Okay, seriously people.

On this lovely Saturday morning, my husband and I set out in our ever-enduring quest to stomp on all available undeveloped land within driving distance of L.A. (Also known as “There’s some trees around here someplace. I know it.”) We started our hike at the Topanga State Park, and that’s when I really got my dander up.

It costs six dollars to park at that particular state park, which I cheerfully handed over to an equally cheerful ranger. Six dollars is your contribution to a notoriously underfunded department charged with protecting and serving some of the most beautiful public areas and the people who use them. For six bucks, you get miles and miles and miles of trails, cleared and marked for your convenience. You get bathroom and picnicking facilities. You get access to rangers to answer all your questions, find you if you’re lost and throw themselves bodily between you and a ravenous cougar, if need be. Okay, maybe not so much with the cougar part. But still, six bucks isn’t too much to contribute to our public lands, particularly for those of us who are obviously using them.

But nonetheless, just outside the gates of the parking lot, dozens of SUVs and other status-symbol cars costing more than most people make in a year pulled over to the shoulder and parked to avoid paying the six bucks. And I can only say one thing: Shame on you. No, seriously. Shame on you. That’s just low. You can afford that car, you can afford to dump 70 bucks a week in the guzzler – an offense to nature in it’s own right – but you can’t cough up six bucks to support your state parks?

I leave these moochers with one thought: Karma is real, and there are rattlesnakes all over those trails. I’m just saying.