Originally Posted by
flatlander
I completely agree. The US national and the various park services are one of the best things in the USA. I'm dismayed by how much of a political football their funding can be, and I always make an extra money donation over the entry price. Everyone who I have ever come across working in a park or for a park service has been very welcoming and they are often very easy to get around and pleasant to visit. I have a lot of respect for all park service people.
When we visited Zion National Park (my wife and I) we were overtaken on the way up by a US couple in their sixties (a few decades on us). On the way down we saw a couple sweeping the newly cemented path. We though 'ah parks staff', but then we noticed that they were the same couple that had passed us on the way up. We spoke to them, they said someone had 'vandalised' the cement by attempting to leave their mark (a footprint) in it and they were repairing the damage to the national park. I was impressed by their attitude.