Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I've been all over the country and people east of the Mississippi have it nice. You don't pay entrance fees for any National Park or National Park Service facility.
That just isn't true. Fees vary more with the type of park, attendance, and capacity than with whether they are in the East or the West as far as I can tell.
National Park Fees List | National Parks Blog
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
That's a luxury site west of the Mississippi that we pay $20 a night for. The difference is that we get pit toilets instead of portapoties.
I live in the East, but tour more in the West. I have not found that I typically pay less or have better facilities when in the East than when in the West in the National Parks.
I usually avoid touring in the East in part because it is much more expensive. That has more to do with state and private camping rates (often $30-40 with no special sites, prices, or other provisions for bikes) than with National park rates since stays in National parks are most often only a very minor portion of any of my tours. The exception for me was our ride on the Southern half of the Sierra Cascades Route where we stayed in several National Parks (Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite). We stayed a week in Yosemite. The facilities in all were nice in all three and the fees seemed roughly comparable to Acadia, Everglades, or Shenandoah.