Americans are shunning the great outdoors. Why?
THE ECONOMIST

On July 4, normally the busiest public holiday of the year, tourists were put off by high gas prices and more than 300 wildfires raging across California. On Memorial Day, traditionally the beginning of the summer season, it was cold. In 1999 there was a grisly murder. In 1997 the Merced River flooded, inundating a hotel and wiping out hundreds of campsites. There are always excuses for the absence of people in Yosemite National Park.