Re[2]: [at-l] New Baxter rules

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"...> 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?"

This is not really an answer, but a clarification of the issue.

I don't think the problem is averages, but the refusal of the park to allow more
primitive camp spaces during peak thru hiker days. After Labor Day the park is
rarely full other than on Saturday nights. That means that when the 12 thru
hiker sites are full, hikers can usually find regular camp space at Katahdin
Stream and Abol Campgrounds during September -- other than weekends.

I think we could live with an average of 12 preserved hiker sites, if the park
would allow extra primitive camping during overflow days. Other than some
routine and easily corrected trail erosion at a stream crossing, the park people
didn't cite any physical damage to the park. Rather they complained that thru
hikers caused extra work for the rangers and offended some regular park users.

Complicating the matter is the park policy of considering anyone that starts at
Monson or earlier as eligible for the reserved sites. That means that August
tends to be the crunch month, not September, because scores of people, since the
Backpacker promotion of the 100-mile-wilderness in 1995, do the so called
wilderness each August with the intention of ending on Katahdin.

 But there is no real reason why people starting at Monson can't schedule their
 Baxter visits through the regular reservation process. The same is even more
 true for late-starting southbounders, several of whom take up the precious
 reserved sites in late July and early August as the first thru hikers converge
 on the park during the busiest weeks of the park year.

 I found the discussion at the meeting Thursday pretty unreal at times. The
 first hour or so was taken up with the park staff complaining about the time it
 took to register thru hikers at Daicey Pond and complaining that the presence
 of thru hikers "damaged the wilderness experience" of campers renting the camps
 at Daicey Pond.(!)

 A considerable portion of the second and final hour was devoted to Buzz calling
 for a round of applause for his Daicey Pond rangers and complaints from rangers
 about being treated badly at an ATC regional conference last month in Vermont.

 I finally got a chance to deliver a truncated version of my message just as
 Buzz left the room.

 I plan to send a written version of my thoughts to Buzz, the park trustees, and
 to the advisory committee chair early next week. Suggestions are still welcome.

 Weary