High Sierra Topix

There is a huge effort being put into opening up professional sports during the Covid19 crisis. Many of the arguments in favor of opening up the games center around the many employees of the stadiums, and how they depend on revenue from the games.

So. I did a little research. About 17 million fans attend NFL games each year. Another 22 million attend NBA games. And Major League Baseball attracts nearly 70 million fans to the stadiums each year.

Wow, you must be thinking. That’s a lot.

Do you know many people visit our national parks each year? Over 300 million—about three times the number that attend NFL, MLB and NBA games combined each year. Another 800 million visit the various state parks throughout the country. Between state and national parks, ten times as many people visit those as attend all professional sports games in the USA.

Of course, our president doesn’t watch our national parks on television, so that must explain why our parks don’t get as much attention…sigh.

Almost political. Stop it.

Interesting. Do you also have numbers that show how many people view national parks at home and bars? How many bet on national parks? Do you and your friends have national park get togethers? Which is your favorite national park jersey and hat? Which park do you follow on Instagram and Twitter?

Honestly. I like to hike, hunt, backpack, and fish whenever possible. But the amount of time I spend doing these things doesn't even compare to sports...and I rarely attend a professional sporting event. And I cant recall the last casual conversation at work about Yosemite or SEKI

So... must I wear a mask when playing National Parks Monopoly with my grandkids?

Geeeze Paul, how many different sites do you cut and paste this stuff verbatim to?
I see it on:
backcountrygear dot com
backpackinglight dot com
trailgroove dot com
backpacking dot net
Am I missing any?
Just curious...

Tahoe jeff--i don't recognize backcountrygear....but I also participate in backcountrypost and backpacking basecamp. As well as a couple of boards that focus more on Yosemite. i recommend them all for different reasons.

Which is how I find out about stuff like this--posted on Reddit following a ZOOM call...

From a conference call at 9am this morning with the Superintendent of Yosemite... Let me emphasize, ALL OF THIS CAN CHANGE AT ANY TIME. This is merely a representation of the call this morning and it was to invitees only and has not even been presented to local communities or some government offices yet.

- Hope to announce at end of this week (5/18 - 5/22) actual plans, so everything below can CHANGE.

- The plan right now is to reopen first week of June (don't know exact date). THIS CAN CHANGE!

- Goal to control capacity to 50% of 2019 average day through day use passes.

- 2000 cars/day allowed for people staying in the park.

- 1700 cars allowed for day use.

- Average day last year was ~6400 cars/day to Yosemite Valley, and ~7500 for the whole park.

- Passes will be available online to reserve from 2-30 days out. At the beginning of this program you MUST go online to reserve a pass. You can NOT just drive to the gate and get into the park. There is an expectation that things will change and adapt and you MAY be able to get a day of pass.

- The NPS will not be acting as the Social Distance police. It will be incumbent upons people to be responsible for themselves. At your own risk.

- Tioga pass reopening is still weeks away, possibly mid June.

- Valley shuttle will not be operating. Bikes are encouraged.

- YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation) will be running from local communities.

- 60 sites at Lower Pines will open

- 81 sites at Upper Pines will open (edit: I should have said North Pines. It looks like Upper Pines won't open in this first round of openings)

- Backpackers campgrounds will open.

- At this time other campgrounds will NOT open.

- There will probably be limitations on popular areas like Tunnel View, one way trails, etc...

My mistake on backcountrygear dot com.
And I must have missed: backcountrypost and backpacking basecamp. As well as a couple of boards that focus more on Yosemite.
So you posted the same exact thing on 6-7 websites. Got it.

Thanks for posting this, Paul (no matter HOW many different places you posted it).

This is why I disperse camp/boondock on NF and BLM land.