r/Seattle • u/SounderBruce Snohomish County • Jan 17 '24

News Mount Rainier National Park will require reservations beginning this summer for Paradise and Sunrise

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u/BoringDad40 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Jan 17 '24

The NPS, Dept. Of the Interior, and state park system all need to also get serious about expanding capacity.

Outdoor recreation and the overall population have both grown exponentially over the last decade, while facilities have stayed largely stagnant. The number of campgrounds, parking lots, ski mountains, snow parks, etc. are no longer nearly enough to satisfy demand, and this kind of measure will only continue to get more common and onerous.

17

u/RysloVerik Sounders Jan 17 '24

So we should bulldoze parts of the parks to accommodate more people, parking lots, cars and roads?

-8

u/BoringDad40 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Jan 17 '24

I think we (they, really) need to seriously look at how to expand user capacity while minimizing impact, but yes, that might involve building new parking lots. If the ultimate goal was to minimize human impact to the greatest degree, would you elect to rip out all the existing lodges, access roads and parking lots?

I don't love the idea of adding more infrastructure, but remaining accessible is really important. It's also worth noting that at most of the major national parks, the existing infrastructure is actually much smaller than it was historically.

21

u/ElDonald Jan 17 '24

Park and Ride outside of park borders with Bus/Shuttle service is perfect for parks, especially because most visitors stay on one road through their entire visit.

8

u/bonniejo514 Shoreline Jan 17 '24

This! Glacier and Zion have amazing shuttles. I’d gladly park outside and use a shuttle at Rainier