memorial Parkway – 7,009,630
7. Natchez Trace Parkway – 5,747,235
8. Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area – 5,127,074
9. Lincoln Memorial – 4,678,861
10. Cape Cod National Seashore – 4,644,235
Posted by Bruce Watson on February 18, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Holy cats! Somebody tell me again why it is that GSMNP doesn't collect a visitor's fee? You'd think they could use the money. You'd also think that they'd want to protect the park from overuse.
More that 2x the visitors over Grand Canyon? Amazing. And the BRP. Just as amazing.
Posted by Steve Hamley on February 18, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Bruce,
It's reportedly in the charter. GSMNP was founded at the height of the Great Depression (the last one) and there were concerns that ordinary people couldn't afford to visit. This was a very poor part of the country then.
Cheers, Steve
Posted by Bruce Watson on February 19, 2009 at 2:13 PM
It's still a poor part of the country. But back in 1930 the US had 1/3 the population it has now. And there weren't any roads to speak of, certainly not like I-40 running so near the park. I doubt that any of the roads in the park were paved -- maybe the CCC or the WPA paved Little River Road? Did the Newfound Gap Road (US-441) even exist then?
What I'm sayin' is, maybe they should revisit that decision since things have changed in the 80 years since it was originally made. It's far and away the most visited park. It's clear that the fear that ordinary people can't afford to visit are no longer rational.
Posted by Bruce Watson on February 19, 2009 at 3:00 PM
It's still a poor part of the country. But back in 1930 the US had 1/3 the population it has now. And there weren't any roads to speak of, certainly not like I-40 running so near the park. I doubt that any of the roads in the park were paved -- maybe the CCC or the WPA paved Little River Road? Did the Newfound Gap Road (US-441) even exist then?
What I'm sayin' is, maybe they should revisit that decision since things have changed in the 80 years since it was originally made. It's far and away the most visited park. It's clear that the fear that ordinary people can't afford to visit are no longer rational.
Posted by Steve Hamley on February 21, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Bruce,
No argument, but I think Congress, not the NPS has to do it. Still, we can do something ourselves like contribute to Friends of the Smokies, show your support with the FOS license plate, or volunteer to help maintain the Park.
The road over the Smokies at least has existed forever almost as I understand it, first as Indian trails and certainly by the Civil War as a wagon road. The old road split off from the current one at the Chimneys and went up what is now the Road Prong trail that goes about 3-1/2 miles to Indian Gap which is a mile or two up the Clingman's Dome road.
Cheers, Steve
Posted by John Zinn on February 22, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Here's what the NPS says concerning "no fees".
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/whyfree.htm
But weren't most of those visitors just people trying to get from Dollywood to the Cherokee casinos?
Discussion
6 repliesVisitation Statistics For 2008 Released
Visitation statics for 2008 are out. Overall, there were approximately 275 million visits Servicewide, about the same as last year. Since 1916, there have been 11.7 billion visits to the National Park System.
The top ten most visited areas in the NPS last year were:
1. Blue Ridge Parkway – 16,309,307
2. Golden Gate National Recreation Area – 14,554,750
3. Gateway National Recreation Area – 9,431,021
4. Great Smoky Mountains National Park – 9,044,010
5. Lake Mead National Recreation Area – 7,601,863
6. George Washington Memorial Parkway – 7,009,630
7. Natchez Trace Parkway – 5,747,235
8. Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area – 5,127,074
9. Lincoln Memorial – 4,678,861
10. Cape Cod National Seashore – 4,644,235
The ten most visited national parks were:
1. Great Smoky Mountains NP – 9,044,010
2. Grand Canyon NP – 4,425,314
3. Yosemite NP – 3,431,514
4. Olympic NP – 3,081,451
5. Yellowstone NP – 3,066,580
6. Cuyahoga Valley NP – 2,828,233
7. Rocky Mountain NP – 2,757,390
8. Zion NP – 2,690,154
9. Grand Teton NP – 2,485,987
10. Acadia NP – 2,075,857
Cheers,
Steve
More that 2x the visitors over Grand Canyon? Amazing. And the BRP. Just as amazing.
It's reportedly in the charter. GSMNP was founded at the height of the Great Depression (the last one)
Cheers, Steve
What I'm sayin' is, maybe they should revisit that decision since things have changed in the 80 years since it was originally made. It's far and away the most visited park. It's clear that the fear that ordinary people can't afford to visit are no longer rational.
What I'm sayin' is, maybe they should revisit that decision since things have changed in the 80 years since it was originally made. It's far and away the most visited park. It's clear that the fear that ordinary people can't afford to visit are no longer rational.
No argument, but I think Congress, not the NPS has to do it. Still, we can do something ourselves like contribute to Friends of the Smokies, show your support with the FOS license plate, or volunteer to help maintain the Park.
The road over the Smokies at least has existed forever almost as I understand it, first as Indian trails and certainly by the Civil War as a wagon road. The old road split off from the current one at the Chimneys and went up what is now the Road Prong trail that goes about 3-1/2 miles to Indian Gap which is a mile or two up the Clingman's Dome road.
Cheers, Steve
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/whyfree.htm
But weren't most of those visitors just people trying to get from Dollywood to the Cherokee casinos?
John