Last summer, when nearly 2 million vacationers descended on California’s Yosemite National Park, the line of cars at the South Entrance was often nearly a mile long. Rangers walked from car to car pacifying irritated visitors with free maps and friendly advice, but during particularly busy periods, they gave up, raised the gates and waved folks through just to keep the crowd moving. When conservationist John Muir helped create Yosemite in 1890, he could walk for hours in the 1,200-sq.-mi. oasis without seeing another human being. Not so today, especially since a Ken Burns documentary series…
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