No go areas

[Photo Engineer]

Watch out for snakes in water anywhere in the US if you go wading or swimming.

There has been a rash of alligator attacks in the south east where people (usually teens) go swimming or wading to catch fish or turtles. Also, watch for snapping turtles when wading in most waters. We have many snapping turtles in this area. You can see them sunning themselves on rocks in ponds. Blue Herons can be seen going after the young ones. A snapper is an easy way to lose a toe.

Don't go near pelicans in the south. They think fingers are small fish I guess. They try to grab them and fly off.

PE

[pbromaghin]

Almost anywhere, your unattended car can be a target of opportunity if anything of value is visible. I have trouble imagining danger from people in any rural or even suburban area. I give dittos to what others have said about drugged-up inner city areas and getting local advice. For example, the current high murder rate in Chicago is due to a gang war for retail drug territory and is pretty much restricted to certain neighborhoods. What will put you in more danger than anything else is alcohol. If you're going to drink too much, do it in a private setting, not a bar. A drunk on the street is a victim waiting to happen.

[Aja B]

That business about the hanta virus is sort of true, but i small media frenzy there. Wash your hands a lot, ur good.

OK, I gotta' call you out on this load of crap! Sort of true? What part is sort of true? The part that shows nearly 40% of HPS cases (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome) result in death? Media frenzy, given the fact that thousands of people stayed in these cabins in Curry Village (in Yosemite Park)? Only six confirmed cases (thus far), but heck, only two people have died, a mere 33% fatality rate. 'Wash your hands a lot...ur good'? Educate yourself. Your advice is dangerous. The overwhelming majority of HPS infections are due to airborne transmission. Wash your hands all you want, it's that bit about not breathing that makes avoidance difficult.

[TheFlyingCamera]

Gosh, y'all are making the US sound like a combination Wild West, war zone, and animal park where the visitors are the feed for the animals and entertainment for the natives. For all the bullshit and bravado, the US is acutally a very safe place to visit, and the danger of being robbed/assaulted/chewed up by the wildlife is fairly minimal. Take simple precautions like as previously mentioned - don't leave valuables sitting out in plain sight in cars (lock them in the trunk/boot). If you are not 100% sure of the neighborhood you're visiting, don't go alone and don't wander around like a slack-jawed idiot staring at everything new and strange to you. Don't lose track of your surroundings - when reading a map, don't unfold the whole thing and allow it to be a screen between you and what's going on in front of you. If you must consult your map in public, find somewhere to sit down and do it there. Looking like a gawking tourist, whether you're in Washington DC, New York, Barcelona or London will mark you as a tempting target for thieves and pickpockets. Check your map before you go, have a good idea where you're going, and be confident when you're there. Many (but not all) bad areas in US cities are pretty obvious. If boutiques and sit-down restaurants give way to take-out places with bullet-proof pass-throughs, liquor stores and pawn shops, it's time to turn around. Stick to main streets with lots of pedestrian traffic. Away from the big cities (DC, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and a few others) public transit is pretty limited. When you're in one of those places, though, if you stay near subway/light rail stations, you're generally fairly safe because if you get worried, you can always return to the station so long as it's open.


If you're heading out into the open spaces and think you might encounter wildlife, read up on the kinds of wildlife you're likely to encounter, and what you need to do to keep yourself safe from them and them safe from you. Most encounters with bears, coyotes, bison, alligators, etc that don't end well happened because the human was stupid and didn't pay attention to best practices. Announce your presence, keep a safe distance, and in bear country, don't keep food out in open containers - it attracts the bears and they can and will destroy just about anything between them and it, including your car.

[BrianShaw]

Watch out for snakes in water anywhere in the US if you go wading or swimming.

Just for clarification... this does not apply to most hotel or private swimming pools.

[Gerald C Koch]

I used to work at KSC, the site is accessed from US 1 by a long causeway. There is a canal on the north side and alligators come up to sun themselves by the road. There are signs every mile warning people not to pull over and get out of their cars. Yet there are always a couple of tourists walking up to an alligator with their cameras to take pictures. Fortunately most times all the tourists get is a ticket for illegal parking. It is incredible how stupid some people can be.

[nyoung]

If you're planning time in the desert southwest be aware that our native peoples have instituted pay for photography policies in many areas.
Pueblos (Taos, Acoma etc.) typically charge "camera fees" upon entry and many locations photographed by our famous landscape artists of 75-100 years-ago (Canyon de Chelly for example) have gone "pay for access" meaning that you are not enter those areas without a paid native guide.
Not dangerous to life or limb but you'll get a self righteous scolding and likely ejection from the area if you violate the boundaries. (No, I didn't get the lecture but I did witness a 20 something couple unceremoniously escorted out of the Taos Pueblo a couple of weeks ago.)
On the other hand, you're free to take pictures of anything you wish inside any of their casinos.

[BrianShaw]

On the other hand, you're free to take pictures of anything you wish inside any of their casinos.

Don't try that in Las Vegas (NV)... the mob is very allergic to photography in casinos.

[Gerald C Koch]

Just for clarification... this does not apply to most hotel or private swimming pools.

Wildlife officers are routinely called to remove alligators and snakes from cement ponds here in Florida. People often leave food nearby which attracts mice and rats which in turn attracts predators like snakes. The critters don't know it's a pool it's an odd shaped pond.

[Klainmeister]

When I visited some friends in the lowly parts of Oakland, the first thing they did was hand me a black Oakland Raiders sweatshirt to wear around. Never got bothered once.

The story goes that when he first moved there, a friend gave him some clothes like that to wear and after about a month he felt it was silly and went out without his sweatshirt. Got mugged getting off the bus near International.

So anywho, just throwing that out there