On the one hand, you advocate "If you want fewer people on the trail give them more places to go." But just who/what/how do you "give them more places to go" in light of your statement: "More government, more regulations will do more harm than good - history has proven that.
So if it's not the government that creates more places to go e.g. woods, trails, pseudo-wilderness etc than who? Disney? There's always land trusts but even the largest of them e.g. Nature Conservancy don't have the resources to acquire large tracts.
With respect to the AT and its history and for that matter, recreational lands in general, I disagree that "history has proven" that government has done more harm than good - I think the opposite. National Parks have been called by many America's greatest gift to the world. I'm in the middle of reading a biography of John Muir which relates among other things the history of how national parks and subsequently national forests were established. It took committed conservationists - some of whom BTW were business magnates - to persuade Congress that the only adequate protection of such national treasures as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Sequoia as well as the only way of preventing all of the nation's forests from total depletion was Federal protection. Then as now, there were interests fiercely opposed to such protections but fortunately for us today enjoying the benefits, the conservationists won out (although some individual battles were still lost).
The AT has benefited tremendously from the Trails Acts of 1968 and 1978. I often say that if these statutes weren't passed, a quarter or more of the AT would be roadwalks. But going further, if not for the Weeks Act (establishing National Forests in the East) and other early 20th and late 19th Century laws and the movements behind them, there's no way the AT would even exist today.
Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard
Why don't we just pave the damn trail already
While we're at let's be sure top lobby for street lights all the way....a Subway at least every 7 or 8 miles (or some similar fast food place) and a nice Steak House at least every 40 miles. And let's not forget a Holiday Inn Express every hundred miles..Nawww..now...just kiddin..let's keep it as natural and wild as possible....
Please, please think about it first.
Senators and Representatives get letters from only a tiny fraction of their constituents. There is the potential therefore for each individual letter to have an inordinate impact. For example, if a House member's staffer read a total of three letters mentioning the AT over a year's time and two of them proposed some specific nonsense, it is possible the staffer might casually say to his boss "Hey, you know our constituents are quite riled up about this Appalachian Trail thing, and about 2/3 of them want us to shut it down!"
So a funding issue or something comes up and this guy has the wrong mindset going in.
Please, if you are uninformed and shooting from the hip, don't waste the government's time and create a wrong and potentially damaging impression of the hiker community.
Sure, post your crap all over the internet, that's good clean fun. But don't take the chance (however remote) of doing some real legislative/regulatory damage.
Are you suggesting to close the town of Hot Springs, NC every "5rd" year,or do you mean every "3fth) year?LOLOLOL.... How do you close a town for 2 years? For 7 tenths of a mile the AT is Main Street of Hot Springs, NC. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (I'm sure someone will..lol..), but I believe the AT also runs right through Damascus, VA. So I guess we just close Damscus, VA every "5rd" lol..year too... Lone Wolf should have something to say about this since he lives there....It would be my guess that a number of other towns would have to close for 2 years also...
Let's see your congressmen pull that one off..lol..
Since the AT runs no where near Wisconsin..what interest or jurisdiction would the Wisconsin Legislature have in this?
well if theyre going to pave it, at least give us water fountains every few miles as well(sic)
Wil, if you're pleading with WisconsinHiker2011 to not make his suggestions to his Congressional representatives....if you read his post carefully you will see that he says he has ALREADY done that.
THEN and ONLY then he asks the members here what we think about it...
You're right though....Congressmen are likely do do anything totally absurd and totally misinformed (especially near an election year) to try and gain a few votes by kissing butts of the voters... so every one really does need to be careful what they suggest to the idiots. (Congress) This is totally unrelated but in the mid 80's I think when the USA was in an economic crises very similar to our current situation they sat there in Washington and voted themselves an $86,000.00 per year pay raise so that shows how concerned they are about the welfare of our country and how senseless they are also.
Umm...sorry, but what do you think the AT is? Not a National Scenic Trail, hmm? That goes thru the Smokies and Shenandoah...which are National Parks...or the Priest WILDERNESS AREA (and others) that was set aside by the GOVERNMENT!?!?!
This is just kind of ignorant. W/out the ol' government, there would be no AT. I mean they passed legislation just to create the National Scenic Trails!!!
Also, if there are too many people on the trail for you, there are hundereds of square miles of (government set-aside) National Forest that are 100% free for you to wander around in.
And a park bench every mile or so.
...and closing a section will be easy. Just shut down the people mover.
Roland
A massage parlor every 15 to 20 miles to rejuvenate those tired old aching muscles..
and water fountains every half mile or so
If you find yourself in a fair fight; your tactics suck.
If the original poster was serious in his beliefs and convictions, he would cancel his planned 2012 AT thru hike (to do his part in minimizing human impact of the AT) and write a check for $250 to the ATC (to simulate his proposed idea of an AT Trail fee). What I hear is someone complaining about the price of gas as he fills up his Hummer.
EXACTLY Thumb!
And if he's dead set against hiking a worn out trail (or however he put it) He should go somewhere in the Rockies away from state and national parks, away from marked and public trails to a true wilderness area and just strike out cross country with just a topo map or 2, a compass and maybe a GPS (wonder if he can use either of the aforementioned?) with not a sign of a trail and then maybe he would appreciate that worn out AT when the rescue squads have to come find his rear end and chopper him out of there. I've spent nearly as much time off trails just bush wacking as I have on worn out trails so why can't he? I'm just an old man...lol..He's young and knows every thing..lol..
"You know your camping trip really isn't going well when you find yourself hoping to stave off sepsis with a six-pack of Icehouse. "
"Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin."