Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Matthew - I agree firewood didn't start the problem, but it seems to me it might be exacerbating it.
I also agree on the gov't subsidizing corn for fuel. What a boondoggle. It's all about the lobbying, baby...

For the camping fans, there's actually a pass you can buy which gets you free entrance into ALL "federal recreation areas"
http://store.usgs.gov/pass/annual.html
I don't know if that includes camping or not, probably not, but it definitely gets rids of any entrance fee. If you do enough travelling, it could very quickly be worth it if you're traveling with a couple people. You figure a $10 entrance fee and three people; the $80 pass becomes worth it in three park visits. It also means you don't have to feel guilty about only staying a short time after having entered, because you feel less like you have to "get your money's worth".

@Carly I have the pass. It does not include camping fees, but does count for the entrance fee. The parks charge per vehicle rather than by person, so pay off could be a little different than your numbers. Entrance at Yellowstone was $25! You can put only one other person on the pass as a co-owner, so you can really re-sell it either. Still, it's good if you plan on visiting the parks a lot over the course of the year. The parks also have a few free days every year when all the parks have free admission. We lucked out and saw the Badlands and Wind Cave on the same weekend when they were free before getting the pass.

@S If I understand you correctly, I would need to get only one pass for my wife and I (if we took one vehicle)?
If we had the pass, and my brother came along in the car would we need to pay and additional amount?

@Checking Carly
Thanks! This great to know! One less thing to figure out.

@photoguy Yes, this is what my husband and I do. You'd probably be fine with an additional passenger as the fees I've seen are per vehicle rather than per person, but I'm not sure if that's true for every park.