National Parks: Money-saving tips

Our recent blog post, "Should guns be openly used in the National Parks?" drew more than 125 comments from readers. Thanks to everyone. (Comments are now closed.) As a reminder: Under current Interior Department regulations, you can bring many types of firearms into most national parks, but the weapons cannot be loaded and "ready-to-fire." Below, you'll find some of the comments that generated light, not just heat. (Find all of the comments on the original post, of course.) I believe regulations should be on a park-by-park basis -- i.e., where in the park they're permitted, under what circumstances -- e.g., sidearms, for protection only, always visible (not concealed), and registered upon entry. No need for long guns since hunting isn't allowed.—Tony Having a unloaded firearm for protection is worthless, the very thing that one would need to protect themselves from is not going to "timeout" for me to locate my bullets and load a firearm. —Butch Yes, [guns should be allowed]. However, the individual should have to register the gun he will be carrying as he enters the park and upon exiting.—Jon A 9mm handgun will not stop even a small bear! Naturally, the best way to avoid trouble is to be alert and know what to do before the situation escalates. Attend the Ranger classes to know what to do about Wild Animals in the National Parks. Human predators are another matter. Certainly, the armed citizen is a major deterrent to criminals, if the weapon is carried concealed. Allow those individuals with a Concealed Carry Permit to do so in the Parks. Others would have to openly carry firearms in National Parks.—Tom I think only registered hand guns could be allowed into parks. The guns must be declared at the park entrance and the serial number recorded.—Philip The incidences of someone being attacked by a "psycho" stranger in a National Park are so insignificant as a ratio to the # of park visits every year to render them statistically meaningless. You are far more likely to die in traffic.—The Pixinator. I would prefer only to allow unaltered shotguns to be carried in parks by the general public and not rifles or handguns for safety reasons, yet at the same time, I do think that citizens who have been issued a concealed-carry permit should be allowed to carry their handguns anywhere in park boundaries. Concealed-carry permit holders are well trained in the handling of the weapon and they have a complete understanding of the laws concerning weapon usage. They have been granted concealed-carry permits by their home state and that privilege should not end at a park boundry gate.—Gayle If concealed weapons on licensed people were permitted the Park Service would have to begin searches of everyone to be sure that these people were showing their weapons,etc. This would mean 24 hour Rangers at all entrances. It would mean spending more money than any park has available to hire more personnel to do all the searches of people and their vehicles.—M.K.Wolf A few articles and Facts might provide a reality check for those who indicate that there's no threat in national parks: Park Rangers hold the most dangerous law enforcement job in the federal government, they are 12 times more likely to be subject to violent assault than an FBI agent. Another new and rapidly growing problem: "Hideaway methamphetamine labs and marijuana fields in rural park areas (some of them run by drug cartels) and illegal aliens crossing through parks near the US- Mexico border are part of a growing crime scene." Source: Christian Science Monitor. The New York Times, in an article called Rangers Take on Urban Woes in Wide Open Spaces has this to say: "The larger problem, rangers say, is not that national forests have become crime-infested jungles. But that as cities like Reno; Denver; Phoenix; Tucson; Albuquerque; and Boise, Idaho; and smaller communities like Bend, Ore., and Moab, Utah, grow at rates far beyond the national average, they bump against the public land that surround them, carrying urban crimes to open space." In fast-growing Snohomish County, Wash., a woman and her daughter were killed earlier this month on a popular hiking trail. The crime remains unsolved. The average law-enforcement to visitor ratio is 1 to 100,000, far lower than in any urban setting anywhere in the country. PHOTO of gun-shaped egg-fryers via Urban Trend. COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.

Forty-seven senators want the government to allow citizens to carry loaded handguns and other firearms in our national parks. These senators don't need to pass legislation to change a current ban on citizens carrying "ready-to-fire" weapons. Instead, the senators can petition the Interior Department to change the regulation. What do you think? Is the ban on "ready-to fire weapons" a violation of your constitutional rights under the Second Amendment? Are lonely wilderness trails one of the places you would most want to have your handgun at the ready for self-defense? Or are gun prohibitions justified because they reduce accidents and poaching? [Please note, our gun regulations are not to be confused with our hunting laws. Nobody is asking to reverse federal laws that make it illegal to take, shoot, or transport wildlife.] Or is there another option not being considered that you would like to propose, such as setting aside a few national parklands as "gun-friendly"? [PHOTO BY 16-year old Drew Wilson, via Flickr] Under today's rules, you can "pack heat" as long as it's not "ready to fire." For example, you can bring an unloaded, but assembled, gun as long as it is packed in a case or in the trunk of your car. But the senators want to allow citizens to carry "ready-to-use firearms," meaning weapons loaded and on your person. Since 1983, the Interior Department has prevented citizens from carrying firearms onto Park Service lands and Fish and Wildlife Service property. You can download the letter here. What do you think? Feel free to sound off below. According to the Associated Press, Thirty-nine Republicans and eight Democrats signed the letter, including both senators from these states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

The Hawaiian Islands were formed millions of years ago by volcanoes beneath the Pacific, and the job still isn't done. Hawaii, or the Big Island, continues to grow thanks to Kilauea, the particularly active volcano on its southeastern shore. Around 600 acres of land have been added in the past two decades alone. Getting there The park entrance is two hours by car from the resort area of Kailua-Kona, and 45 minutes from the port town of Hilo. Both are served with flights from Honolulu; nonstops from Kona connect daily to the mainland. Park admission is $10 per carload, good for seven days (808/985-6000, nps.gov/havo). You made it Crater Rim Drive loops around the park's centerpiece: Kilauea Caldera, a crater nearly three miles across and 400 feet deep. A short walk off the road, the Halemaumau Overlook features the best views. Further along is a parking lot bordered on one side by the Thurston Lava Tube, a spooky tunnel that you can walk through, and on the other side by the Kilauea Iki Trail, which leads across a black lava lake that still emits steam. To see lava on the move, turn off the main loop onto Chain of Craters Road, a route that winds past black landscapes with "lava trees" (fingerlike, lava-covered trees) interspersed with rain forest, before ending at a ranger station. If rangers say it's OK, you can walk on gravel for a few hundred yards to where the road succumbed to lava flows in 2003. A marked trail continues over uneven mounds of hardened lava; a billowing plume of steam caused by lava hitting the water will be visible at the shoreline. The best lava shows are after dark. Even if you can't get close enough to see lava oozing, the sky will glow an eerie red. One flashlight per person is essential if you want to hike and see more. To increase your chances of spotting lava, take a guided, full-day hike to the latest flows from Arnott's Lodge and Hiking Adventures (808/969-7097, arnottslodge.com, $80). The lazy, all-but-guaranteed way to see lava is by hopping a helicopter ride from Hilo with Blue Hawaiian (800/745-2583, bluehawaiian.com, $210) or Sunshine Helicopters (800/469-3000, sunshinehelicopters.com, $202). Both give discounts for online bookings. Who knew? Jack Thompson is the only person still living in a neighborhood surrounded by lava fields on the park's east side. The curious can check out Thompson's Lava House and even stay over for $100 a night (808/937-4282). The hike to the house takes about an hour from the end of Hwy. 130.

Cramming five national parks into four days isn't for everyone. But if you are going to attempt such a quest, Southern Utah is the place to do it. Five of the nation's most gorgeous parks are packed into 650 miles of high desert. Bryce Canyon and Zion are both justly famous; so are the sandstone bridges in Arches National Park. Less well known are Canyonlands, every inch as impressive as the Grand Canyon, and Capitol Reef. Sure, attempting five parks in four days was ambitious. Not to mention the fact that my friend Stew and I did it at the very chilly start of spring, in part to beat the crowds. But over the years, we've climbed mountains together. We've traveled through the hinterlands of eastern Cuba. We've even taken a troop of Boy Scouts on a three-week tour of Europe. In other words, we can't resist a challenge. Day 1: Grand Junction to Moab Less than 90 minutes after landing in Grand Junction, Colo., we made it to Moab, Utah, a laid-back city wedged between Arches and Canyonlands. We had booked a mountain-bike ride north of Moab leading to a panorama of the desert from the northern end of Arches National Park. We'd have to grind 700 vertical feet up slickrock, a bald sandstone which, despite the name, is remarkably grippy. Our guide, from Rim Tours, was a lean young dude called Goose. Nine years ago, he left his home in Ohio, as well as his full name (Mike Gostlin), to guide rafting and biking trips in Colorado and Utah. Goose rode a one-gear with no shocks. Stew and I were on state-of-the-art mountain bikes with fast shifting and full suspension. Not that it helped. Five minutes into the ride, I was gasping for air, pushing my jelly legs to propel myself up a four-mile-long rock ridge. All I could think was, Thank God for dinosaur prints. The three-toed impressions appeared every 50 yards, and each was surrounded by a circle of stones to keep people away. I disembarked to examine every single one. After the ninth footprint, Goose saw through my sudden interest in paleontology. The ride down was much easier. Stew and I then drove into the popular southern end of Arches. Families piled out of minivans and trotted along trails to view aptly named geological formations such as Balanced Rock and Double Arch. By late afternoon, we were over the pain of the bike ride enough to do a 3/4-mile hike up to a view of Delicate Arch, a 45-foot-tall horseshoe of orange and red sandstone. We raced the setting sun as we looped up Highway 191 and then down Rte. 313 into Dead Horse Point State Park, at the northern corner of Canyonlands. The main overlook at Dead Horse Point also offers a view of Canyonlands. The muddy Colorado River snakes in from the left in wide, lazy curves. We got there just in time to catch the last bit of daylight. Our hotel's best feature was its location--right behind Moab's oldest microbrewery, Eddie McStiff's. The bartender plunked down a basket of tortilla chips and some tasty salsa--for 69¢--to accompany pints of the brewery's own Sky Island Scottish Ale, Cisco Bend Stout, and Rock Amber Ale. Day one Operators Rim Tours 1233 South Hwy. 191, Moab, 800/626-7335, half-day ride $90 Food Eddie McStiff's57 S. Main St., Moab, 435/259-2337, eddiemcstiffs.com, pint $3 Attractions Arches National Park435/719-2299, nps.gov/arch, weeklong car pass $10 Dead Horse Point State ParkRte. 313, 435/259-2614, stateparks.utah.gov, day pass $7 Day 2: Moab to Torrey The largest of the five national parks at 527 square miles, Canyonlands is divided into three sections. Stew and I had gotten a quick look at the northern Island in the Sky section yesterday at sunset, and we wanted to see how the southeastern section, Needles, compared. (Reaching the westerly Maze section involves 46 miles of dirt road just to get to the ranger station; maybe next time.) The road into Needles ascended to the Big Spring Canyon Overlook. Whereas Island in the Sky was all grand, wide canyons, Needles felt more intimate. Pygmy juniper trees decorated the ground, and hundreds of layers of sandstone fanned out in phyllo-like sheets. Newspaper Rock was on the way back to the main road. The black stone is covered in petroglyphs that were scratched over a 2,000-year period by native tribes (Anasazi, Fremont, Paiute, and Navajo). It was an impressive collage of images: men on horseback hunting antelope, oversize gods sprouting horns and antlers. We stopped for lunch at Twin Rocks Café in the one-road town of Bluff. The Navajo fry bread was crispy, puffy, and wonderfully greasy, and a platter of mesquite-smoked barbecued pork ribs and brisket was huge and satisfying. A sign past the town of Mexican Hat announced that we were now in "Navajoland," the Native American reservation, which sprawls across southern Utah and northern Arizona. The only real detail our map showed was a dot labeled Goulding, just north of Arizona. It turned out to be Goulding's Lodge & Tours, a complex with a lodge, museum with memorabilia from movies shot locally, and outfitter that runs tours of the reservation. In an air-conditioned gift shop we picked up some Native American drums and turquoise jewelry. Stew noticed that the map outlined a little dirt road that headed west, turned south, and rejoined Highway 163 after just a mile or two. Craving a glimpse of the real reservation--anything beyond the gift shop--we took the shortcut. We immediately spotted a modest home with a dome-shaped ceremonial Navajo mud hut in the yard. Success! Continuing on, we took a left at each fork. But after half an hour had passed with no more signs of civilization, I tossed the map onto the floorboard and declared us lost. A Navajo couple in a pickup truck gave us some good directions to the town of Blanding, which is along the highway. Our two-hour detour left us short on time, and we still needed to get halfway across the state to Torrey, where I had booked a night at the Cowboy Homestead Cabins. Restaurants were sure to be closed by the time we arrived, so before getting on the road, we made a quick grocery stop. After a good long drive, we checked into our cabin, one of four, and fired up a nearby barbecue. The smell of steaks, pork chops, red peppers, and zucchini lured Greg Daussin, a Utahan from upstate who had been coming here for the past 10 years and was staying in the cabin next door. He and Stew discovered a shared love of rock climbing, and we stayed up until 3:30 a.m. trading climbing stories and slowly emptying the cooler. Day two Lodging Cowboy Homestead Cabins2100 S. Rte. 12, Torrey, 435/425-3414, cowboyhomesteadcabins.com, from $49 Food Twin Rocks Café913 E. Navajo Twins Dr., Bluff, 435/672-2341, twinrocks.com/cafe, pork ribs $8 Peace Tree Juice Cafe20 S. Main St., Moab, 435/259-0101 Attractions Canyonlands National Park435/719-2313, nps.gov/cany, weeklong car pass $10 Shopping Goulding's Lodge & Tours100 Main St., Monument Valley, 435/727-3231, gouldings.com Day 3: Torrey To Bryce Canyon Torrey is the gateway to Capitol Reef, the least well known of Utah's five national parks. Route 24 cuts through it, threading a high valley carved by the little Fremont River. I had planned for us to spend only an hour or so at Capitol Reef--just enough time to take it in and move on--but I liked what I saw. The 10-mile Scenic Drive led us to a long wash (a dry canyon that becomes a river after heavy rain). The walls rise hundreds of feet on both sides as the dirt road twists its way through the increasingly narrow canyon. At the end of the road, we parked and continued on foot for two miles. As we walked, lizards scurried out of our path. It was quiet and eerie, like bandit country. I later learned Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch used Capitol Reef as a hideout. From Torrey we wound south on Highway 12, through Dixie National Forest. It earns my vote for the country's most spectacular drive. By the time we reached the summit, the road cut through a forest of tall firs and eight-foot-high snow drifts (at the highest points, the snow can stay through late spring). A span of red and yellow mesas and desert lay below. And that was just the first 20 miles. Descending into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the road follows the top of a ridgeline in a series of tight curves with drop-offs of more than 1,000 feet on both sides. Once again, we found ourselves racing the clock, this time to get to Bryce Canyon to see the sunset light up the hoodoos, which are spindly, orange-and-white-striped spires of rock. We missed the natural show at the park's Sunset Point by five minutes. But as the crowds dispersed, a photographer stayed planted. "Wait a few more minutes," he instructed, smiling. "You'll see." Soon enough, the snow between the pinnacles glowed a luminous pale purple. We'd decided to splurge on Bryce's own historic lodge for a night. Our room was bland, but had a lovely balcony with rough-hewn logs for a railing. Unfortunately, dinner at the lodge was pretty awful. Everything was salty, my salmon managed to be both pink and dry, and by the next morning I felt queasy. Perhaps it was just due to opening-night jitters--we did happen to come on the first day of the season. Day three Lodging Bryce Canyon LodgeBryce Canyon National Park, 888/297-2757, brycecanyonlodge.com, from $125, dinner $16 Attractions Capitol Reef National Park435/425-3791, nps.gov/care, car pass for Scenic Drive $5, otherwise free Bryce Canyon National Park435/834-5322, nps.gov/brca, weeklong car pass $20 Day 4: Bryce Canyon to Grand Junction At Bryce, the altitude ranges from about 7,900 feet to more than 9,100 feet. With the lingering effects of dinner, I wasn't up for too much activity. So Stew and I drove out to the end of Bryce's scenic road and stopped at each overlook. The best were at Agua Canyon and the rock window called Natural Bridge. Four parks down, one to go. By the time we got to Zion, we had just enough time to take the park's most rewarding short hike, the half-mile-long Canyon Overlook Trail. Private cars are no longer allowed on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive north of the visitors center, so after we finished our hike, we caught the free shuttle to the Riverside Walk trail, which leads to the Narrows. The Narrows is a 16-mile trail that doubles as the bed of the Virgin River. (Only the first mile is accessible without a permit.) Hikers have to check with the visitors center before setting off, as flash floods can send a wall of water racing down the trail, between the 2,000-foot-high canyon walls. Attempting the Narrows at twilight was our final act of ill-advised bravado. We made it only around the first bend before the frigid water rose to our knees. We snapped a couple of quick pictures for bragging rights and hightailed it back to the car. Down the road from the park gates, we checked into a spacious cottage at the Canyon Ranch Motel and immediately headed for the outdoor hot tub. Fifteen minutes of soaking restored our circulation. We then finished off the evening with some of the best Mexican food I've ever tasted in the States, at the Bit and Spur Restaurant and Saloon. We ordered potato, poblano, and chorizo soup, and a couple of sweet potato tamales topped with shredded pork and salsa. The next morning we zipped back across the state. And as we neared the border, a flock of tumbleweeds playfully chased our car toward the state line of Colorado. Day four Lodging Canyon Ranch Motel668 Zion Park Blvd., Springdale, 435/772-3357, canyonranchmotel.com, from $69 Food Bit and Spur Restaurant and Saloon1212 Zion Park Blvd., Springdale, 435/772-3498, sweet potato tamale dinner $16 Attractions  Zion National Park 435/772-3256, nps.gov/zion, weeklong car pass $20 Finding your way This trip can just as easily be done in reverse by flying into Las Vegas, a two-hour drive from Zion. The parks are open year-round, but outfitters and most lodges are only open for business April through October. Early spring and early fall are the best times to beat the crowds. And even though this is the desert, it's the high desert: Daytime temperatures in the 70s plummet to the mid-30s some nights, and there's still plenty of snow at higher elevations. To save money on entrance fees, consider an annual National Parks Pass. It's only $50--$15 less than the total cost of the entry fee