Public-lands visitation and recreation, by the numbers.

[IntrepidXJ]

https://www.hcn.org/issues/47.12/lonely-spot-crowded-west-population-recreation-parks

 

[uintafly]

Interesting stuff. As much as I love solitude, increasing the number of people using our lands will probably be what saves it from privatization and the extraction industries. The more that love it the more willing to protect it.

 

[WasatchWill]

Interesting stuff. As much as I love solitude, increasing the number of people using our lands will probably be what saves it from privatization and the extraction industries. The more that love it the more willing to protect it.

Yep, it's a two edged sword. As hard of a pill as it is to swallow, I'd rather give up a little seclusion to keep the whole of the land accessible and protected.

 

[Wyatt Carson]

That's why guide books are so valuable. They tell you where not to go.

Arizona has three National Parks, one has the most front country and the most back country visitors of any NP. Another one has a ton of front country visitors but has the least amount of back country visitors of any NP that allows back country overnighting. We have always easily gottten away from humanity with no problem in either and have never even seen anyone in the least visited back country of that NP. The zoo is usually easy to figure and there are always plenty of empty places that the crowds can't find. :twothumbs:

But as we have all seen in the last decade or so, the some of the canyons of southern Utah have become a bit more popular...though many places are as desolate and empty of people as ever.