|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
eBike Havoc in National Parks
We were in Zion, Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, and Bryce last week.
Zion was crazy crowded, in fact supposedly it was the most visitors in the history of the park. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/6/2/22465555/utahs-national-parks-monuments-full-busy-traffic-memorial-day-tourism-arches-zion. We brought bicycles mainly because the shuttle in Zion required advanced reservations and there were none available but you could try at exactly 5 p.m. the day before to get a "walk-in." But then they dropped the shuttle reservation system on the day we arrived (5/28). I had built special "pole holders" for my bike https://photos.app.goo.gl/GvcGmrS4QYfWokEfA so we could take "canyoneering poles" for The Narrows hike (trekking poles are not recommended and we saw why this is the case multiple times!). Many of the rental bikes included similar pole holders. Despite the shuttle being available, I still biked the scenic drive road in Zion, which is closed to private cars unless you're staying at the lodge inside the park or have a handicapped placard. It was mostly uphill into the park, but not difficult with proper gearing. What was dangerous was not the shuttle vehicles on the road, it was the multitudes of eBike riders on powerful rental eBikes. Many of them probably hadn't been on a bike of any kind in a long time. Bryce has a wonderful multi-use path with almost no pedestrians. It goes from Bryce Canyon City into the park and also goes a long way outside the park. A lot of eBikes on that path too. You can put regular bikes on the shuttles but not eBikes. There was a big Backroads Bicycle Touring company group that we saw inside Bryce as well as at the hotel next to ours; they paid $3,399 - $3,599 for 6 days/5 nights https://www.backroads.com/trips/BBZQ/bryce-zion-biking-tour. We spent about $700 per person, including hotels and food, for 8 nights/9 days. The hotels all included breakfast and we made our own lunches. We ate dinner out, which was difficult in Kanab due to the lack of open restaurants. Kanab has a severe labor shortage so even fast food restaurants were doing drive-thru only and there were long lines. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
eBike Havoc in National Parks
On 2021-06-06, sms wrote:
We were in Zion, Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, and Bryce last week. Zion was crazy crowded, in fact supposedly it was the most visitors in the history of the park. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/6/2/22465555/utahs-national-parks-monuments-full-busy-traffic-memorial-day-tourism-arches-zion. We brought bicycles mainly because the shuttle in Zion required advanced reservations and there were none available but you could try at exactly 5 p.m. the day before to get a "walk-in." But then they dropped the shuttle reservation system on the day we arrived (5/28). I had built special "pole holders" for my bike https://photos.app.goo.gl/GvcGmrS4QYfWokEfA so we could take "canyoneering poles" for The Narrows hike (trekking poles are not recommended and we saw why this is the case multiple times!). Many of the rental bikes included similar pole holders. Despite the shuttle being available, I still biked the scenic drive road in Zion, which is closed to private cars unless you're staying at the lodge inside the park or have a handicapped placard. It was mostly uphill into the park, but not difficult with proper gearing. What was dangerous was not the shuttle vehicles on the road, it was the multitudes of eBike riders on powerful rental eBikes. Many of them probably hadn't been on a bike of any kind in a long time. Bryce has a wonderful multi-use path with almost no pedestrians. It goes from Bryce Canyon City into the park and also goes a long way outside the park. A lot of eBikes on that path too. You can put regular bikes on the shuttles but not eBikes. There was a big Backroads Bicycle Touring company group that we saw inside Bryce as well as at the hotel next to ours; they paid $3,399 - $3,599 for 6 days/5 nights https://www.backroads.com/trips/BBZQ/bryce-zion-biking-tour. We spent about $700 per person, including hotels and food, for 8 nights/9 days. The hotels all included breakfast and we made our own lunches. We ate dinner out, which was difficult in Kanab due to the lack of open restaurants. Kanab has a severe labor shortage so even fast food restaurants were doing drive-thru only and there were long lines. Be vewy vewy careful (no...we're not hunting wabbits). This sort of talk might attract Mike Vandeman (sp?) Is he still around? Those were sure interesting posts! pH in Aptos |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Well, this sucks. National Parks Fee to Be Hiked | Garrison Hilliard | General | 0 | March 3rd 17 09:00 PM |
Not just National Parks, now National Rivers Establishing MountainBike Trails | sms88 | Mountain Biking | 1 | September 24th 12 04:53 AM |
Electric Recumbent and National Parks | ATP | Recumbent Biking | 0 | July 31st 11 03:27 PM |
Alaska's National Parks | Tenk | Rides | 0 | October 7th 06 12:46 AM |
Bicycling Stroll Through the National Parks | spartanstorkbird | General | 7 | April 14th 04 12:44 AM |