Not the only place that has mountains, rivers, wildlife, ranches, lakes, and you can stay there. Too many people coming here.
Hi cat
Guess all those who were cooped up last year have flown the coop and ending up over here. The numbers show that this is one of the busiest years they've ever experienced. Even Yellowstone was turning people away from just driving through due to the volume of visitors.
It's insane, but it's those people that are helping some of the places out here thrive. No people, no capital/money. It's those people that you want to tell to just go away that are helping fund the park services so they can protect wildlife and control wildfires. Businesses, including mom and pop businesses, are able to flourish and remain open. I've been to places in the East where towns have literally shut down due to lack of people bringing in capital/money.
The appeal of the West, at least for me, is the unadulterated land. Unfortunately the more people who come here, the more the land becomes adulterated. Without the park services helping to protect the land, it would become destroyed in no time at all. So while it's a hindrance and an annoyance to have so many people here, it's also a blessing in that it keeps those who are working hard to preserve the land, as well as the surrounding communities, employed.
Oh, how I know that feeling! We had that busiest year last year. Not sure about this year as it's only just started.
But since this is tourist area, we get thousands of Germans every year. Like you say, we need them for the economy, jobs, to have shops and keep them open etc. etc. But apart from that no one wants them. They're horribly rude and arrogant.
In that sense it's unfortunate we need the money to keep this area going, but there isn't anything else here as it's too remote.
During season it's insane. You can't get into town for months on end as all parking spaces are full up. You get run over by shopping trolleys in the supermarket when during German season, lol. They never move over, not on the roads either and they all drive monster cars.
Oh well, if I ever get to move away from here I don't ever want to live in a tourist area again.