I have a WordPress blog where I like to read posts related to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hiking, etc. Last night I stumbled onto this post: Politic

You do not have to read the link above, it basically said Blount County Commissioners have recently said they opposed the backpacking fees. Uh, what? Wait, so you decided to wait to AFTER the fees were enacted to express your opposition?

Here another link with the date of September 5, 2011 discussing the fees being considering: Public Process .

I find it fascinating and odd at the timing of the people opposing it in the first link, when this was first announced in 2011. I found out about it in April of 2012, but still.. All this time the Park Officials had the process open, they wait until after it gets enacted? The local Commissioners must be bored with their job.....

I've been doing some more reading and discovered some very interesting things:



This lead me to the FLREA.

Upon further reading of the FLREA I found: The key words being the "reservations services." Which is essentially the biggest change the fee brought and made it legal to collect fees.

The links for both quotes can be found: here and here respectively.

That is an awful lot of words they used when "nope" would have been clearer.

Maybe it's just me. But, if you stay off trail and away from the developed areas then:
1) You are not utilizing any of the "amenities" that they're charging for.
2) You can then justify not paying.
3) You're unlikely to get caught in acting on your justification.
Or, maybe, I'm just a cheap bastard that doesn't like being told what to do and then charged for the privilege. And certainly these things should be fought before they happen. But, once they happen then we all get to choose how we handle it.

The only amenity you are using when backpacking is the reservation system. I was originally against the fee when it first came to my attention. Now, I don't mind it. Last time I went backpacking I had to call the Backcountry Office 4 times just to get in touch with someone to secure a permit. The time before that I had to call 2 times. The fee brought access to reservation and trip planning 24/7. I can now see how many people will be at certain campsites when I'm making plan, which is convenience if I want to find a campsite to be alone for a weekend. I'm hardly ever backpacking for more than two nights, so two night of backpacking in the Smokies is a lot cheaper than frontcountry camping when I go on mountain biking trips.

The public process for this fee has been going on since 2011, a local mountain guide business actually supported it. I met those business owners, and they told me in person on why they were for it leading up to the final decision by the officials at the park.

And beside, if you live within the Smokies' border, there are so much more places to go backpacking that make you forget all about..wait, what was that national park called that I was talking about?