Dear HCN,
In Southern California,
Forest Service fees are implemented as an “Adventure” Pass. Passes
are sold in retail stores, as well as Forest Service stations.
Day-passes are $5. Annual passes are $30. Parking in the national
forest without a pass on the dash is
ticketable.
Independent of the dollar amount,
it’s an extremely annoying program. In national parks, entrance
kiosks collect fees and no penalty is imposed if you happen to be
in the park without paying. But the Adventure Pass is often
inconvenient to get, and failure to obey makes you liable for a
$100 fine. Consider the following situations:
- A family from the East, not outdoors-aware
and therefore totally innocent of Adventure Passes, is driving
north out of Ojai, Calif., on their vacation in the West, when they
see a tempting trail and walk up it for 15 minutes to get a feel
for the country. On return, a $100 ticket for parking without an
Adventure Pass is on the windshield.
-
A one-day pass is good for the calendar day. If I arrive at a
campground at 9 p.m. and leave at 5 a.m. the next day, I must have
two passes.
- My wife and I have three
cars between us. The annual pass can be arranged to cover two of
them. But what about the third? I must have an extra pass for
it.
- Two of us plan a four-day shuttle
hike, leaving a vehicle at both ends. That involves eight days’
worth of day-passes. That’s excessive. And if we get so enthralled
with the outdoors that we spend an extra day out, both vehicles are
liable for $100 fines.
- At 7 p.m.
Friday night, we decide a hard week deserves a night in a
campground. Since Adventure Passes are virtually impossible to get
at that time of night, the night out might cost a $100 fine. And I
certainly do not want to trade valuable camping time for time spent
running around looking for an Adventure Pass
vendor.
- I lost my annual pass. This
is a personal failure in Adventure Pass management, but it is an
annoyance nonetheless.
An outing
should not be subject to such aggravations. The Adventure Pass is a
horrid, unworkable and insulting program. It can’t continue. The
level of annoyance borders on harassment. I don’t like
it.
Tom Budlong
Los
Angeles, California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline That annoying, harassing Adventure Pass.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
