[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] Baxter and IAT

This is vaguely related to the Baxter posts.  At the ALDHA convention I had a long talk with one of the very enthusiastic, very nice IAT booth people (I actually wanted a shorter talk, but she had so many things to say, it was hard to leave).  Sounds like a beautiful trail and I'd love to hike it soon.  But I'm guessing there will be some similar debates about overcrowding etc. when more people start using it--and mainly complaints from thru-hikers--because of the many rules IAT hikers will have to abide by:  no stealth camping, staying at prepaid sites, reserving space ahead of time (in some areas that get booked up quickly).  The IAT rep. says the Canadian Gvt has no real conception of what thru-hikers would need.  IAT conference is trying to get the parks service to agree to allowing hikers to buy passes for particular areas so we don't have to reserve and pay every night, but the passes will still have to be bought in advance, from what I can tell.  I'd love to hear from some hikers who have used the trail through Gaspe' already--if it was as crowded as the rep. says and how the paid system worked.  The real problem I had with the whites and AMC system on my thru-hike was not being able to get away from the rabid continuous complaints of hikers who really could afford the 6 dollars complaining about having to pay for sites in areas that really do need caretakers--for what they do up there to preserve the area, I paid my 6. happily.
Would not look forward to both the paperwork and complaint generating possibilities IAT passes might provoke.  Hopefully that won't happen but can you imagine what an un-informed thru-hiker who has already come through Maine might decide to say/do when told s/he must reserve ahead and/or pay now?  eegads, not a pretty thought...
ej



---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Find a job, post your resume on Yahoo! Careers.

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---