Originally Posted by
prathmann
The figures you quoted for camping are not for the hiker-biker sites.
"
Hiker/Biker Campsites
A limited number of sites at Apgar, Fish Creek, Sprague Creek, Avalanche, Many Glacier, Rising Sun, Two Medicine, and St. Mary are available for bicyclists and hikers. Sites are shared with a capacity of up to 8 people; larger groups must split up or use group sites where available. The fee is $5.00 per person per night for Apgar, Sprague Creek, Avalanche, Many Glacier, Two Medicine and Rising Sun. In the reservation campgrounds, St. Mary and Fish Creek, the fee is $8.00 for the first person and $5.00 for every individual beyond the first."
Bicycling - Glacier National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
$5 is also the per person-night camping fee for the walk-in campground (Camp 4) in Yosemite National Park that I use when riding there.
I stand corrected on the hiker/biker sites but that's on top of the $12 per bicycle (or hiker) entrance fee.
Originally Posted by
prathmann
And I don't know where you got the idea that all NPS facilities east of the Mississippi are free. I've visited many National Park sites in the eastern part of the country such as Isle Royale and Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, the Everglades in Fl., Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, etc. and have always paid an entrance fee (and camping charges as well) whether it was in the '60s and '70s or recently. An exception is in Washington, DC where many of the attractions run by the NPS are free.
I've been to lots of National Parks run sites as well and never paid a fee of any kind.
Mammoth Caves: Nope.
From their website:
Most of the park's resources and facilities are available free of charge. Fees are charged for cave tours, camping, and selected picnic shelter reservations,
You have to pay for guided tours.
Everglades:
Okay but it's only $10 for a car and $5 for a bike.
Isle Royale is only $4 but it and Sleeping Bear are only technically east of the Mississippi. Perhaps a better measure would be on a line from Chicago to New Orleans.
The list of National Park service attractions where no fee is charged is a lot longer on the eastern side of the Mississippi then the west and we pay more. Great Smoky National Park, all the stuff around DC, the Dayton Aviation Center, Natchez Trace, the C&O and a whole host of others are free of charge. Not paying a fee to enter a National Park or National Monument in the west is very rare.