Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [6]
The last thing we've discovered (though it's not a very big secret) is that many hidden gems can be found among the national parks and monuments of the American West. Everyone knows about Mount Rainier and Carlsbad Caverns, but not always about the less-visited parks, such as Great Basin in Nevada, Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, the Channel Islands in California, Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, Jewel Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas. These are places of great beauty or historical significance, but they're often overlooked because of their remoteness or simply because they're relatively new to the national park system.
As we all explore these parks and monuments, we should remember that they have been set aside not only for our enjoyment, but also to be preserved for future generations. Let our gift to tomorrow's park visitors be that we have almost no impact on the beauty around us, and if anything, we leave it cleaner than we found it.
1
JUST THE FACTS: Planning Your Trip to the National Parks of the American West
IN THIS CHAPTER, WE'VE TRIED TO GIVE YOU ALL THE GENERAL INFORmation you will need to help plan your trip to the national parks of the western United States. The individual park chapters that follow will answer your more specific questions.
The Parks Without the Crowds: Some General Tips
It's not easy to commune with nature when you're surrounded by hordes of fellow visitors. For each park, we've discussed the best times of year to go and listed certain areas, trails, and sites that are less visited than others. For really specific information, you can find park-use statistics at www2.nature.nps.gov/ stats. Beyond that, here are a few general guidelines.
Avoid the high season. For most parks in the West, this especially means July and August, but anytime schools are not in session, parks are crowded with families on vacation. Spring and fall in many of these national parks offer mild weather, vibrant plant and animal life, and relatively empty trails and roads. The exception (at least regarding crowds) is college spring break, which is usually in March or April. Some parks, such as Big Bend, get unbelievably crowded at that time.
Walk away if you find yourself in a crowd. It sounds simple, but often when a scenic overlook is crowded, you'll find an equally good, completely empty view just a short stretch down the road or trail.
Visit popular attractions at off-peak hours, especially early in the morning or late in the afternoon. You'll be surprised at how empty the park is before 9 or 10am. Dawn and dusk are also often the best times to see wildlife. You also can avoid waits and crowds at restaurants by eating at off-peak hours—try lunch at 11 and dinner at 4. And campers using public showers will often find them jammed first thing in the morning and just before bedtime, but deserted the rest of the day.
Don't forget winter. You may not see wildflowers, and some roads and areas may be closed, but many
national parks are wonderful places to ski, snowshoe, snowmobile, or just admire the snowy landscape.
Finally, remember that some parks are rarely crowded, and we've made a special effort to include information about many of them in this book. Generally, the more difficult a park is to get to, the fewer people you'll encounter there. And many of the