<div dir="auto">It's actually a terrible idea, so of course, it will be implemented. <div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">This is my comment that I posted on the NPS form:</div><div dir="auto">The proposed parking area is partially located over known thermally heated ground. Removing soil from there is risky as it may uncover and/or reduce the solid ground cover over underground thermal waters. I have personally observed visitors using social trails in that area getting too close to thermal pools. The proposed parking area there would increase such unsafe activity. A better option would be to add an extension to the current Midway boardwalk on either the south (my preference) or north side of Grand Prismatic Spring (GPS) over to the (Freight Road) Fairy Falls trail. In the 1990's former Park Geologist Rick Hutchinson stored his "hot boat" on the south side of GPS and hiked to it from the Freight Road, so one can assume that a boardwalk could be built there. An additional benefit of having more boardwalk along the perimeter of GPS is having additional photographic angles when windblown steam may block the view from elsewhere. More parking could be added to the north end of the current Midway lot. That may require removing more trees but common sense tells me that that area isn't thermally heated. There is much more room on the north side of the Midway lot than the area of the new proposed lot. Since many visitors to the overlook would want to see the features at Midway anyway they could do so by making one stop, not two. Visitor turnover should be faster because the distance of such a single hike would be shorter than two hikes and two parking stops combined. The current Fairy Falls parking area could still be used by bicyclists wishing to ride the Freight Road. Hikers to Fairy Falls might be encouraged to use the Midway lot because it would shorten the walking distance considerably, creating faster turnover for that hike alone. The cost of adding a few hundred feet of boardwalk at Midway might offset the cost of constructing the proposed new parking area. The Midway parking lot is inadequate and needs to be expanded anyway to accommodate summer crowds and especially bus tours. A temporary expansion there could be paved at a later date.</div><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="auto">Thanks,<br>Udo Freund</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 26, 2017 20:14, "lisa fisher" <<a href="mailto:lisa.fisher@alumni.mines.edu">lisa.fisher@alumni.mines.edu</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>This Fairy Falls trailhead parking plan would seem to be a good idea. Am I missing anything?<br></div>Lisa Fisher<br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 5:22 AM, M.A. Bellingham <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mabellingham@gmail.com" target="_blank">mabellingham@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Comment Period closes April 1st, 2017<br> <br> <a href="https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=67630" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://parkplanning.nps.gov/p<wbr>rojectHome.cfm?projectID=67630</a><br> ______________________________<wbr>_________________<br> Geysers mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" target="_blank">Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu</a><br> <a href="https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.wallawalla.edu/m<wbr>ailman/listinfo/geysers</a><br> </blockquote></div><br></div></div> <br>______________________________<wbr>_________________<br> Geysers mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu">Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu</a><br> <a href="https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.wallawalla.edu/<wbr>mailman/listinfo/geysers</a><br></blockquote></div></div>