Tours Go High Tech
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TOURS AT YOSEMITE GO HIGH-TECH
Mike Morris
The Union Democrat
28 September 2007
With its magnificent beauty and towering granite cliffs, Yosemite Valley could be thought of as a remote hideaway from the modern-day world.
Think again.
In this technological age, teenagers riding bicycles cruise the valley listening to their iPods, tourists cluster around deer to take pictures with cell phone cameras and laptop computers are plugged in at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Not to mention that almost every person who has climbed Half Dome is bragging to someone on the other end of a cell phone about how beautiful the view is.
But instead of shying away from this inundation of technology, Yosemite National Park seems to be embracing it.
The park has started a new program where tourists can take digital audio-video walking tours with a handheld screen and earphones. And park rangers are brainstorming other ideas, like placing iPod-downloadable information on Yosemite’s Web site and putting videos about wildlife and geology on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Internet site.
The goal is simple: Reach out to different kinds of people and attract them to the park, where visitation has been on the decline for the past 10 years.
“A lot of parks are toying with technology, ways of plugging in with the techno-savvy community,” said park ranger Vickie Mates. “It’s completely driven by outreach. It’s completely driven by reaching different audiences.”
Yosemite joined the high-tech movement late this summer, when it launched virtual self-guided walking tours of the Lower Yosemite Falls Loop Trail.
In this modernized approach to sightseeing, tourists rent a handheld electronic device called an Explorer unit that guides them on a 1.6-mile paved trail from the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls.
Visitors can walk at their own pace and control what they listen to and what they see on the screen.
There are more than 40 subjects to choose from, including Yosemite’s early pioneers, historic milestones, native wildlife, scenic landmarks and seasonal changes. A variety of trivia questions and interactive games, like a treasure hunt geared towards kids, are also offered.
The tours were developed by a San Jose-based company called Big Escapes, along with Yosemite National Park and the Yosemite Association, a nonprofit group that supports the park.
Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said the virtual tours have sparked some “fascinating” philosophical questions.
“Are parks relevant if we make them relevant?” he asked. “Is this appropriate for us to do? Shouldn’t we be listening to the birds?”
Indeed, the tours aren’t meant to be a substitute for experiencing nature firsthand, Mates said, adding that the park continues to host its ranger-guided walks and campfire programs.
“We’re hoping this can be a hook,” she said.
“Maybe someone doesn’t know bird sounds, but if they hear them on headphones they might be inspired to go and hear the real thing. We want to whet the appetite and get people interested to go and have that experience.”
Results from a Public Policy Institute of California poll, released a week ago, showed only about half of California’s 2.8 million teens between the ages of 13 to 17 hiked, camped or otherwise experienced nature this summer.
Mates, 32, said the Explorer units are geared toward people of all ages, not just computer-loving teens.
“My grandma even e-mails,” she said. “There’s just some people who really love gadgets.”
Mates, one of the program’s narrators, is joined on the Explorer unit by fellow ranger Bob Roney and a Muppet-like character known as Ranger Bill.
“You can mute him if he gets annoying,” warns Mates.
Ranger Bill aside, the park has received positive feedback on the program and a new walking tour currently under development is slated for this winter. That tour will take visitors to the Yosemite Cemetery, where Native Americans and European pioneers are buried.
Mates is excited about the Explorer’s possibilities, which include international visitors being able to listen to the tour in their native tongues. The tour is now only available in English, but could expand to other languages as well as other areas of the park.
Another benefit of the program, Mates said, is that during a time like this — when Yosemite Falls is dried up — people taking the tour can view the falls booming like they do in the springtime.
“Even if it’s artificial, it’s a way to enhance the park experience,” she said.
Through video footage, visitors can also learn about past natural disasters like wildfires, rock slides and the destructive flood of 1997 — events that can’t be relived.
With the Explorer program under way, Mates said park staff has even started talking about the possibility of posting videos on YouTube.
“Everyone is going to YouTube now,” she said. “Why not post ranger programs on there?”
