There are vast areas in the west that are not National Park areas that are well worth visiting. As far as I know, most National Forests will be accessible - there will simply be no government services.

There are many excellent State Parks. Custer State Park in South Dakota, for instance, is the equal of many national parks. We could get a fine discussion going on that topic.

You have been given a lemon - make lemonade. Get off the Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon treadmill and experience the rest of the best of the West. Let's see- there's Monument Valley (Navajo Tribal Park), the Hopi mesas (if pueblos are your thing) for openers.

BTW, I spent a career in the NPS and I still bleed green and gray. It's just that National Parks, as good as they are, do not encompass all the wonderful experiences available in this country.

Meteor Crater, Lake Tahoe, Navajo Mountain/Rainbow Bridge (a trip on the Reservation that is fully NP quality). The list goes on and on....