Zion National Park is an incredibly beautiful place to tour, and as a result it is also one of the most popular tours that Bindlestiff Tours does. It is also incredibly popular with those who tour Zion on their own, which is leading to overcrowding and pollution issues. The problems are getting so bad that park officials are beginning to solicit ideas through social media websites like Facebook about ways that the traffic might be alleviated. Most of these solutions that are being proposed involve reserved times for park visits, limitations on the amount of cars, and potentially restrictions on the number of visitors per day (essentially turning people away at the gates.) The overcrowding at Zion and other National Parks is a combined issue resulting from the successes of the National Park Service’s “Find Your Park” campaign and the lifestyle push over the last few years to embrace more outdoor activities like hiking. The result has been record numbers of visitors to parks like Zion, which last year saw more than 4 million people visiting the 6 mile canyon, mostly between March and November. At one point, lines for shuttles between the visitors area and the park (which was implemented to alleviate traffic concerns) was an astonishing 300 people long. The over crowding is especially bad at “pinch points” like “Temple of Sinawava” where visitor flow is difficult.
While it is certainly good that more people are embracing nature and enjoying the parks, it is becoming obvious that measures are going to be necessary in order to allow visitors to continue enjoying the protected spaces. While they are designed to be enjoyed, they were not designed to be enjoyed by this many people at once. Some of the suggestions that are being entertained are the advertising of “off season” tourism or even “lesser known” parks being nationally advertised in order to alleviate the traffic at the more popular parks like Zion and the Grand Canyon. Zion officials are beginning to suggest other parks like Capitol Reef next door or maybe the Great Basin in Nevada. We can personally attest to the beauty of these spaces as well, as we offer tour options that involve both of them.
While the Parks Service and officials at popular parks like Zion struggle with solutions that could alleviate the overcrowding situation, a very simple solution does exist that could help. By booking tours of the area through services like Bindlestiff Tours, we will reduce the amount of cars and other vehicles traveling to the area and producing pollution. Our tour vehicles hold more than double the amount of people that would typically be in a private car visiting the area and because our leaders know the area there is far less confusion that results in backups that would create less than idea circumstances for all visitors. In addition, our leaders understand and respect the areas themselves, and work towards maintaining a “leave no trace” mentality among ourselves and our guests. If we all put a little more concentration into the respecting of the areas, not leaving trash behind and not being a quiescence, then the parks will be more enjoyable for everyone.
We need to all do our part to encourage those that want to visit our great national parks in the United States to do so as part of a group, either through tours like the ones we offer or through carpooling and reducing the amount of traffic and pollution that is produced. There are still other issues that need addressed, but simple things like these can go a long way towards making the parks enjoyable for us and for future generations of adventurers.