Visitors Give Low Marks to Most Popular Parks

PHOENIX —  You fork over $20 to get in the park’s gates only to sit in traffic and battle with other tourists for a parking space. Although the view at the Grand Canyon may be stunning, a new survey of visitors gives the park a less-than-stellar rating.

The same goes for Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks.

About 40,000 subscribers rate their experiences at national parks in the June issue of Consumer Reports. And while the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone receive high marks for scenery, respondents were less thrilled with the overall experience.

The Grand Canyon ranked just 22nd, Yosemite was 26th and Yellowstone was 27th.

Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska pulled in the highest marks, followed by Arches in Utah, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Canyonlands in Utah and Mesa Verde in New Mexico. Western parks rounded out the top 10: Bryce Canyon, Utah; Hawaii Volcanoes, Hawaii; Olympic, Washington; Grand Teton, Wyoming, and Haleakala, Hawaii.

Survey respondents were dissatisfied with overcrowding, traffic and lack of parking at the Grand Canyon.

Maureen Oltrogge, a spokeswoman for Grand Canyon National Park, wasn’t surprised to hear that.

“Those issues the visitors are complaining about are the same things that we’ve been talking about for years,” Oltrogge said.

The number of visitors at the Grand Canyon has skyrocketed in the last decade. In 1987, 3 1/2 million tourists trekked into the park, but this year officials expect nearly 5 million people.

On an average summer day, about 6,500 cars drive to the South Rim and fight it out for 2,400 parking spaces.

“Americans really love their national parks. It’s only because many, many people flock to them that we have these problems,” said Eric Howard of the conservation group Grand Canyon Trust.

Overcrowding and traffic were complaints of Yosemite and Yellowstone national park visitors as well.

More than a quarter of the survey respondents said Yellowstone was too crowded, and others complained of poor maintenance in the park.

Cheryl Matthews, a Yellowstone spokeswoman, said officials are aware how poor the roads are. She said workers are repairing roads as fast as financially possible.

“At Yellowstone, true, we were rated a little low, but they’re problems we’re well aware of,” Matthews said.