HikeArizona.COM

Now that we are living in the era of "social distancing", it shouldn't be too surprising to see some hiking venues closed.

Here are a couple of examples:
* The Navajo Nation has closed all of their tribal parks: https://navajonationparks.org/public-notice/
* The road up to Kitt Peak is closed to the public...here is a pic that a friend took when he attempted to ride his bicycle up to the top: [ broken link removed ]

It would seem like hiking, especially in remote areas, would be one of the safer things that you can do...but with the frenzy that is going on, I imagine that there will be more closures in the coming days

@sidhayes
you must be responding to something I said months ago, and I don't know what it was - but ok.

Seems like this topic has meandered in a few directions. So I wanted to add this to the mix: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/us/c ... e=Homepage

If you don't have access to the NYTimes, in short, volunteer emergency responders are overwhelmed by the number of inexperienced adventurers that have flooded remote wilderness areas since the beginning of the Pandemic.

Reservations are coming.

It's the new thing for hiking. It's not even really covid related. It just is what it is.

It used to be a campground thing. But as the population continues to grow and public land doesn't, either that land risks being destroyed by overuse, or limits are placed on use to help protect the reason it exists in the first place. Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mtn, and Acadia National Parks already use them. Here in Arizona, Fossil Creek's parking permit requirement is essentially a reservation system.

“It’s a plan to help improve accessibility for parking in a fair and equitable manner for all levels of hikers,” Schuler said, “whether it’s entry-level day hikers, overnight hikers, peak baggers.”

https://apnews.com/article/parks-travel ... ecb440967c

Plan on seeing it more often.

chumley wrote:Reservations are coming.

It's the new thing for hiking. It's not even really covid related. It just is what it is.

Wouldn't be shocked to see it coming to the Grand Canyon.

SpiderLegs wrote:Wouldn't be shocked to see it coming to the Grand Canyon.

Thankfully there are likely too many 'holes' for them to plug with the myriad vehicle access points from KNF. And add to that the newish bicycle-access options from Tusayan.