We get a few numbskulls here in the Black Hills as well during tourist season. We used to joke that we all knew when tourist season started when an RV was spotted going the wrong way on a one way street downtown. And annually there seems to always be some who can't comply with warnings to give wild animals like bison a wide berth in Custer State Park.

The State saw 14.4 million visitors last year with 2.8 million alone visiting downtown Rapid City. The numbers visiting the greater Black Hills area were not available but suffice it to say that they are huge. The States population is under a million and the greater Rapid City metro area is about 145k with the City itself having about 75k.

Several years ago we were on the east side of Glacier NP driving in the dead end road to check out Many Glaciers Lodge. On the way in we noticed 5 or 6 cars parked on the other side of the road. 45 minutes to an hour later on the way out there were probably 50 cars there and a ranger's truck.

We looked around carefully before getting out. I approached the ranger and asked if he was there to keep stupid people from doing something stupid. He smiled and pointed down a sloping field where you could just make out a large grizzly. He told me when he got there there were a few people who'd walked nearly halfway to where she was before he got them turned around. I thanked him, stood on the side of the road and used every bit of zoom I had to get this:

quote:

Originally posted by davetruong:
I detest the bus loads of tourists being unloaded. I remember yelling at a few of them that did not walk on the path and walked right on the geyser. Why can't we 10x their visas to help protect our parks?

Walking off trail in an area of geologic activity at 140F is how the YNP sacrifices idiots to the Great Yellowstone Volcano Gods (virgins were getting hard to find whereas idiots are everywhere).

I did volunteer work in the Great Smokies National Park. The stupidity was impressive with some of the city tourists. It was as if they considered the wildlife a petting zoo.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
We get a few numbskulls here in the Black Hills as well during tourist season ... And annually there seems to always be some who can't comply with warnings to give wild animals like bison a wide berth in Custer State Park.

I think it's year-round. I was in Rapid City for business in December a few years ago. We made time for a quick stop at Mount Rushmore, where NPS did a great job of keeping the walkways clear of the few feet of snow that was everywhere else.

Because the mountain goats aren't stupid, they were using the walkways for easier strolling. More specifically, they were using them for easier strolling with their young.

Because the tourists are, there was a group of 4-6 trying to get selfies with the family of mountain goats. The adult goats were giving every possible physical "Stay the hell away from our kids" cue but the tourists apparently didn't speak common sense.

I started to tell them that this was a good way to get head-butted into another dimension when the largest goat of the group charged headlong into the tourists. They scattered like roaches, several of them face-planting into the the 3' snow banks around pathways, leaving Wile E Coyote-shaped silhouettes where they fell.

We walked away. For all I know, they were still there for the spring thaw.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Several years ago we were on the east side of Glacier NP driving in the dead end road to check out Many Glaciers Lodge. On the way in we noticed 5 or 6 cars parked on the other side of the road. 45 minutes to an hour later on the way out there were probably 50 cars there and a ranger's truck.

We looked around carefully before getting out. I approached the ranger and asked if he was there to keep stupid people from doing something stupid. He smiled and pointed down a sloping field where you could just make out a large grizzly. He told me when he got there there were a few people who'd walked nearly halfway to where she was before he got them turned around. I thanked him, stood on the side of the road and used every bit of zoom I had to get this:

I used to fly on the rescue helo out of Kalispell. Several times in my twelve years there I went into Many Glacier for bear maulings. Stupid people were job security.

My biggest complaint is the touron traffic. Idiots driving land yachts 45MPH in a 70 with 37 cars stacked up behind them.

That girl gets a 10 for sticking the landing!

Does it make me a bad person that watching this stuff warms my heart?

I see your Yellowstone and GTNP videos, and raise with Anchorage's tourists meeting Binky the Polar Bear. After all, polar bear are so darn cute and cuddly that Coca Cola made commercial campaigns based on them.

^^^^^^^^ just tryin to rip off a drumstick

"Binky" Gotta love that name!

Zero none zilch sympathy for that idiot at the polar bear enclosure. Now that poor bear has gotta lick its bum to get the taste of idiot out of its mouth.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I see your Yellowstone and GTNP videos, and raise with Anchorage's tourists meeting Binky the Polar Bear. After all, polar bear are so darn cute and cuddly that Coca Cola made commercial campaigns based on them.
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4QUn58fnvrI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

I hope she was charged.

From Wikipedia:

Maulings, celebrity, and death
On July 29, 1994, 29-year-old Australian tourist Kathryn Warburton jumped over two safety rails to get a close-up photograph of Binky in his enclosure. When Binky stuck his head through the bars and grabbed her, she suffered a broken leg and bite wounds. Another tourist caught the event on tape. Binky kept the woman's shoe for three days before it could be retrieved by zoo officials, and the day after the attack, Alaska Star photographer Rob Layman took a photo of Binky holding the shoe in his mouth, an image which was printed in almost every press account of the incident. Warburton gave the other shoe to the Bird House, a bar in nearby Bird Creek that burned down in 1996.

Six weeks later, on September 11, Binky was involved in another mauling. Drunken local teenagers approached the bear's enclosure, apparently hoping to swim in his pool, and one 19-year-old was hospitalized with leg lacerations after he was mauled. The zoo did not confirm that Binky was the attacker, but the bear had blood on his face following the incident.

After these attacks, Binky received international news coverage. Binky merchandise was created, including T-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers, often adorned with the shoe photo or with the slogan "Send another tourist, this one got away". Local letters to the editor supported Binky during both incidents, most often arguing that polar bears' dangerousness should be respected. The zoo's director, Sammye Seawell, criticized Warburton's actions in the Anchorage Daily News, saying "[s]he violated the rules and jeopardized the bear's life." Though Seawell initially insisted that the attack would not change how the zoo was run, security around Binky's cage was upgraded to keep zoo visitors out.

In 1995, Binky's cagemate Nuka suddenly became sick with the parasitic disease sarcocystosis, dying from associated liver failure on July 14, a week after her symptoms began. Shortly thereafter, Binky showed signs of the disease. On the morning of July 20, he went into convulsions and died. Zoo visitors left bouquets of flowers outside the bears' empty enclosure, and the zoo's memorial service saw a high turnout despite pouring rain. The bears were buried on zoo grounds.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by davetruong:
I detest the bus loads of tourists being unloaded. I remember yelling at a few of them that did not walk on the path and walked right on the geyser. Why can't we 10x their visas to help protect our parks?

Walking off trail in an area of geologic activity at 140F is how the YNP sacrifices idiots to the Great Yellowstone Volcano Gods (virgins were getting hard to find whereas idiots are everywhere).

...then they have the gall to argue when confronted and called-out on their stupidity. Absolutely clueless.

First offense: $5000 fine & 14 days jail. 1 year ban from all National Parks

Second Offense: $10000 fine, 3 months Jail. 5 year ban from all National Parks

Third Offense: $25000 fine, 5 years prison time, lifetime ban from all National Parks.

Done & done.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
First offense: $5000 fine & 14 days jail. 1 year ban from all National Parks

Second Offense: $10000 fine, 3 months Jail. 5 year ban from all National Parks

Third Offense: $25000 fine, 5 years prison time, lifetime ban from all National Parks.

Done & done.

That'd be racist...somehow.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
First offense: $5000 fine & 14 days jail. 1 year ban from all National Parks

Second Offense: $10000 fine, 3 months Jail. 5 year ban from all National Parks

Third Offense: $25000 fine, 5 years prison time, lifetime ban from all National Parks.

Done & done.

That'd be racist...somehow.

I'm sure that claim would be made. However, I'd bet the the majority of violators are White.

flashguy