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  1. #1

    Default New AMC campsite discount policy

    Last year, the AMC started a program where if you were staying at multiple AMC campsites, you could get a discount card after paying the full price ($10) at the first site. Then it's $5.00 a site the rest of the way.

    This year they changed the policy so that only "thru hikers" get the discount and to qualify as a thru hiker you have to start and finish 50 miles beyond AMC country, the same qualifications the GSMNP has.

    I suppose they lost too much money last year to short section hikers only staying at 2 sites.
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  2. #2
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    Any chance that they are instituting the fees in part to discourage overuse?
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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    Any chance that they are instituting the fees in part to discourage overuse?
    No, nothing will discourage overuse. I suspect they found too many people taking advantage of the discount for multiple site stays and they decided allowing short section hikers to take advantage of it was a money loosing proposition.
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    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    Last year, the AMC started a program where if you were staying at multiple AMC campsites, you could get a discount card after paying the full price ($10) at the first site. Then it's $5.00 a site the rest of the way.

    This year they changed the policy so that only "thru hikers" get the discount and to qualify as a thru hiker you have to start and finish 50 miles beyond AMC country, the same qualifications the GSMNP has.

    I suppose they lost too much money last year to short section hikers only staying at 2 sites.

    Are you sure about this?

    Last year the AMC promoted the discount you mentioned as a special program for Thru Hikers. Possible they extended the discount to everyone, I suppose.

    Seems sneaky if this was not something for needy thru hikers.

    No question you correct that the regular staffed campsite fee does not not cover the full cost of the caretaker and maintenance. The shortfall (about 50% of the cost) is subsidized by memeber dues and the monies some people pay to stay at the huts.

    Here was last year’s announcement (copied from the WB home page)



    Published on 03-06-2017 18:03

    Dear Thru -Hikers,

    This year the AMC Campsite Program is excited to roll out a Thru-Hiker Pass program. Geared toward any traditional North bounder, South bounder or section hiker this pass offers a handsome discount through the AMC campsites in the White Mountains. After you spend your first night at one of our sites, every site after that is 50% off at $5.00 a night. Whether you’re crushing it through the Whites and only end up staying at 3 sites or taking your time over the rough terrain and stay at all 9 sites, this pass offers a significant discount. Not to mention with the purchase of the pass you will receive a punch card for two free baked goods and a free bowl of soup redeemable at any AMC hut. Need a headlamp? Extra batteries? By presenting the card at any hut or AMC Trading Post you will receive 10% off any merchandise. In the AMC campsite program we never turn anyone away so you will always have a place to stay at the site, guaranteed. At each site we have bear boxes to store food, durable flat camping areas and a reliable water source. When talking with past thru hikers we realize there are challenges the thru hiker community faces and we hope this pass will mitigate some of those struggles. This pass can be purchased at any of our sites along the AT. When it is time for the caretaker to register you for the night, just mention you are a thru hiker and you will be given the pass. First night is standard pricing at $10.00 and every night after that is 50% off at just $5.00.

    ...


  5. #5
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    On further reflection, the AMC probably thought that the term “section hiker” was well understood by all.

    No doubt, people like me up for a long weekend represented themselves as one.

    Probably good to clarify so there are no hard feelings.

  6. #6

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    I was personally told that last week by a AMC caretaker when I asked for the discount card. She asked where did I start (the Perch on Mt Adams) and where I was going (Franconia notch was the plan at the time) and she said I didn't qualify. New policy this year. I haven't checked their web site to see if it was updated with this new requirement or not.
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  7. #7

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    I don’t understand why thru hikers should get special treatment on cost.
    Last edited by gpburdelljr; 06-28-2018 at 13:24.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    On further reflection, the AMC probably thought that the term “section hiker” was well understood by all.
    I surely don't understand it. It seems to mean more than that you're hiking a section of the trail?
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    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gpburdelljr View Post
    I don’t understand why thru hikers should get special treatment on cost.
    For decades a great many thru hikers have had a chip on their shoulders when it comes to the AMC.

    Whether the reasons for this are real or imagined, who can really say?

    Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of what all the club does, struggling with the idea that the Huts are so dang expensive, or the absurdity of competing with fellow hikers for the dubious pleasure of a “work for stay”. Or maybe thru hikers brains and social skills just go to mush after being on he trail for so long.

    But the “whys” hardly matter — fact is there is an undercurrent of resentment among quite a few thru hikers.

    So I am thinking this program is the Club’s way of extending a hand, and a virtual hug.

    That is a good thing, I think. Sort of like the self-actualized patriach extends a bit of good and generosity will towards his black sheep nephew at a a holiday gathering— because in the end, it’s all about love within the family.

    Right?

  10. #10
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Another Kevin View Post
    I surely don't understand it. It seems to mean more than that you're hiking a section of the trail?
    In the context of the announcement, I would think “section hiker” meant someone who was hiking a fairly large chunk of th AT — or with the focus of hiking many sections of the trail over time.

    Rather than some like me out for a long weekend in a popular stretch of trail.

    Otherwise, isn’t everyone who hikes on the AT a section hiker?

    Litterally, yes.

    But not really, right?

  11. #11
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    Anyone hiking the Crawford path doing a Presidential Traverse is a sectionhiker, but not really. It is kind of ambiguous, the way it was worded. Way too many dayhikers in the Whites that coincidentally hike the AT and use the campsites. I do both. I'm an AMC, RMC, ATC, MATC member. I'll use the discount because I have no money left due to membership fees

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    Most thru hikers don't take the deal anyway. Nothing to do with the money. There are only a few shelters worth stopping at. They are too far off trail or not spaced correctly for thru hikers. The majority go for work for stay at huts, if not available they stealth it. The problem is that thru hikers acquire an attitude well before hitting the White's that the AMC is a bunch of crooks. This image is what the AMC was attempting to fix by offering the reduced cost for thru's in the first place. I always ask them, where did you stay in the White's? What was your plan? What I get is, bunk houses in the gaps, work for stay at huts, and stealth.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    In the context of the announcement, I would think “section hiker” meant someone who was hiking a fairly large chunk of th AT — or with the focus of hiking many sections of the trail over time.

    Rather than some like me out for a long weekend in a popular stretch of trail.

    Otherwise, isn’t everyone who hikes on the AT a section hiker?

    Litterally, yes.

    But not really, right?
    OK, I'm not arguing - but the only thing that's clear about the term 'section hiker' is that it isn't clear without an auxiliary definition. Besides, on my longest hike thus far (137 miles - is that long enough to be a 'section'? It was a thru-hike of a lesser trail), it seemed as if I was hiking for three or four long weekends, and it appears that the typical resupply interval for an AT hiker is little more than a long weekend. Does thinking of a long hike hike as a lot of long weekends back-to-back eventually change?

    That said, if AMC wants to say "starting or ending the trip more than 50 miles away", fine! That's an objective standard. (I'd prefer an objective standard of just starting the trip more than the requisite distance, because otherwise some bureaucrat someday will see a profit opportunity in fining someone who has an accident and has to get off trail without finishing the section. AMC wouldn't do that, but NH might!)

    I've nothing against AMC. I'm not a member, because I don't often hike in AMC country. I spend my hiking club membership dues closer to home, supporting NYNJTC, ADK and Long Path North Hiking Club. All the clubs do good work, but if I'm going to throw some money in the kitty, I'd just as soon spend it on ones who are doing good work near me. (Sorry, Cosmo!)

    It costs a lot of money to run AMC, because AMC is a land conservancy as well as a hiking club. And that's valuable, too. I don't begrudge the fees.

    It seems as if NH is sometimes overrun with regulations, but those are USFS, state of NH, Dartmouth College, ... AMC just communicates them, it doesn't make them.
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