[Cdt-l] A grand proposal

[Brett]

A few thoughts about "the grand proposal" -

First, thinking outside the box is always a good start. Thanks for that.

Trail maintenance can be a tough sell to thru-hikers during their journey, yet ironically that's when it could do much good, since it's the thru-hikers who patrol the entire trail and its various corridors most intensively, and the thru-hikers coming along behind you that year stand most to benefit from it. The best approach would be to coordinate efforts so everyone does a small but important share of the work, but that kind of coordination is even less likely to get off the ground. Thru-hiking the CDT is a commitment unto itself.

Rogue maintenance of this sort is usually limited to brushing and felling small limbs. Sometimes this can help to better define the corridor, but often it's second fiddle to more substantial work like tread improvement or even realignment, which is beyond the scope of the solo or small, mobile group outing. 

Cairning is generally preferable to flagging, at least if the cairns are built large enough to be visible over longer distances (when necessary). Flagging is the fast and dirty approach, but most flagging tape won't survive more than a year or two in the sun or cold, so it takes a continuous effort to mark the trail this way, ultimately adding up to more man hours that could be better spent elsewhere. Then there's the aesthetic concern, at least along a trail that historically hasn't been marked that way, at least with any regularity. Flagging can sometimes be useful on obscure sections of singletrack trail, especially at junctions. But it's best limited to the purpose of resolving genuine "WTF" moments, where you're not marking the trail "just because" but out of reasonable assumption that the next hiker would not enjoy the hell you just endured trying to figure out where to go. These worst-case situations are increasingly rare along the CDT, as hikers
 increasingly make all the mistakes there are to make and then report them to Jonathan and the guidebook authors, etc.

Signing, as opposed to either cairning or flagging, avoids all ambiguity about what the markings might mean. Flagging, especially, is notoriously generic in nature, usually blaze orange, and might mark anything from the CDT to a surveyor's line for a property boundary. How do you know? You don't, unless it's marked with some identifying words or symbols. And what if the next hiker isn't using the same color tape? CDT-specific signing, such as the official tree blaze emblems or carsonite posts, resolve any ambiguity, but who would have the authority to put these up? Probably not you or me. And for good reason: we might not mark the correct route, which in this case would obviously be limited to the official route promoted by the CDTA and recognized by federal agencies. Based on how often hikers end up going their own way, either by choice or force, confidence in outsourcing this task to anyone that doesn't operate at the glacially slow pace of federal
 bureaucracy would probably be ruled unfit for duty.

Thru-hikers and other knowledgeable and passionate trail advocates can certainly play a bigger role in developing and maintaining the CDT. But without an organization grubstaking work events with manpower and equipment, serving as liaison to the federal agencies that oversee the trail corridor, and getting people from the surrounding communities actively involved in the process, there's a heck of a lot of inertia standing in our way. Probably the same inertia that left the CDTA poor and disillusioned. The remoteness of the CDT, and the combination of rugged individualism, quirky tribalism, and laissez-fair that defines the nature of the trail's most eager advocates and users, all conspire against a well-grounded, grassroots campaign to get the trail fully off the ground in the way of the PCT or AT. Some of the CDT's most shining attributes keep the notion of taming it, even in ways many of us might appreciate, ever elusive.

--- On Thu, 1/19/12, cdt-l-request at backcountry.net <cdt-l-request at backcountry.net> wrote:

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:18:29 -0700
From: Travis Naibert <tnaibert at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] A grand proposal
To: cdt-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID:
    <CADU6-wbtkDdem+AfmnNmX6tZBquxA-faS1GOLHxdORFfQUJAaw at mail.gmail.com>
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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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