They are part of the future.  Smartphones are technology, and like everything else, it's a tool.  Enabling the exchange of information that can be accessed by a device which does not exactly require one to be at a park visitor center or library is a benefit, and is liberating to the person accessing it.  It allows for an expansion of knowledge and ideas. To those that choose to do research on their own, a search engine can be a greater ally and liberator of information, than a professor just trying to spoon feed you their view of the world.  I prefer the multiple views that can be found by accessing information on servers to being spoon fed info from the thought police.  I can see why you see it as a threat.  And, I can read books on my devices, and buy movies through netflix or apple tv, and purchase them accordingly.  My wife knows that I exist too, and we use smartphones, so your logic doesn't exactly fly with the zing of a straight arrow.  And a program is only as "smart" as the coder that created it.

Thanks, Dahkota, for an on-topic and appropriate post.

I use park websites all the time.  Even parks I've visited many times just so I can check to see if there are any park advisories I need to know about.  I'm able to print brochures that help make my visits much more interesting and informative.

But some websites are hard to navigate although in other ways they may be outstanding.  Hope this will help in that department. 

Yes, you can plan your lives to the minute. No more surprises; no more serendipity. No more knowing how to roll with the punches, as my mother used to say. How did Lewis and Clark ever make it without being "liberated" by GPS? You've lost the thrill of discovery and found the thrill of what? Homogenization. Self-serve gasoline. The same cup of coffee from coast to coast.

And the sad fact is you find it "progress" to be just another cog in the wheel. A lifetime career with one company? Loyalty for what you do? Perhaps, but I see more and more of you putting in 70-hour weeks. What did the president of Microsoft just say when his women asked for a raise? Trust in karma. Trust in the system. Surely we have an ap for that!

Now the "system" has you hooked. You say these are only tools, but you appear to be lost without them. You don't realize that GPS is meant to steer you past the shopping mall. How do I know? My friend used it to get to Mount Rainier. It only took two hours longer than the route I use. How did I find my way? By golly, I used a map, and steered clear of all the yellow splotches indicating the nearest Wal-Mart.

Sure, I use the Internet, but I don't "trust" it, as it were. I most certainly don't trust those daily emails reporting on the latest gossip. I use my head. I think for myself. Call me outdated, but there it is. Most of the Internet is little better than the celebrity rags at the checkout counter.

I don't spoon feed my view of the world, but yes, I have a view. The thought police are the ones insisting that technology is always good. Well, good for them if they can sell it. Now, where is the closest gas station? I remember when "they" pumped the gas. Now that they have convinced us that it is cheaper for us to pump it (hah!) the fumes are going to everyone's head.

Damn, Al, if I didn't know that you and I were virtually the same age I'd think you were starting to sound like an old fuddy duddy. That note is so absolutely filled with generalities and assumptions - to say nothing of pure resentment that time is moving on -  that it really doesn't stand up to your usual standard of scholarly commentary.

Alred thinks he might be insulting me, but I don't really take much of what he says with a grain of salt.  I've done my share of trekking all over the west in remote places without a gps. Was it on the same level as Lewis and Clark?  No.  Has Alfred ever done an expedition like Lewis and Clark?  Doubt it. Since i'm a gen xer, I haven't had the luxury, like most boomers of being able to work in the same company all my life and having the perks that go with it.  But at least I know how to use a smartphone, and use search engines.  And, yes I can use my own brain to determine if the information I get is worthwhile or useless. 

The reality is that we are all heading towards responsive design sites.  Kurt even said the Traveller is heading there.  It's a natural evolution of website architecture, and you can either advance or devolve.  Some of us enjoy the freedom and challenges of new things, while others seem to just want to give up and go with what is comfortable. 

Maybe if Alfred attempted to reroute his friends route on his phone, they could have took the same route Alred knows. Usually most map based GPS apps allow you to do that. There is little difference between the paper map he uses, and the digital map on his friends phone.  They contain the same information. But, hey...

Alfred has some good points, and I think we all agree that one must be careful and use technology with caution.  But I've discovered that when it comes to planning a park visit, using the website may actually increase my chances for experiencing some serendipity.  Many times have I learned something from a website that I had not known.  What I learned has sometimes allowed me to go seeking the chance for one of those moments.  Sometimes it has worked.

I wonder if Americans in the 1800's had the same concerns with telegraph and telephones.  Or Native Americans of long ago when someone invented smoke signals?  ;-]

The old guard would have probably attempted to scalp the young guys for using the smoke signals.