Should running be banned in the Grand Canyon? Many say yes

"The foreigners who arrive to hike in urban leather jack, no socks, leather penny-loafer shoes, large purse, no hats, several kids running amok, and an inflated view of their abilities, are the ones causing problems and are most likely to not make it out on their own and need to be rescued."

Read through the people in need of help in the GC, you wont find that scenario.

skullcandy wrote:

I know it sounds weird, but there's something very satisfying about throwing an empty Gu wrapper or two on the ground in federally-protected parks.

Why would you say something like that? weird.

I wanted to ad that I think you should still be allowed to run in the GC.

I agree. It is weird....I can't explain it.

Simple solution --> Joggers Hotel.

If your name is Cliven Bundy you're really loving it.

skullcandy wrote:

I agree. It is weird....I can't explain it.

Just keep on enjoying it as long as you understand that it'll be people like you that make them ban us from the parks.

Just institute a lottery-based permit system like the BLM does with The Wave. This would be for anyone wanting to hike into the canyon. Problem solved.

lol, I'm not concerned about getting banned from the parks. If it happens, it happens. There are many bigger issues to worry about!

Roflcopterzncheese wrote:

If overcrowding is the issue, just limit the number of people allowed to be in at the same time. Simple.

How do you propose to count them?

As a runner, I find it odd that I kind of "get" what the author is talking about here. I live in a nice neighborhood in my city. There is a 5k or a 10k almost every weekend. I kind of like seeing people run by, but I know that it is really pissing off people and that worries me.

We need to have some common sense. Everyone is trying to hold races to make money. I know they're fun, but there needs to be some limit.

With regard to the Grand Canyon: I think they should have a permit of some sort. Put just a little barrier there so that every Tom, Dick and Jane isn't heading out there unprepared.

Somewhat related story: I was in the Mountains of NC a few weeks ago. I did a long run out near Bass Lake in Blowing Rock and was taking my family to lunch after the run. It was gorgeous so we had the windows down in the car. I noticed my father-in-law was unwrapping those little starlight mint candies and throwing the wrappers out the window. This was on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading north towards Boone. I hit him on the knee and told him to cut it out. He acted like it was n big deal. He is in his 60s, so I guess he comes from a time when people did that, but the concept of throwing trash on the ground is so bizarre to me.

I ran to the bottom and back up in May with my former college roommate. Maybe we weren't at a peak visiting time (I think it was on a Friday), but we didn't have any problems at all. The trail really wasn't very crowded and we carried one water bottle each and some gels which we took back out with us.

We stopped for a couple breaks and everyone we spoke with thought it was cool what we were doing. We met some people who were hiking to the bottom and back in a day, how were we different than them? I'd say we were less of a nuisance since we were only in the canyon for 4 hours instead of all day.

We were courteous when passing hikers, but honestly it was only near the top that we saw that many people. The farther in you got, the less people you saw.

We were lucky and didn't run into any people on mules. We did it mid-day (yes it was very very hot) so maybe that was part of the reason. At that time of the year most people probably go early to avoid the heat or late to see the sunset.

If you ever get a chance to run the Grand Canyon I highly recommend it. Was one of the last things I did before I moved from Flagstaff to NY and I'm very happy I got it in.

skullcandy wrote:

I know it sounds weird, but there's something very satisfying about throwing an empty Gu wrapper or two on the ground in federally-protected parks.

I get that. My 3-year old also loves to spill his milk to annoy me.

skullcandy wrote:

lol, I'm not concerned about getting banned from the parks. If it happens, it happens. There are many bigger issues to worry about!

There may be, you arrogant jackoff, except that I can tell from your smug, lazy writing that you don't actually worry about any of them. lol!!

lol

Permits may eventually be required to limit the numbers and preserve the experience. Few people would want to hike or run certain trails if they became as crowded as a NYC sidewalk.

Even with a permit system, those that really wanted a permit could get one for certain routes and times/days.

I doubt it would ever become as popular as rafting the canyon. The permit wait/backlog to do that used to be years.

Just create some more regulations. Great idea. It's absolute genius. Just ask the bad water participants or the boston tea party participants they will certainly side with you.

The issue is with overcrowding, require permits or beef up the staff and facilities. Banning running is a ridiculous solution. Could one jog, run parts of the trail, or racewalk?

The issue is not safety. There are many recreational deaths each year in the national parks (hiking, climbing, rafting). Without being callus, if the last running related death the park has seen was in 2004 than it's a non-issue.

band swimming pools, band swimming period, every year people died in lake michigan

This is a ridiculous idea. It's a public trail, how can you possibly ban running but not hiking? What about hiking fast? Do we really want to encourage people to do their athletic activity as slowly as possible?

If you're worried about crowding and safety on the trails, get rid of the damn mules. Of course, this will never other happen, because somehow mules and horses are always the last thing to get kicked out of an area, even though they are the biggest pain in the ass.