[Cdt-l] A grand proposal

[Sean Staplin]

On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 10:52 PM, Sean Staplin <seanstaplin at gmail.com>wrote:

> Travis, I like your take. I am planning on hiking the CDT in the next
> couple of years and what attracts me to the CDT is the uncertainty and
> organic nature of the experience it offers. I would much rather follow a
> compass bearing than look through the woods for another piece of flagging
> tape.
>
> Cheers
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 10:18 PM, Travis Naibert <tnaibert at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Though I like the idea of trail maintenance and trail markers in some
>> locations (such as meadows with no obvious exit point, unmapped
>> 4x4/ATV road intersections, etc.) I would be horrified to hike the CDT
>> and see neon tape in the trees every 100 yards. I just hiked the trail
>> last year, so I don't consider myself an old traditionalist, but one
>> of the great things about the CDT is that it is not the type of trail
>> that you plug in your ipod/pick a lunch spot exactly X.X miles
>> away/put your map away/and walk zombielike (well, except for the road
>> walks). The best part about it is that it is a participatory adventure
>> involving constant attention to the landscape and to the
>> maps/guidebooks (shout out to Ley and Wolf, thanks!). And, no offense
>> to Lynne or anybody else, but if you think that <60 hikers a year
>> walking through an area following tape is going to create a permanent
>> trail in the arid rockies you are mistaken. The reason that the trail
>> is so hard to find in many places, even those that the forest
>> service/BLM has "maintained", is the low number of hikers that
>> actually hike the trail. This includes very low numbers of day/weekend
>> hikers on many parts of the trail. I, for one, consider that part of
>> the appeal of the CDT and don't mind the bushwacking that may be
>> required often. If I wanted a well manicured trail that is well
>> trodden I would repeat my PCT hike, which is packed down by hundreds
>> of thru-hikers and thousands of day/weekenders, instead of just a few
>> dozen people a year.
>>
>> The other problem with neon tape is that in some places it will
>> attract the wrong kind of use (ATVs, Dirtbikes, etc.)
>>
>> I do really like the wiki idea though. This past year Freebie made a
>> CDT 2011 facebook page and most of the SOBOs were on it and some NOBOs
>> too. We all posted trail conditions, water info, town
>> conditions/restaurant and hotel deals, etc. It was neat to get to town
>> and see what the people ahead of you were posting. I think this would
>> be cool on a wikipedia page, as it could get updated year to year.
>>
>> I have a "lesser proposal" than Lynne's adopt-a-section. What if the
>> CDTS sent a half dozen CDT emblems to each hiker who orders a
>> guidebook or becomes a member and then people could "adopt" one or two
>> or six difficult and/or unmarked trail junctions while they are hiking
>> by putting up an emblem. This way the route would organically become
>> less difficult without having to see neon tape all over the place. I
>> carry a sharpie when i hike to make notes for other hikers if needed.
>> It would be useful for writing alternate route junctions on the CDT
>> markers, too.
>>
>> Suspect (2011)
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>>
>
>
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