[at-l] New Baxter rules

[mfuller@somtel.com (Malcolm Fuller)]

> Whoever is pushing this obviously doesn't understand thruhiking -
> or thruhikers.
>
> The most obvious hole in their logic is simply the numbers -
> I haven't looked at the numbers lately, but as I recall there
> are now over 400 thruhikers who finish each year. There are a
> few (very few) who finish in August - and a few more that finish
> after Oct 1, so for them the 12 per night limit isn't usually a
> problem. For the rest, even if you spread the numbers evenly
> over the entire month of Sept, that means that 12 per night
> equals 360 thruhikers allowed into the Park.  What are they
> gonna do with the extra 40 thruhikers?

The same thing they do with the 228th car looking for a parking
space.

[...]

> The questions are - what happened? what's different?  what's
> their purpose in this?

[...]

> Bottom line for us is that the proposed rules will make it
> impossible for some thruhikers to finish - and will increase
> the Park problems with thruhikers. At best, it's an example
> of poor management - at worst - well, I'm not gonna go there.

I think people should. Between this and the recent pissing
contest between the town of Stratton and the manager of the
Bigelow Preserve[*], I have to wonder whether we're seeing a
new trend in Maine of ill will toward trail advocates (which
unfortunately will also be taken out on hikers).

Can't imagine why.

-MF

[*] Dig the following article:

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=282&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=374489&o
m=1

I actually got a taste of the town's attitude first hand. A
couple of days before this story hit print the Fulminatrix and
I were turned back from the access road by some town bubba
blocking it with his pickup who, without providing any further
explanation and with a contemptuous glare, tersely told us
"This is water company land!" That was on a weekend when no
work was being done at the site.

Mind you, the road was unobstructed by the construction, yet
there were no signs or barricades to let people know that the
road was closed. No public announcements -- nothing. The road
had even been recently surveyed and staked out for the planned
improvements. Since construction of the new water facility
had been going on for months, there was no excuse for the
suddenness and surprise of the road closure by the town, unless
they wanted to ensure that it'd be too late for there to be
any public debate or room for compromise.