Subject: [Tweeters] Discovery Parking
Date: Tue Oct 29 12:19:46 PDT 2019
From: Elston Hill - elstonh at yahoo.com


>

> Message: 1

> Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 17:27:32 -0700

> From: Hartmut Peters <tuoichen at gmail.com>

> To: birders wa <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Discovery Park - how to get to the lighthouse

> Message-ID:

> <CALv4JExwRzxVwuc=FoTY+6=QNOS_h-Y-mLpUtmLP-ZLh05_cSQ at mail.gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

>

> The small parking lot down at the South Beach is by permit only for most

> excellent reasons. If you are able-bodied, it will NOT hurt you to walk the

> mile to the beach and the lighthouse from the south parking lot. We

> regulars do it all the time. It helps keeping up our health. Walking from

> the south parking lot is easier than from the north parking lot. For

> navigation, google Discovery Park and get the park map - or get it at any

> one of the parking lots on paper. Also, all the trails in Discovery Park

> have posts marking trails and destinations. Look for "South Beach".

>

> --

> Hartmut Peters

> Seattle, Washington; tuoichen AT gmail.com


As someone who does hike a lot, I appreciate the benefits of hiking.

BUT, I think I raised some legitimate issues. What is the point of restricting the parking so that no one can use the parking lot by the lighthouse when the visitor center is not open? There are many reasons that people who are fit and like to hike might like to be able to use those parking spaces when they are just sitting empty. For example, stopping by on the way to work when one does not have the time to hike two miles both ways.

Sometimes government gets obsessed with rules that make no sense. For example, one person replied to me that the park did not want to allow early morning parking because of a problem with break ins. Somehow it seems to me that a car parked nearby at the lighthouse in the dark is less like to be broken into than a car left in the south parking lot in the dark.