Anyone know what's happening with National Parks in Colorado? (Denver: 2014, luxury)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

Wait. What? Do you mean the reason I couldn't find anything on Google is because there are actually NO links to National Park closings since the lefties made the whole thing up and those links don't even exist?

Wow!
...

Oh no. they exist and the lefties WILL MAKE YOU suffer. They love inflicting pain on THEIR terms... ruthless bunch they are. (Them AND the greenies)

Yep, I expect most parks to be closed and put into disrepair. That is how far this group thinks ahead. (2 yrs... elections all about ME)

[sugarsugar]

Oops. Looks like Mesa Verde NP is not geezer friendly, good to know! I'd been considering extending our trip & adding it to my list of SW places to see (plus maybe even a short jaunt into NM, where we've never been), as I loved MVNP as a kid visiting, and wanted to show dh. He did live in CO for a bit as a boy, but never went there, and we both have relatives in CO. But I'd hate to have dh's white hair and my wrinkles offend anyone while we hike, as there are lots of places that don't seem to mind us older people hiking, recreating or volunteering.

I'm now rethinking this and it might be the year where it is better to just to stick with the new NPs/NMs/NFs we plan to try in UT and AZ, and then otherwise camp closer to home at our old favorites (WY, OR, WA) rather than try too many new places. I'd hate to drive even farther to add some places that we haven't been to for years and then find issues due to the sequestration and the other stuff I'm reading here. So glad I am researching this in advance - there are tons of cool places to see, just need to figure out which ones work best for us, and since it is supposed to be a fun road trip, don't need either politics or our white hair being an issue!

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Oh no. they exist and the lefties WILL MAKE YOU suffer. They love inflicting pain on THEIR terms... ruthless bunch they are. (Them AND the greenies)

Yep, I expect most parks to be closed and put into disrepair. That is how far this group thinks ahead. (2 yrs... elections all about ME)

I want to understand the logic of what you're trying to say here but I may need some help. Are you saying the "lefties" and "greenies" among us are conspiring to destroy our national park system? Seriously? What else are these famously selfish and nefarious groups looking to crush with their iron fist of ME power? School-lunch programs? Prarie Home Companion and all the other NPR programs they so despise? Libraries? The five day work-week? Access to meds for the delusional haleucenating folks among us?

[bongo]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

Wait. What? Do you mean the reason I couldn't find anything on Google is because there are actually NO links to National Park closings since the lefties made the whole thing up and those links don't even exist?

Wow!

And posters like lovetheHighCountry and Neditate and Idunn were just having a little fun in this thread, pulling my leg? OMG! I wonder what other Colorado forum threads are simply pure fantasy made up by members like Waneroo and Jazzlover and the rest, purely to have a little joke or two at the expense of the unwary reader. I bet Colorado's 2nd best downtown is really Lamar, not Boulder; that the images in the Colorado Photo thread are really taken in Switzerland; and Colorado Springs, far from being conservative, is actually more liberal than Boulder.

Thank you so much for opening my eyes!



Gosh, so geezers from the local old folks home could actually manage our public lands as good as, maybe better than trained professionals with college degrees? Works for me:

OK, everyone from 60 - 70 years old is assigned to fire suppression. If you don't like the idea of being on a Hotshot Crew and jumping from an air plane with a pack and a pulaski right into a fire, get over it.

You fossils from 70 - 80 will be on the trail crews. No whining about swinging a shovel at 8,000 to 10,000 feet. You've been parasites living on Social Security long enough, so get your butts out there!

80- 90 year olds - you guys will be doing archeological reconstruction, ecological surveys, botanical and zoological transects as well as soil sampling and erosion prevention. You got one day to learn how to use a dichotomous key, brush up on your biometry skills and statistics. And don't forget to memorize your book on soil conservation that you will purchase along with your other 20 texts. No complaining about your memory or your Alzheimers. We've heard it all before.

I know what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna become the volunteer Superintendent of Mesa Verde and I'm gonna make some big time changes - like entrance fees. Since the tax payer will no longer be paying for the upkeep and management of the National Parks and other public lands, because the 65+ crowd is doing it all for free, the "public" lands will no longer be public. No freeloaders when I'M running Mesa Verde in my old age. Park entrance fees will be $50.00 per person instead of $10.00 or $12.00, those who want to use Park campgrounds will have to pay $75.00/night for the first two campers in a group and $50.00 for each person there-after. RV-ers will pay $100.00/night if they want hook-ups. Tours of the ruins will be $100.00/person because the old geezers leading them will have a tendency to fall and break their hips and it's a major pain to train replacements, because old people NEVER remember ANYTHING!

At the end of the season, I'll take the proceeds and distribute them to all the volunteers as a sort of gratuity to thank them for their service. After all, since Medicare will probably be repealed, we'll need the extra cash for medical expenses.

Old geezers ROCK! I'm glad someone has finally recognized this.

This hands-down should win that C-D best poster contest for being the roll-over funniest!

[parfleche]

Been sneaking into all the parks for 40 years now.A little boot leather is a small price to pay.I consider public land owned by us public period.Want to pay for existing and walking on your own land,be my guest.

[CosmicWizard]

#10

Great post! Laughed my butt off.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by sugarsugar

Oops. Looks like Mesa Verde NP is not geezer friendly, good to know! ~snip~

So glad I am researching this in advance - there are tons of cool places to see, just need to figure out which ones work best for us, and since it is supposed to be a fun road trip, don't need either politics or our white hair being an issue!

Goodness! I hope you didn't take my little exchange with StealthRabbit seriously. While I can't speak for Mr. or Ms. Rabbit, Mesa Verde and Colorado in general is quite welcoming to older folks. I should know since I'm one of them. Mesa Verde and our other National Parks are glad to get some added help from volunteers of whatever age. Nor are Park rangers or anyone else out here going to buttonhole you and rant about politics.

It's true that the sequester will have an impact on the National Parks if it continues (despite what Mr. Rabbit may think), so you should call ahead to find out about Park hours. But SW Colorado is drop dead beautiful, it would be a shame for you to miss it just on the basis of one thread in this forum.

parfleche wrote: Been sneaking into all the parks for 40 years now.A little boot leather is a small price to pay.I consider public land owned by us public period.Want to pay for existing and walking on your own land,be my guest.

Sorry, but I disagree about people sneaking into our Public Parks without paying. Anyone who thinks our public lands are over-funded should start by talking with a member of a hotshot crew during fire season. Remember those 14 young firefighters who died outside of Glenwood Springs back in 1994? That was a bad summer for fire on the Western Slope and many other places. A major contributing factor to that tradegy is that the various public lands agencies lacked the funding to hire additional fire fighters.

Remember that bad fire outside of Mancos last summer? Do you think the Mancos fire department could have gone to the fire and put it out themselves? Do you have any idea of what it cost to suppress that fire? And I could give you many other exampes of the expenses involved in caring for and protecting our public lands. Maybe next time your home is threatened by a forest fire, the firefighters who come over from Mesa Verde should just sneak away from your property themselves.

In addition, there's so much BLM land and Forest Service land around here which is free for anyone to visit, there's no need to be sneaking into National Parks. I prefer to go into Mesa Verde (and others) via the official Park entrance, pay the fee that helps a wonderful Park to maintain its precious archeological wonders, and hold my head up like any other honest citizen.

************************

@ Bongo and Cosmic Wizard -TY! I can't take responsibility for that post, though. The devil made me do it!

[lovethehighcountry]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

It's all a left wing conspiracy... (terrorizing the public with threats) there are plenty of ways to keep National Parks and Monuments open.

I don't get it? I'm hoping this was a joke and it went wooosh right over my head! Wouldn't it be the folks who can't let go of ONE jet for the military to pay for the national parks?

[Colorado Rambler]

No, Mr. Rabbit was serious. I was poking fun. The far right wants every last thing the Federal government funds to vanish - except the military-industrial complex, of course.

So, say goodbye to Colorado's National Forests -the National Parks, too. Come fire season, the tea party will take a leaf from the Watts riots and shout "Burn, baby - BURN!" As GW Bush noted, "Trees cause forest fires." If all the trees are burnt down, the fire problem is solved, and it won't cost the tax-payer a penny.

[StealthRabbit]

And some of us are more rational.. (and wildland firefighters too).. There are MANY of us post age 50 - 60 who are working (and volunteering thousands of hrs / month) PRODUCTIVELY to preserve "YOUR" public lands.

Sequester is a hostage crisis of the taxpayers (as usual.)

There are millions of well trained RETIRED federal (and public) employees aged 38-70 (including EXPERIENCED scientists) who are, and could do countless wonders for our Federal / State programs that THINK they are getting axed.

There are also the alarmists who are the minions that keep the farce (hostage crisis of taxpayers) burning. (They are often the Gov Workers (or SO's) facing Furlough (horrors...)


And the minions have been doing this for MANY yrs (decades). Such is life in a "Free" country... (one that I support with over $30k of tax dollars per yr from my meager 'non-pensioned' semi-retirement income)