What Visitors Should Never Do at National Parks

hey the field travelers mark you with Walters world and today we have Jocelyn with us here today hey today we wanted to go over some really great tips about what not to do when you're in national parks and we're actually here and the thing is this isn't just for national parks it's for national monuments his national historic sites and things anything run by the National Park Service yes and we're here at the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico having a great time hike around and join things and our first dome for you about going to the national parks are the national monuments is don't be disrespectful treat these places with care and conservation because that's what they are they're conservation places and they're important to our history but also to the history of the world and so we're talking about not disrespecting some of things you don't do one you don't litter when you're on the trails make sure you use the approved place to put stuff also don't graph ET things when you're going around cuz sometimes like oh this is cool I'll have my mark here don't do that we've seen that a few places and you'll see signs telling you not to do that don't go off the trails when you're in the parks the trails are for your safety but also so that you're not messing up the conservation of the area but when you go off the trails you're risking yourself it's not a good idea to go off the trails and get boiled or eaten by some wild animal animals and on that note don't play with the animals yes because an elk looks really sweet and cuddly or a buffalo or a snake or that little bear or anything does it mean they like you know they like to eat you yeah and I think it's really important to mention this because you do see a lot of instagramers that will go out there and take you know pictures that are in dangerous locations they put themselves in danger but also people have to save them when things go wrong so you can't go out the trash yeah you pretty much for other people and it really isn't safe so there would be a really great graham don't do it not worth it no thanks don'ts we have our things not forget one don't forget to bring a small first-aid kit we always take us around with some neosporin there's some you know band-aids and stuff like that sometimes they even have needle and thread just in case I have to stitch somebody up I'll do it if I have to yeah another thing you don't want to forget notice I have all this Sun you're out in nature all the time so don't forget sunblock in some protection like a hat so for example I pick this one up if you do not have one that goes all the way around because your back of your neck stuff like that you can always pick one up at the shop that's at the National Park Service at the office that's a place to grab one in a lot of the places so on that note with all the heat in the Sun and everything else don't forget to stay hydrated so bring yourself a refillable water bottle because there will be places usually on most trails they'll be at least bathrooms and watering stations where you can fill up and also make sure you do keep drinking it when you're going through it because a lot of people just say no it's kind of like ember they said don't forget to breathe if you have the baby it's one of those things you feel like water there don't forget to do drink that when you are here now another don't we have for you is don't think that you can use your cell phone when you're in a national park or a National Monument because this is wilderness so there's probably not gonna be a signal everywhere you go many cell towers and national parks right that's why you'll hear like people were lost for days or weeks when they are in the park because there is no signal a lot of times so don't forget a map paper map still exists and if you can read a map on a screen you can probably figure out a paper map right yeah now what's cool is a lot of the national parks when you come in they might have guides like this when you're walking around and tells you some of the examples what you're gonna see so you learn a lot when you're here but also a lot of times they'll actually have the trail maps that you can get for free definitely grab one when you're there just in case and if you're really good you can even buy yourself a compass yes now another don't we have you has to do with the program when you're here one thing I think of Jastas talk about this one first the Junior Rangers don't forget about the Junior Ranger programs at the national parks if you have kids they're gonna have just an absolute blast learning about all sorts of things particular to whatever Park or monument or Historic Site that you're at and they'll make them really fun so make it an educational and fun thing and also don't think it's just kids program they actually have adult programming too you can go and enjoy which is really educational and fun and another thing I want to say is don't forget to pick up your passport when you're going here because the National Park has a National Park passport book that you'll get in all the national parks and all the national monuments and historic sites you'll get a stamp and you can stamp your passport you can pick them up they sell them at pretty much all those all the NPS sites and don't worry if you forget your passport which we actually did this trip they have stamps and you can just get it just a free piece of paper and stamp that paper and put it in your passport or the sticker you by these cool little stickers stamp those and then put them in your passports so as you're hiking around and spending a lot of time out in nature don't forget to dress in layers we are down to one or two layers but this morning we had jackets and actually like a scarf and things too because it does get chilly in some places and you know what if something were to happen and you were to get lost having an extra layer to of clothing is never a bad idea yeah and another kind of side don't I have for you that has nothing to do with clothing but it does have to do with annoying and that is it with drones don't bring your drones to national parks or national monuments because most of time you're not allowed to do that but it's not just that you're not allowed to do it also it's really annoying to the other people at the park just think about it you're here for nature and all you hear is annoying thing and I also just feel like it's disrespectful to the other people in the park so there are a lot more don'ts and we actually have some friends of ours bonnie and grant from a wander field life who specialized in RV travel and national park travel for their specials on the don'ts of camping and RVing when you're going to the National Park so Brant take it away Bonnie take it away hi I'm grant and Claire and this is my wife Bonnie together we run our Wonderful Life when we blog about RV and national parks travel over the past 10 years we've been to 220 units of the National Park Service in 49 states and that's our first don't for this video don't think that the only parks that count are the 61 that are designated national parks there's nearly four hundred and twenty units of the National Park Service including historic sites battlefields lake and sea shores monuments memorials there's a ton to see and do don't pigeonhole yourself into just the ones that are designated national parks today we are coming to you from Rocky Mountain National Park where we are gonna be spending a few days exploring and camping seeing everything there is here we've already done a couple of hikes this morning and we're looking forward to two more days of driving around and seeing what's there hopefully doing some more hikes and seeing some wildlife now here are don'ts for visiting the national parks don't forget to make reservations yes a lot of stuff in the National first-come first-serve but a few things are reservable campgrounds lodges even some of the tours you can make reservations in advance check the website to see if you can schedule things in advance if you can do that it will make your life so much easier in fact our campground tonight is completely full so we were very thankful that we were able to make a reservation before we even left for the trip don't expect your campgrounds to have a ton in the way of amenities we've been to many campgrounds throughout the national parks and well they all generally have bathrooms some of them might be vault toilets but they do have bathrooms they don't always have showers our campground here doesn't have showers and it's very likely that we're gonna go several days without having a shower check on the food storage requirements when you're camping out in the world wilderness you just can't leave your food out anywhere you want to many national parks have bear boxes for you to put your food away to make sure it is secured and the Bears won't get it or any of the other wildlife either so check what the requirements are and whatever Park you're in if you need to lock that food away in your car or put it in a bear box do that for your safety and for the safety of the animals don't ignore the caution signs especially the ones for wildlife yes some of them can be a bit over the top when we were in Fort Union Trading Post national historical site in North Dakota they have warning signs for ground squirrels of all things but still when you get out to places like Yellowstone and you see that that warning sign for bison or you see the warning sign and Yosemite for mountain lions these are things that you should pay attention to and act accordingly honestly the thing that worries us the most is bison bison are erratic and they can be a bit honoring they can do some funky things that's cuz they're wild animals just like all the other stuff in the National Park wild animals do wild things you don't want to be one of those people on the video is getting gored by the Bison don't pass up the visitor center in fact the visitor center should be your first stop you may need to pay an entrance fee you certainly want to pick up a park map so you know where you're going find out everything there is to know about the park that you're visiting the Rangers are a great resource make sure you check in with them find out the best hikes there may be some closures that you're not aware of or just special things going on in the park that you may want to do check in with the Rangers talk to them see what there is do then get out next floor don't gripe about the fees either the admission fees or the tour fees I know that the national parks are taxpayer supported but honestly the portion of your taxes that actually supports the National Park won't even cover the cost of your visit to one National Park they charge admissions because honestly they've got a huge backlog of maintenance here billions of dollars in backlog the parks are woefully underfunded do your part pay the admission fees pay the tour fees don't gripe about it and honestly having been to national parks and Italy and Croatia we can tell you that the u.s. is cheap don't stay in your car yes you can see a lot of great stuff from your car and there's a lot of great scenic drives that you definitely should do through the parks but get out and explore the rest of it get out on a trail get out to the overlooks check out one of the picnic areas just get out and see what's out there don't be part of the ninety-five percent that just sits in their car or never moves out of the parking lot get out and explore that doesn't have to be a strenuous hike there's plenty of nature trails and easy hikes even some paved things that you can get out and do even if you don't have a great mobility we amp this list of dunks because we love the national parks and we hope that you get out and enjoy them just as much as we have well it is a bit restrictive honestly those don'ts are there for your safety and for the safety of the animals and to preserve these parks for future generations that's the end goal is to enjoy it and to help preserve it back to you mark and Jocelyn thanks so much grant and Bonnie for collaborating on this with us we really appreciate your input and all of your wonderful knowledge and the thing is if you want to learn more about national parks door to their website we have in the links below and they have blogs on all kinds of national parks all throughout the country which is really fantastic oh and and national monuments and nationalists or excites and all kinds of stuff so that's really great so thank you to them and thank you to all of you for watching we really appreciate it we wish you all the best whether you go to the National Park a National Monument a National Historic Site anywhere those we wish all the best and buy from here at Bandelier National Monument

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 68,732

Keywords: travel, mark wolters, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, fat travel guy, national parks

Id: har3xKlYRkk

Length: 11min 27sec (687 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 26 2019