#118984 - 08/02/0910:36 PMOregon's Timberline Trail makes the New York Times
OregonMouse
member
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Thoughtful article about the need to get people, especially children, out into the wilderness instead of letting the infrastructure (such as trails) go to pot: New York Times editorial.
One quote I especially like:
Quote:
So let’s protect nature, yes, but let’s also maintain trails, restore the Forest Service and support programs that get young people rained on in the woods. Let’s acknowledge that getting kids awed by nature is as important as getting them reading.
Funny, though, I've never had the urge to lick a banana slug. Have I been missing something all these years?
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
2. Why is it that Mr. Kristof thinks that it should be some elses responsibility to take care of the trails? It seems to me that those of us who use them should maybe be doing something about them. We cannot expect the government to do everything for us, and let's pray that we do not find the country in the same place it was in when most of those trails were built.
2. Why is it that Mr. Kristof thinks that it should be some elses responsibility to take care of the trails? It seems to me that those of us who use them should maybe be doing something about them. We cannot expect the government to do everything for us, and let's pray that we do not find the country in the same place it was in when most of those trails were built.
My personal belief is that we need to have fewer "maintained" trails and allow the other to be unmarked "footpaths". This will accomplish multiple things. First, it allows the limited resources to be managed and allow for those who need "groomed trails" to have them and expect them to be well maintained. Second, by focusing the maintenance efforts on the few groomed trails, the unmarked footpaths will mostly be used by those who are skilled in venturing into the "wilderness" and thus keep it from being trashed. I think the condition/maintenance of the trails should exist on a continuum.
#119049 - 08/04/0910:59 AMRe: Oregon's Timberline Trail makes the New York Times
[Re: DTape]
sarbar
member
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 1453
Loc: WA
Originally Posted By DTape
My personal belief is that we need to have fewer "maintained" trails and allow the other to be unmarked "footpaths". This will accomplish multiple things. First, it allows the limited resources to be managed and allow for those who need "groomed trails" to have them and expect them to be well maintained. Second, by focusing the maintenance efforts on the few groomed trails, the unmarked footpaths will mostly be used by those who are skilled in venturing into the "wilderness" and thus keep it from being trashed. I think the condition/maintenance of the trails should exist on a continuum.
The issue with that is trails around the volcanoes here are so prone to floods and blowouts - they get destroyed (the Timberline Trail being a great example) and then become dangerous for most hikers.
If they (NF and NP out here in the West) did not work yearly on trails around Hood, Baker, Adams, Rainier, etc you end up quickly with the Loowit Trail around Helens - a nearly unusable trail, so deeply gouged the creek crossings are canyons. Or you end up like Glacier where many trails have been out of commission since 2003. It truly has gone down to the minimum of users - only those rare few who can accept the danger and risk to get through.
Yet, those volcanoes are something that is iconic for the Northwest. Rainier has done the best job of keeping a park open on a shoestring budget most years. Hiking along Hood is a treat indeed but I would not call even the PCT an easy trail up there, due to the yearly blow outs and there not being the money to do enough trail work.
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They are doing quite a cool thing in the smokies right now. A trust fund is being set up with private donations matched by the Aslan Foundation. The initiative is called Trails Forever.
The idea is to set up a fund that allows all of the trails in the park to be maintained by private donations instead of government money.
My personal belief is that we need to have fewer "maintained" trails and allow the other to be unmarked "footpaths". This will accomplish multiple things. First, it allows the limited resources to be managed and allow for those who need "groomed trails" to have them and expect them to be well maintained. Second, by focusing the maintenance efforts on the few groomed trails, the unmarked footpaths will mostly be used by those who are skilled in venturing into the "wilderness" and thus keep it from being trashed. I think the condition/maintenance of the trails should exist on a continuum.
The issue with that is trails around the volcanoes here are so prone to floods and blowouts - they get destroyed (the Timberline Trail being a great example) and then become dangerous for most hikers.
If they (NF and NP out here in the West) did not work yearly on trails around Hood, Baker, Adams, Rainier, etc you end up quickly with the Loowit Trail around Helens - a nearly unusable trail, so deeply gouged the creek crossings are canyons. Or you end up like Glacier where many trails have been out of commission since 2003. It truly has gone down to the minimum of users - only those rare few who can accept the danger and risk to get through.
Yet, those volcanoes are something that is iconic for the Northwest. Rainier has done the best job of keeping a park open on a shoestring budget most years. Hiking along Hood is a treat indeed but I would not call even the PCT an easy trail up there, due to the yearly blow outs and there not being the money to do enough trail work.
Sarbar,
I agree and it is those trails that need it, which should get the resources. It is apparent that we cannot get all the resources necessary to mark/maintain all the trails (even if we wanted to) so we must focus those resources where they are most necessary. I think you make the case for those around the volcanoes.
They are doing quite a cool thing in the smokies right now. A trust fund is being set up with private donations matched by the Aslan Foundation. The initiative is called Trails Forever.
The idea is to set up a fund that allows all of the trails in the park to be maintained by private donations instead of government money.
#119068 - 08/04/0908:46 PMRe: Oregon's Timberline Trail makes the New York Times
[Re: DTape]
sarbar
member
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 1453
Loc: WA
In Washington State most trail work is done by the WTA, youth groups and the Backcountry Horsemen. Most of this work is volunteer hours. If not for everyone pitching in, we'd not have many trails. Here, if within 1 1/2 to 2 hours of Seattle a trail is not just used, it is a super highway of hikers.
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Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3293
Loc: Portland, OR
I have just returned from the Eagle Cap wilderness in the sparsely populated area of eastern Oregon. There, much of the trail maintenance is done by horse packers, who bring saws, axes and winches to clear trails when they go uptrail in the early season. Since almost no FS maintenance is done there, this is how the trails keep from disappearing entirely.
However, horse packers do not do such things as build water diversions, so in spite of their informal and voluntary efforts, a trail system that cost tens of thousands of man-hours to construct are eroding like crazy. And the signage is disappearing, too, due to general attrition. It's a shame.
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