Senior Citizen

The Antiplanner turned 62 on October 1, and I celebrated by buying a “senior pass” from the National Park Service. This $10 pass is supposed to allow me free (or, at least, discounted) entry into every national park for the rest of my life.

Nymph Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Click image for a larger view.

Since I happened to be in Denver, I first used the pass to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, where I saw and heard elk bugling on my way to the Bear Lake trailhead where I hiked to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald lakes. The Park Service representative at the gate–who admitted he was older than I am–didn’t resent selling me a lifetime pass for just $10.

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Others in the Park Service are not so appreciative of this pass. Yellowstone Park superintendent Dan Wenk (who was previously acting director of the Park Service) estimates that the pass costs Yellowstone Park alone several million dollars of lost income each year. Judging from the ages of the people I met in Rocky Mountain, I suspect more than half of them were also using, or at least eligible to use, the senior pass (though there were no doubt more young people visiting the park before Labor Day).

For those who are younger than 62, the current fee system leaves something to be desired. The cost to enter Glacier, for example, is $40 per car for up to seven days. I once wanted to go in for about two hours. The cost was still $40. This is just one example of how the Park Service has been unimaginative about setting fees to fit the experience.

I plan to use my senior pass as often as I can–I expect to visit Yellowstone today. But I also plan to tell members of Congress that it is inappropriate to give seniors, many of whom have higher incomes than most younger people, such an incredible discount to visit the parks. Those who truly care about the parks, and not just about special interest groups such as the AARP, should work towards a user fee system that benefits both the parks and the users.