Moose stomped:
> I imagine the write-ups about other parks are similarly sloppy and
> incomplete.
Pretty much.
There are a handful of National Parks that I've gotten to know quite
well. Or at least adequately enough to be reasonably assured of
knowing where/when to go.
Isle Royale, for example, is one of the most lovely parks in the
system. The numbers are low (somewhere around 30,000 visitors), but
misleading. The vast majority of those visitors come within an eight
week window. The trick is to arrive at the boat dock on Labor Day. The
capacity crown is leaving that weekend and you get an awesome week
before everything shuts down and thinned out trails and camping spots.
Obviously, Isle Royale isn't for everybody (hiking and drowning in
canoes is required), so that limits the type of people who can go
there.
Smoky Mountain National Park. Massive crowds and stupid drivers. You
can walk the Cades Cove loop faster than you can drive it. But
Cataloochee doesn't even show up on most maps.
There are numerous state parks that I think rank well with the
national parks, if not a little better. In Michigan, Porcupine
Mountains State Park certainly is one of the finest parks around. In
Alaska, Chugach State Park is a complete surprise. It's every bit the
equal of most of the glorious primo-deluxe parks in the lower-48 and
is immediately adjacent to the biggest city in the state. Its only
problem is that it is shadowed by even better parks and scenery.
Everything here is "more/better". It's actually almost exhausting to
look at all the scenery.
Rough living, indeed.
It's rather funny. We've been looking at different rentals as our
lease is about to renew. While we have a terrific view, there are a
few houses in the neighborhood with even more terrific views. You've
got to ask yourself, when is good enough, good enough? I'm thinking
that the one that is bordered by the park down by the river is
probably about it.
AG Schnozz
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