Environment | Daily Report

Last year, 3.7 million tourists streamed into Yosemite, making it the third hottest destination in the national park system, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior. But it's hard to say how many of those visitors ever strayed far from their cars.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar hinted in his announcement that people should get off the couch more often: "In an increasingly sedentary society, our parks give parents a place to connect their children with nature and learn to appreciate the good feelings that come from healthy green exercise."

That may be good advice even for people visiting those national parks.

The Washington Post once declared that "most" of the "millions of visitors who come to Yosemite each year do not hike off" to the far reaches of the park Instead, visitors are "content to drive to the park's main attraction – the commanding 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls – stopping along the side of the road to jump out and snap a quick picture of El Capitan or Half Dome. They are out of the park in just a few hours," according to the story.

The two parks visited more than Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Grand Canyon National Park, also boast picture-perfect vistas that are easily accessible by car.

Ever since automobiles mobilized the masses, they've posed a problem and provided a boon to the national park system. In a car, it became affordable for regular people to make it out to the parks. As the number of vehicles in parks increased however, the parks took a toll on the very environment they were created to preserve.

But while humans might wring their hands about the cost and benefits of national park traffic, bears of Yosemite seem to have embraced the rise of car culture in the parks.

"Specifically, the burly bruins select minivans over all other types of vehicles, no matter how sporty, colorful or expensive, and rip them open looking for grub," according to a San Francisco Chronicle story, which cites a scientific study of the problem.

According to the new Interior numbers, the top 10 most visited national parks were:

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 9,491,437 visitors
2. Grand Canyon National Park, 4,348,068 
3. Yosemite National Park, 3,737,472
4. Yellowstone National Park, 3,295,187  
5. Olympic National Park, 3,276,459 
6. Rocky Mountain National Park, 2,822,325  
7. Zion National Park, 2,735,402  
8. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 2,589,288  
9. Grand Teton National Park, 2,580,081  
10. Acadia National Park, 2,227,698

For more on the history of Yosemite, check out this PBS package, and for a list of national parks in the state, go here.