PDA

View Full Version : Should trail maintenance be discontinued?



lobster
03-10-2006, 17:56
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!

betic4lyf
03-10-2006, 17:59
(_|_) please stop

2Discover
03-10-2006, 18:08
Yes, you would have less hikers but then agian the trail was made for people to hike so...no
The trial is hard enough for many people to finish.

lobster
03-10-2006, 18:10
Betic,

Is your avatar a hiker, astronaut, or some comic book character?

bfitz
03-10-2006, 18:21
Betic,

Is your avatar a hiker, astronaut, or some comic book character?
All three?:D

celt
03-10-2006, 18:22
A lobster from California? Disgusting.

bfitz
03-10-2006, 18:23
Bad idea. Trail maintenance does things like lessen the impact of erosion and impact of hikers on surrounding areas. As well as allowing for rerouting around damaged areas so they can recover. More people would get injured as well...

Jack Tarlin
03-10-2006, 19:48
Moosecockery of the first order.

You're always dependable, Lobster, I'm gonna miss ya.

Tin Man
03-10-2006, 20:55
Moosecockery of the first order.

You're always dependable, Lobster, I'm gonna miss ya.

Moosecock is pretty low, but then lobsters hang on the ocean floor, which is even lower, perhaps we need to look for a more appropriate name of a criter hanging at the bottom of one of the deep trenches and rename our friend.

Lobster, Discontinue trail maintenance? You are just trying to start a riot, right?

Lone Wolf
03-10-2006, 20:57
Yo lobster? You been eatin that green s**t near the lobsters head?

Moxie00
03-10-2006, 21:05
There were some sections I remember where I think maintance had been discontinued, North Carolina, a stretch in Virginia,a piece near Duncanon, and a few miles near Monson come to mind but it depends on the maintainer and how dependable he or she is. There was a section near Burke's Gardan that was maintained by a youth group from a local Baptist Church. There were many logs scross the trail and brush was closing in. However they tried. Every Sunday after Church the entire group would go to the trail and pray for the logs to rot and the brush to part.

weary
03-10-2006, 21:24
There were some sections I remember where I think maintance had been discontinued, North Carolina, a stretch in Virginia,a piece near Duncanon, and a few miles near Monson come to mind but it depends on the maintainer and how dependable he or she is. There was a section near Burke's Gardan that was maintained by a youth group from a local Baptist Church. There were many logs scross the trail and brush was closing in. However they tried. Every Sunday after Church the entire group would go to the trail and pray for the logs to rot and the brush to part.
Careful, Moxie. Remember you are now a politician!

Miss Janet
03-10-2006, 21:59
You mean the trail is not a naturally occuring path... maybe made by the Indians or maybe the ancient herds of roaming buffalo?? "gulp" You mean people really go out there and WORK to make it what it is??

Well, you learn something new everyday!!

SGTdirtman
03-10-2006, 22:34
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!

I'm new to this site... I didnt even read any responses left to this... And I dont care who I piss off but you leave some of the dumbest posts Ive ever seen. Why do you bother writing this useless crap?

lobster
03-10-2006, 22:53
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">the AT hikers would keep that path nicely worn and if it gets too overgrown than folks will just have to carry hatchets, loppers, etc.</TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The Desperado
03-10-2006, 23:57
This idea is lower than whale poop ! I cant believe I even read it! No maintenance on the trail, good greif!!

Old Spice
03-11-2006, 00:13
(_|_) please stop

Is this supposed to be an ass mooning someone? Just curious.

sleepwalker
03-11-2006, 00:41
as a matter of fact I wish everone would stop maintaining everything and the world would go wild...such a bad thing, I think not. Just imagine what a place this would be.

Tin Man
03-11-2006, 08:22
as a matter of fact I wish everone would stop maintaining everything and the world would go wild...such a bad thing, I think not. Just imagine what a place this would be.

That's true. If Troll stopped maintaining this web site, the site would fail and we wouldn't have to listen to this garbage.

Peaks
03-11-2006, 08:54
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!

For one thing, thru-hikers are a very small minority of people who use the AT. Most people who use the AT are short term hikers.

Why not answer your own question by going out and hiking an old section of the AT that has been relocated and abandoned.

mrmike48/4000
03-11-2006, 09:24
just make belive we are back in the 1920s or so and try and bushwack from springer to katahdin. you might make it within 9months to a year and also add many more miles to the thruhike..only the strong will survive!!!no trail maintenance, cmon...wait i have the answer go hike along the rte 95 corridor they always have trail maintenance going on over there.....:welcome

Mountain Man
03-11-2006, 10:25
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!

You are joking, Right?

kab21
03-11-2006, 11:22
Although the more natural trail would have an appeal to it, the soon to be multiple trails bushwacked from GA to ME would greatly increase erosion (and lose the appeal). I remember reading an article about the increase in popularity of the colorado 14'ers and erosion taking place near the top. I'm in favor of one AT superhighway. I do however draw the limit at paving the trail...

What a great discussion instigated by the lobster...

Tin Man
03-11-2006, 14:00
I do however draw the limit at paving the trail...

I agree. Pavement is too hard on the feet. I advocate carpeting the trail and installing escalators for the steepest sections.

longshank
03-11-2006, 14:06
Movies on demand at every shelter.

longshank
03-11-2006, 14:15
Seriously, though, if nobodoy's caring for the trail, Then who will be able to protect it from greedy gov. lobbyists who want to lay down a highway or put up a strip mall?

Stoker53
03-11-2006, 16:43
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!


Why would you want to lower the number of AT starters? Of course I'm assuming that your post is serious and not just another example of your typical juvenile behavior here on WB.:-?

Ridge
03-11-2006, 16:54
To lower the number of AT starters and lessen the % of AT finishers!

The number of attempted/completed thru-hikers would be a small percentage as compared to the total number of weekenders, day and group users.

Peaks
03-11-2006, 17:48
Have you every tried to hike a badly overgrown trail? Easier said than done. In the spruce, it can be an unpleasant fight.

Disney
03-11-2006, 18:08
Why do you do this stuff? It might be something to bring up with your therapist.

"I annoy people on purpose. I don't know why. But on the plus side, they've given me a nickname: Moosecock. I think that means they like me."

MOWGLI
03-11-2006, 18:57
Should trail maintenance be discontinued?

No, but I'm beginning to think that Lobster's posting privledges should be.

MacGyver2005
03-11-2006, 19:01
the AT hikers would keep that path nicely worn and if it gets too overgrown than folks will just have to carry hatchets, loppers, etc.

If they are carrying hatchets, loppers, etc. then they would be maintaining the trail you dumb moosecock waste of bandwidth. Make up your mind.

Regards,
-MacGyver
GA-->ME

mrmike48/4000
03-11-2006, 19:47
trail maintainers are a must. just think of all those blow downs we cross during a hike into almost any part of the country. if the trail crew were nohelp then there would be many more blowdowns to go around[ruin area near blow down] or over..all im saying is that those darn blow downs are a real bummer when the hiking pace seems to be at a good level..its nice when you can just cruise down or up a trail with no interfernce..whatever the case any day on the trail is always better than a day at the job....

lobster
03-11-2006, 19:56
MacGyver,

Nice words of wisdom from the peanut gallery! Not official maintainers with hatchets, but just regular hikers using these implements when need be. Hikers have been known to carry a hatchet.

walkin' wally
03-11-2006, 21:07
Seriously, if anyone wants to help out on an 11 mile round ( each day) trail maintaining trip at Rainbow Lake Maine this spring around the first part of May or late April get in touch with me with a PM or E-Mail. It would be nice to have someone along.
Reports coming in now to the Maine AT Club say we have an inordinate number of blowdowns in Maine from the unusually high winds this past winter. This 'may' take two days of clearing this year for 3.7 miles of trail. I'll be staying at Rainbow Stream.
Some wading shoes and warm clothes and camping gear and are needed. I can supply some P.P.E.

No bugs, no hikers :D

Teatime
03-12-2006, 11:21
My son watches Spongebob Squarepants. There is a starfish character named Patrick who is portrayed as an idiot. However, I would say Patrick is smarter than one other ocean critter, lobster.
There are dedicated volunteers who spend a lot of their free time lovingly taking care of the trail. They don't do it for money or fame. They get little recoginition and I think a lot of ingrattitude (i.e. lobster). Yet, there would be no trail without them, plain and simple. Thanks to all the maintainers. Maybe I will get off my butt some day and join you, as all of us should.

betic4lyf
03-12-2006, 11:37
it was indeed supposed to be an rump, showing my distaste for this, and many others of lobsters comments. i am personally not a comic book hero, and while my avatar is just one of the ones available, i am indeed a super hero

lobster
03-12-2006, 12:53
"My son watches Spongebob Squarepants. There is a starfish character named Patrick who is portrayed as an idiot. However, I would say Patrick is smarter than one other ocean critter, lobster.
There are dedicated volunteers who spend a lot of their free time lovingly taking care of the trail. They don't do it for money or fame. They get little recoginition and I think a lot of ingrattitude (i.e. lobster). "

Nice post. i don't remember myself calling anybody names.

By the way, when did I ever show ingratitude to trail maintainers?

Ridge
03-12-2006, 20:26
Seriously, if anyone wants to help out on an 11 mile round ( each day) trail maintaining trip at Rainbow Lake Maine this spring around the first part of May or late April get in touch with me with a PM or E-Mail. It would be nice to have someone along.
Reports coming in now to the Maine AT Club say we have an inordinate number of blowdowns in Maine from the unusually high winds this past winter. This 'may' take two days of clearing this year for 3.7 miles of trail. I'll be staying at Rainbow Stream.
Some wading shoes and warm clothes and camping gear and are needed. I can supply some P.P.E.

No bugs, no hikers :D

Contact the local Boy Scout Groups, Boys Homes, etc. Merit badges can be earned for the work Scouts do on the trail.

MacGyver2005
03-12-2006, 22:00
Contact the local Boy Scout Groups, Boys Homes, etc. Merit badges can be earned for the work Scouts do on the trail.

And what merit badge would that be? I cannot think of any that have a trail work requirement. Perhaps you are thinking of rank advancement, as that does hinge on community service.

Regards,
-MacGyver
GA-->ME

AbeHikes
03-13-2006, 13:18
I just started laughing when I saw the thread title.

I'm waiting for "Should all AT hikers be required to carry an extra 13lbs. in their packs?" or "Should footwear be outlawed?"

Ridge
06-16-2006, 12:21
Ask the folks at the BMT, or the AT, what happened when Opel came thru back in the 90's. No Trail Maintenance will eventually = NO hiking.

mingo
06-16-2006, 12:32
you people are showing once again that you are pampered lot. you think you cannot hike on un-maintained trails? many wilderness areas don't allow maintenance, blazes, signs or anything else that smacks of civilizaton. hiking continues in these places. it does reduce the number of yahoos but that's a good thing.

Ridge
06-16-2006, 12:46
With the volume of hikers going around blow downs, making trails everywhere before long you would have to have a Search and Rescue team at every trail head. Wilderness areas are a different situation than the AT interstate.

dreamhiker
06-16-2006, 13:02
If you want to find areas to hike with little or no trails they are still out there. So if thats what you are looking for it can be found I grew up in Alaska and started hiking there at a young age. we would just start of into the woods with a compass and see how far we could get. However as I understand it the AT was designed so all could walk it who wanted to so the maintaning should continue. And without the Hiking comunity fighting the gov and industry there would be no AT in under 20 years or it would be pushed into Indiana. So thanks to all those who mantain the trail. And if its bushwaking your looking for go to Alaska,WA,OR,MT,ID or BC just to name a few and you will find it.
DreamHiker

hacksaw
06-17-2006, 10:02
California....As I recall from my days at Camp Pendleton the green stuff that grows out from the ground is less likely to reach maturity than a seal pup in a heard of killer whales. No maintenance might fly on the left coast but if you try that s..t in our temperate rain forests along the appalachian ridges you end up with impassable Laurel Thickets and Blackberry patches and in five years even with people hiking an unmaintained trail there ain't no trail no more. DUUUHHH!

Shoot, we even maintain our back roads down here in the south lest the KUDZU swallow whole communities in a single season! I've seen instances where the State DOT parked their machines near the Kudzu on Friday and came back on Monday only to find them so entwined in the viscious weed that they had to be abandoned..no one wanted to risk cutting them loose!

Soooo, Left Coast Lobster(ick!), yeah, maybe the CDT or PCT but the AT? Not hardly.

Just trying to throw a little reality at that absurdity.

TIDE-HSV
06-17-2006, 19:44
of off-trail hiking in the Apps, I thought the original thread proposition was worth the horse laugh it's received. I've hiked all the major ridges and drainages in the Smokies and a lot of the cross trails. I lack Hyatt Ridge. In the late 80s, my wife separated a shoulder skiing and was forced to become more sedentary. We purchased a travel trailer and rented a site on the Quallah Boundary, leaving me with good hiking access to the south side of the park and an easy drive to the Chatooga for kayaking. I then made the discovery that the park had closed the Hyatt Ridge trail in the mid- 70s. The HQ gave me the OK to try it. It was humanly impassable. Most of the AT would be the same within a few years without maintenance...

coldspring
06-17-2006, 20:24
I just got into trail maintenance this winter on the Ozark Trail in Missouri. Trust me, you want to maintain the trails. I rehabilitated at least 20 miles of trail, by myself. It took several trips and walk-thrus just to find some parts of the trail. Hardly anyone ever hiked these parts, it seemed. After trimming over 5 years of brush growth, dead wood removal, and then leaf blowing the trails because the leaves weren't packed down like a trail is supposed to be, the stretches look totally different, are easy to hike, and people can actually find the trail to walk on it. There are parts that all I had time to do was run a leafblower over to make the trial recognizable. I still have more to work on this winter, if I don't get help from the trail association. Ugh!

Ridge
06-17-2006, 21:10
I remember Earl Shaffer talking about the difficulty he had in areas on his first thru due to the blow downs, inadequate blazing etc.. Of course this was the AT in its infancy; all taken care of now.

Dances with Mice
06-17-2006, 21:26
I remember Earl Shaffer talking about the difficulty he had in areas on his first thru due to the blow downs, inadequate blazing etc.. Of course this was the AT in its infancy; all taken care of now.This is paraphrased from "Friendships of the Trail", a book about the history of the GATC.

When the southern terminus was moved the GATC removed the blazes and drug branches and other natural debris to close the footpath from Mt. Oglethorpe to Amicalola. After that was done they forgot about the old Trail.

A year or so later a troop of Boy Scouts showed up to hike the AT from Oglethorpe north. Communications being slower back then, they hadn't heard that the terminus had been relo'd. They were upset about the condition of the trail: it was overgrown, unblazed, and often blocked. So doing their Good Turn and community service, they set about enthusiastically clearing and re-blazing the Trail, making several more weekend trips to complete the job. Then they wrote a very nice note to the GATC proudly informing the Club about all their efforts.

It must have been so hard to tell the Scouts what they'd done.

weary
06-17-2006, 22:07
California.......No maintenance might fly on the left coast but if you try that s..t in our temperate rain forests along the appalachian ridges you end up with impassable Laurel Thickets and Blackberry patches and in five years even with people hiking an unmaintained trail there ain't no trail no more. DUUUHHH! ......
And the same is true, Hacksaw, in the spruce-fir thickets of the north. When Congress decreed that the trail location be established for all time, MATC relocated 2/3rds of the trail in Maine in order to get the trail out of the valleys and onto the high ridges.

I took part in scouting the relocation route along the ridges between Gulf Hagas mountain and the White Cap summit. It was only three or four miles, but I never put in a harder day in the mountains.

We followed moose trails wherever possible. But otherwise the route was solid overgrown spruce-fir thickets. Our maximum speed was about a half mile an hour. Average speed was considerably less.

A few years later I took over maintaining a mile of the new section. Though the trail had been cut only about eight years earlier, the first maintainer did only marginal brush cutting. As a result the thicket had moved in so heavily that it was almost like our scouting trip a second time. The footpath was totally obscured.

Weary

hacksaw
06-18-2006, 11:15
And the same is true, Hacksaw, in the spruce-fir thickets of the north. When Congress decreed that the trail location be established for all time, MATC relocated 2/3rds of the trail in Maine in order to get the trail out of the valleys and onto the high ridges.

I took part in scouting the relocation route along the ridges between Gulf Hagas mountain and the White Cap summit. It was only three or four miles, but I never put in a harder day in the mountains.

We followed moose trails wherever possible. But otherwise the route was solid overgrown spruce-fir thickets. Our maximum speed was about a half mile an hour. Average speed was considerably less.

A few years later I took over maintaining a mile of the new section. Though the trail had been cut only about eight years earlier, the first maintainer did only marginal brush cutting. As a result the thicket had moved in so heavily that it was almost like our scouting trip a second time. The footpath was totally obscured.

Weary
Dang, Weary! That must have been some work!
A few years ago on another site that shall remain nameless lest we dredge deamons, I asked how come you were called Weary. Sir, there is no longer any doubt why!

weary
06-18-2006, 15:01
Dang, Weary! That must have been some work!
A few years ago on another site that shall remain nameless lest we dredge deamons, I asked how come you were called Weary. Sir, there is no longer any doubt why!
I've told the story before, but my warmup hike for the AT was a 1991 traverse of Maine with a nine-year-old grandson. He was enthralled with the idea of having a trail name and asked every thru hiker we met for a name.

One finally suggested "The Weary Wanderer." Since Jon wasn't very good at reading and writing, I took to signing the registers, "The Weary Wanderers."
When I headed south in 1993 it was just natural to sign registers, "The Weary Wanderer," which quickly got shortened to "Weary."

fishinfred
06-18-2006, 17:04
A few years ago .....
My knee blew out and I was laid up at Kincora for a couple days ,I had no idea what went into Trail Maintenance.Mother Nature and Smokestack happened in and I spent the day listening to them and Bob Peoples sharing "War Stories" of work on the Trail..... NO CHAINSAWS in their areas EVEN IF A HURRICANE KNOCKED DOWN A HUNDRED TREES.... IMAGINE!
Needless to say "its no picnic" for them and ALL Maintainers especially after major storms....but they always seem to get it done! Usually without any recognition or outside support.
I SUPPORT Maintainers and the work they do! Heres a NEW Sticker inspired from these threads ....:rolleyes:
This ones for ALL YOU Maintainers and will be listed with the others I have going with 50% going to the ATCs Trail Maintenance Fund.

http://fredor111.tripod.com/516ea300.jpg

Get one at my Ebay Store <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 VSPACE="0" HSPACE="0"><TBODY><TR><TD height=11></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 VSPACE="0" HSPACE="0"><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>http://stores.ebay.com/Hiker-Stuff-by-Fishinfred (http://stores.ebay.com/Hiker-Stuff-by-Fishinfred)</TD></TR><TR><TD height=11></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Or email me .
I have to relist the Fundraiser Stickers tonight and will add this one and I'll be knockin off the Shipping fees too! :D
For those who don't care for Trail Maintenance....
HAPPY BUSHWACKIN!
Fishinfred

TIDE-HSV
06-20-2006, 21:46
hiking out west. It's almost like navigating at sea. With a map and compass, trails are almost irrelevant. I don't know if the thread originator is a native westerner or not, but I do know that people who've grown up around the Appalachians understand that lack of trail maintenance, for any length of time, equals no trail at all. It's as simple as that...