RE: [pct-l] St. Helens

["Reynolds, Tom" <reynolds@ilan.com>]

They put solar toilets in on the Whitney Trail also. Unfortunately they
couldn't handle the 150 people per day load. When they became overloaded
they were closed. The dayhikers solution was to smear their shit all over
the area.

The $15 dollar fee is new. Previously the fee mostly just covered the cost
of issuing the daily permits. At $100 a pop we could treat the Mt. Whitney
trail like Disneyland -- A continuous army of workers following around the
hikers to clean up after them. The operator of the now closed campground
[the one who was losing money at $10 per day per site because of cleanup
costs] said [only somewhat in jest] that this was the only solution.

Improperly installed toilets aside, the $30 Adventure Pass seems to be
working in LA. Interestingly, the pass is required to park your car in the
forest. This way casual users who stop for a quick beer break have to pay or
not use the area.

Obviously, the fee system in your area is NOT working. Otherwise the trail
would be paved in gold by now.


* From the PCT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

==============================================================================