Just home from a solid week at Glacier Park. Did some hiking but also met some friends from out of State and chauffeured them around the area.

Park attendance is UP, maybe WHY it seems there are so many idiots there? I swear every year it gets worse.

Watched people piling out of their car to RUN into a field where there were a few black bears eating flowers and grass. Talking parents and kids. I'm sure NO clue as to blacks or grizzlies.

The other one I liked were the folks who simply can not take a SELFIE unless they are precipitously close to the edge of a deadly drop! Standing on the safety of the road or on the rock wall near the edge apparently doesn't work. Saw TWO different idiots, all in their 20's ,SLIDE off the edge, barely stopping themselves from a heck of a ride down the mountain.

Up at Logan Pass watched another 20 something feeding nuts to the ground squirrels. Despite signs all over advising NOT to. Squirrel BITES her finger, drawing blood....She goes ape shit at the Park Ranger! All annoyed because she was bitten!

Didn't see the incident but I heard her friend say..."Told her not to try to catch one" !!

Thursday it was occasional rain and winds from 15-40 mph, off and on cloudy, then sunny, then rain/sleet and winds. Typical day of weather changing every 15 minutes.

We hiked with appropriate gear available. Saw little kids with their parents, so cold and shivering from being wet, NO raincoats, or even COATS period. A few their lips were shaking and literally blue. Again...All sorts of warnings about hypothermia and the often dangerous weather changes...NO one heeding those warnings.

Saw people 3 miles into a hike with only a single 16 or 20 ounce bottle of water. Had to be a dry trip back out. (may have had a water filter too and refilled their lone bottle at streams)

Currently a 66 year old guy MISSING at Glacier. Been a week or so. Not holding out much hope for him.

NOT even going to start on how folks DRIVE in Parks. See a squirrel and stop in the middle of the road, other vehicles be damned...etc. And if it's a bear or moose! Total chaos ensues.

In the past 2 weeks 2 cars have left the road. One up on Packer’s Roost that went down a 40’ bank. We saw a tree beside Lake McDonald that had most of the bark peeled off last week from a car leaving the road.

We are in the Park frequently as we live about 15 miles away. We’ve seen dumb asses get way, way to close to a lone grizzly bear and approach black bears with cubs. People stop their cars in the middle of the road to get a better view of something they may have seen.

It’s a circus until school starts and the place thins out.

Mike

Took the family out West Lat summer.
SD, WY, NV, CO.


Before we went, I had a little talk with my kids about who Charles Darwin was, and some of his theories.

Loved it out that way. Hit Yellowstone... Seen a lot of stupidity out there! Germans and Chinese getting way too close to the Bison. I'm talking about reach out and touch close. In Nevada, I watched as some nit-wit tried to catch a rattlesnake with his hands. Bunch of people standing way too close to the edge, just to get the right picture.

My youngest pointed out one fool that was real close to the hot springs, and stated "Look Ranger, the gene pool is about to get deeper!"
The Ranger laughed his ass off as he went running over to the idiot.
Kinda funny when a 8yo is sayin it.

The same in Smokey Mountain National Park. I volunteered with the Park Service and saw some incredibly stupid stuff as well. Most people seldom left their cars. Winter months were a lot nicer for backpacking and leaving people behind.

I am 64 and a lifelong outdoorsman. I have seen stupidity in the outdoors over that entire span. I live in PA, spent the first 30 years of my life in eastern PA. The climate and terrain are more forgiving of stupidity than some other areas so the consequences of ignorance are less severe.

I have been fortunate enough to travel and hike many western areas and have witnessed all the behavior in this thread. The selfie phenomena is stupefying. The most egregious was at Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah. We were hiking along the rim and watched a couple doing a selfie so close to the edge and moving with actions indicating "not a clue" that we were convinced we would be witnessing two deaths. God was watching out for the simple minded that day.

It's a toss-up who has the better stories at get-togethers - cops or park rangers. I'm like SPWAMike - a lifelong outdoorsman, raised in PA, but spent significant time in the west.

I don't think it's because the east and more populated places are more forgiving. I think that we've anthropomorphized animals (e.g., Yogi Bear, Lion King), and have made everyplace "civilized" so safe we don't take responsibility for those few places remaining that are wild.

Sadly, FN's experience is the norm.

quote:

Saw people 3 miles into a hike with only a single 16 or 20 ounce bottle of water. Had to be a dry trip back out. (may have had a water filter too and refilled their lone bottle at streams)

Probably 30 years ago we were at the Grand Canyon and hiked down into it. Nearly to the river. It was summer. I insisted that every one of the 4 us carry at least 2 quarts of water.

A ranger sat at the head of the trail into the canyon to verify that every person had water.

On the way back out of the canyon (South Rim) we came across a young woman sitting next to the trail. I saw immediately that she was in trouble and stopped to check. Sure enough.

She had somehow gotten past the check point at the head of the trail with what appeared to be an oversized perfume bottle of water. I gave her a bottle of water and insisted she drink from it. We sat with her for a while, making her drink more water, and finally she felt like trying to finish the climb out. Turned her over to the rangers at the head of the trail.

That night at the motel we saw a piece on TV about a military couple found dead off the main trail that day. Neither had any water with them, and apparently wandered off the main trail looking for water.

And, yes, we have seen idiots trying to pet grizzly bears, buffalo, etc. One idiot woman had placed her kid on the back of a big black bear, for pix. At that point I decided to leave that whole area and park. Could not stand that much stupid on one day.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Saw people 3 miles into a hike with only a single 16 or 20 ounce bottle of water.

When I used to live in CA, we visited Yosemite every year, mostly in the summertime. I once came across a guy, solo, at the top of the Yosemite Falls trail, wearing sandals and desperate for water and food, he brought none. The hike is a strenuous 7.5 mile climb and descent on steep switchbacks. Someone spared some water and I gave him an apple I was saving.

As far as bears, it became a common sight to see dozens of tourists chase after a bear in the valley, screaming with their cameras out.

quote:

My youngest pointed out one fool that was real close to the hot springs, and stated "Look Ranger, the gene pool is about to get deeper!"
The Ranger laughed his ass off as he went running over to the idiot.
Kinda funny when a 8yo is sayin it.

That is just pure gold. I would have laughed my ass off if I witnessed your boy saying that.

National Parks = Test Lab for Darwin Award Candidates.

I’ve referenced the book ‘Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park’ by Lee H. Whittlesey before, he reprints an editorial from The July 1, 1970 edition of the Billings Gazette, the last two lines of which state ‘The Park is raw nature. And it can kill.’

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
The same in Smokey Mountain National Park. I volunteered with the Park Service and saw some incredibly stupid stuff as well. Most people seldom left their cars. Winter months were a lot nicer for backpacking and leaving people behind.

Quite a few have died climbing waterfalls.

That’s what happens when idiots from urban/suburban areas get outside civilization.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
That’s what happens when idiots from urban/suburban areas get outside civilization.

Oh, democrats!

Death in Yellowstone is a great book!
Believe it or not:
A dude from Alexandria VA. tried to ride a jet ski from Minnesota to Isle Royale last week.
On Lake Superior. On a jet ski.
Only things that saved him was a lucky cell phone ping and a nearby ore boat.
[url=http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Man-rescued-after-attempted-jetski-ride-

80% of the people should have to take a two hour class and answer test questions or
put up a three thousand dollar bond in advance.
before gaining access

quote:

Originally posted by clubleaf206:
I’ve referenced the book ‘Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park’ by Lee H. Whittlesey before.....

I've been meaning to read this for a while. Thanks again for the reminder!

quote:

80% of the people should have to take a two hour class and answer test questions or
put up a three thousand dollar bond in advance.
before gaining access

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I like the test questions idea best. The majority of Americans cannot pass the simple Citizenship Test.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

The majority of Americans cannot pass the simple Citizenship Test.

And they are allowed to vote.

It is enjoying to read the online stories of millennials taking selfies on the edge of cliffs or mountains and them falling off to their death. You’d think reading the many accounts of this would curtail the behavior but no. They stop and fuck with bears? My God we really are heading into Idiocracy. You want us to go family style on her?