Legal (yes, legal) camping on Max Patch

[rickb]

Click here for the reply to the email I sent below:


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Date: May 12, 2015 at 7:25:58 AM EDT
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Camping on Max Patch

Good Morning.

Could you please confirm whether or not dispersed camping is prohibited on the Max Patch Bald as I believe is the case.

If you have a PDF copy of the Supervisor/Regional Forester order detailing these camping restrictions (assuming they exist), might you be able to forward me a copy?

Thank you in advance for your efforts on this request.

[Mr. Bumpy]

What would have made you think that it was prohibited?

[TNhiker]

What would have made you think that it was prohibited?

because this website---

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc...48620&actid=64


used to say it was not allowed............


(they musta changed the wording on the website as it used to say it was illegal to camp on the bald-----still shows up in a google search but not on the page)

[rickb]

The way I worded my inquiry not withstanding, I never really thought it was.

There was a long thread on Whiteblaze stating that camping on Max was prohibited, simply because of something that was posted on a FS website.

[TNhiker]

it was posted on the FS website...

after reading the other thread, i googled it and saw it on the FS website..

however, now it doesnt say anything about camping up there...

[WingedMonkey]

Oh great...now a bunch of damn campers are gonna get in the way of hiker feeds on Max Patch.

[Mr. Bumpy]

because this website---

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc...48620&actid=64


used to say it was not allowed............


(they musta changed the wording on the website as it used to say it was illegal to camp on the bald-----still shows up in a google search but not on the page)

OK. Never knew it. Its forest service so pretty much anything goes, mostly. I've been hiking around here for 20 years and never have seen it posted at the bald. The old prohibition must not have been enforced much because there are not stories floating around about getting kicked off or fined or such, at least not in Asheville circles.

[Walkintom]

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that they corrected the website to improve clarity on this. And fairly quickly, too.

[Tipi Walter]

Maybe they took it down when they realized they couldn't control the off road vehicles so why start in on the campers?

[baxter]

Click here for the reply to the email I sent below:


image.jpg

Date: May 12, 2015 at 7:25:58 AM EDT
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Camping on Max Patch

Good Morning.

Could you please confirm whether or not dispersed camping is prohibited on the Max Patch Bald as I believe is the case.

If you have a PDF copy of the Supervisor/Regional Forester order detailing these camping restrictions (assuming they exist), might you be able to forward me a copy?

Thank you in advance for your efforts on this request.

Just curious, I wonder if "Office Automation Assistant" is government-speak for "robot"?

[Bronk]

Interesting...when I hiked in 2002 the word on the street was that camping on the bald was prohibited, but I had never seen it written anywhere...I just assumed that the conventional wisdom was true. Might be an example of something repeated often enough and loud enough...

[rickb]

Interesting...when I hiked in 2002 the word on the street was that camping on the bald was prohibited, but I had never seen it written anywhere...I just assumed that the conventional wisdom was true. Might be an example of something repeated often enough and loud enough...

I think that may be the case. This happens in my stomping grounds (the Whites) and was my primary motivation for asking to see the Supervisor's order detailing the prohibition.

I am sure the people who added the prohibition on the FS website were well meaning -- just as I am sure the AMC and FS sign makers are well meaning when they make mistakes. The problem is not so much getting the rules wrong from time to time, as it is having two different sets of rules out in front of the public.

I give great credit to the Forest Service for not only answering my specific question regarding the absence of a supervisor's order prohibiting camping on Max Patch, but also correcting their website.