America's Best Idea (Worldwide)

[666]

It’s not like he’s ranking the world’s best trains.

Yes I made mistake. Sometimes T-800 malfunction. Japan has best train.

 

[Cole train]

Might be dumb question but useful info for me in future

Do you need to buy ticket in usa to visit national park?

 

[Deorum]

Might be dumb question but useful info for me in future

Do you need to buy ticket in usa to visit national park?

Yeah, but it's dirt cheap with an Annual Pass and provides incredible bang for the buck as @jk7707 has noted a couple of times in other threads.

Entrance Passes (U.S. National Park Service)

The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series is your ticket to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites, covering entrance, standard amenity, and day-use fees.

www.nps.gov

So $80 gets you into any and every park an unlimited number of times for an entire year. For a couple, family, or group of people, it's actually cheaper than going to watch a movie at the cinema for a mere couple of hours, and is considerably more affordable than the one-time, one day entry cost to basically any amusement park, zoo, carnival, concert, sporting event, or privately owned and operated attraction that all charge on a per person basis.

As a general rule, the GOAT level American national parks are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year -- if possible. The remote locations of some of them combined with inclement weather in the winter and intentionally limited supporting infrastructure means that they aren't always that accessible year-round but it would be wildly dangerous and irresponsible to not temporarily close them off.

 

[Cole train]

Yeah, but it's dirt cheap with an Annual Pass and provides incredible bang for the buck as @jk7707 has noted a couple of times in other threads.

Entrance Passes (U.S. National Park Service)

The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series is your ticket to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites, covering entrance, standard amenity, and day-use fees.

www.nps.gov

So $80 gets you into any and every park an unlimited number of times for an entire year. For a couple, family, or group of people, it's actually cheaper than going to watch a movie at the cinema for a mere couple of hours, and is considerably more affordable than the one-time, one day entry cost to basically any amusement park, zoo, carnival, concert, sporting event, or privately owned and operated attraction that all charge on a per person basis.

As a general rule, the GOAT level American national parks are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year -- if possible. The remote locations of some of them combined with inclement weather in the winter and intentionally limited supporting infrastructure means that they aren't always that accessible year-round but it would be wildly dangerous and irresponsible to not temporarily close them off.

Another potentially dumb question, how packed full of people these parks are?

Asking since my countrys are packed as shit on certain times of year though they are way smaller than usa

 

[Deorum]

Another potentially dumb question, how packed full of people these parks are?

Asking since my countrys are packed as shit on certain times of year though they are way smaller than usa

The summer months, weekends, and holidays. But if you're young, adventurous, in-shape, and traveling solo (without kids) then you really won't have much problem finding solitude even on the 4th of July. Because they are huge, and 90% of visitors don't scratch the surface of exploration. Moreover, the US itself is gargantuan, which is a blessing but also comes with a number of logistical challenges. Which ones do you sort of tentatively have in mind? There are some particularly special regions where a lot of parks tend to "bunch up" within reasonable distance (i.e., the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, Sierra Nevada).

 

[Fedorgasm]

I would also like to see Yosemite because tourist are fuckin up Yellowstone.

Yosemite is way more crowded than Yellowstone.

 

[weaselkenievil]

@Deorum Great selection of pics mate, enjoyed looking through.

 

[StonedLemur]

Yosemite is way more crowded than Yellowstone.

More crowded but the tourists in Yellowstone are shitty with the animals sir.

 

[Streeter]

Wasn't Tesla an American citizen eventually and didn't he developed AC in America. Unsure anything as big as AC for any country last few hundred years

 

[Natural Order]

Cliff jumping at Horseshoe Lake in Jasper. Thank me later!

Veteran of Banff/Jasper, can’t recommend them enough. Bucket list definitely includes Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Planning on free soloing El Capitan with one hand….

 

[Fedorgasm]

More crowded but the tourists in Yellowstone are shitty with the animals sir.

I think it's just that there's way more animals in Yellowstone, so there are more interactions between animals and idiots.

Yosemite has more idiots, but way less animals for them to harass.

Both are beautiful places though. I would just recommend not going during the peak times in summer.

 

[StonedLemur]

I think it's just that there's way more animals in Yellowstone, so there are more interactions between animals and idiots.

Yosemite has more idiots, but way less animals for them to harass.

Both are beautiful places though. I would just recommend not going during the peak times in summer.

I would rather go in fall tbh sir.
Also, I never thought about it the way you put it.

I appreciate you for that.

 

[Deorum]

I would rather go in fall tbh sir.
Also, I never thought about it the way you put it.

I appreciate you for that.

I'd opt for the spring personally, sir. The flora of Yosemite is predominantly evergreen, so the visual characteristics associated with the magic and vibe of autumn won't really be apparent, and the flow rate of the waterfalls will be at its lowest of the year; some of them will be dried up completely until the next snow pack. It seems like a tight rope of a timing issue because if you go too early, then there's a high chance that Glacier Point and Tioga Road will still be closed.

 

[StonedLemur]

I'd opt for the spring personally, sir. The flora of Yosemite is predominantly evergreen, so the visual characteristics associated with the magic and vibe of autumn won't really be apparent, and the flow rate of the waterfalls will be at its lowest of the year; some of them will be dried up completely until the next snow pack. It seems like a tight rope of a timing issue because if you go too early, then there's a high chance that Glacier Point and Tioga Road will still be closed.

Very cool thought process sir.

I can tell you that it wouldn't even be an option until my house is done.

 

[Cole train]

The summer months, weekends, and holidays. But if you're young, adventurous, in-shape, and traveling solo (without kids) then you really won't have much problem finding solitude even on the 4th of July. Because they are huge, and 90% of visitors don't scratch the surface of exploration. Moreover, the US itself is gargantuan, which is a blessing but also comes with a number of logistical challenges. Which ones do you sort of tentatively have in mind? There are some particularly special regions where a lot of parks tend to "bunch up" within reasonable distance (i.e., the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, Sierra Nevada).

Oh nothing particular, just generally asking since thread is up lol Got a goal with friend about driving around states visiting national parks someday

 

[deviake]

The US Park Service is my favorite government entity by far. Also, I should travel more. Great thread

 

[Deorum]

The US Park Service is my favorite government entity by far. Also, I should travel more. Great thread

Cliff jumping at Horseshoe Lake in Jasper. Thank me later!

Veteran of Banff/Jasper, can’t recommend them enough. Bucket list definitely includes Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Planning on free soloing El Capitan with one hand….

Banff and Jasper are icons of the continent that are consistently rated and ranked among the top 5-10 national parks in the world, no chance that they weren't going to garner mentions here. The only reason Jasper didn't get its own entry is because the nature of the thread title required geological and geographic diversity (actually a wonderful thing in this instance, lol). It's also not like Yoho or Waterton - which is contiguous with Glacier in America - are anything to sneeze at. The US and Canada could throw up their best against the rest of the entire world.

As far as the Grand Canyon, I'm glad I don't need to strongly recommend that you actually hike down into it because that's a foregone conclusion. It's kind of cliché to say "photos don't do it justice!" with various places and things, but that is legitimately the case here. I don't mean in terms of scenic beauty either because the colorful sedimentary rock layers can be captured fine -- but the size and scale? Hell no, they literally can't. It is absolutely massive and will fuck your brain up the first time you gaze out over the rim. It almost looks fake, like a painted hoax being pulled on your eyes and senses.

 

[Wetarmpits]

I would prefer Africa because there are no indian people around.

 

[Prutfis]

Banff, Jasper, and the American crown jewels? I'm giving Yosemite a full week during late spring and peak waterfall flow in May this year; it'll have every opportunity to blow me away and possibly surpass the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone (x2) experiences. It's less than two hours away by plane and well short of a 12 hour road trip, so it's kind of ridiculous that I haven't already been there.

The Serengeti seems like an incredibly sort of privileged and exorbitant excursion from where I sit, less so if I go solo and don't take any of the kids along. On the other hand, Ranthambore is comparatively dirt cheap, as well as to stay in some pretty god damn nice resorts just minutes outside the park. I want to take my youngest there because he shares my affinity for tigers, but only once he's old enough to really lock in the memory.

Make sure you go up to glacier point in Yosemite, it´s an amazing view.

We drove from Vegas to Mammoth Lakes (Via area51) and over the Tioga pass to Yosemite. Insanely beautifull trip. Mariposa grove is also close for the sequoias

 

[crabmeat]

Banff and Jasper are icons of the continent that are consistently rated and ranked among the top 5-10 national parks in the world, no chance that they weren't going to garner mentions here. The only reason Jasper didn't get its own entry is because the nature of the thread title required geological and geographic diversity (actually a wonderful thing in this instance, lol). It's also not like Yoho or Waterton - which is contiguous with Glacier in America - are anything to sneeze at. The US and Canada could throw up their best against the rest of the entire world.

As far as the Grand Canyon, I'm glad I don't need to strongly recommend that you actually hike down into it because that's a foregone conclusion. It's kind of cliché to say "photos don't do it justice!" with various places and things, but that is legitimately the case here. I don't mean in terms of scenic beauty either because the colorful sedimentary rock layers can be captured fine -- but the size and scale? Hell no, they literally can't. It is absolutely massive and will fuck your brain up the first time you gaze out over the rim. It almost looks fake, like a painted hoax being pulled on your eyes and senses.

The VA obviously got rated by those that that aren't veterans.