Baxter State Park - New permit requirements for A.T. hikers

IMScotty wrote:

But really Datto, cannot we all just try to get along.

AnotherKevin wrote:

It's also a good time to be keeping a low profile.

With the AT being so very popular, the government will be looking to sell it off to private concerns who can try to make a buck off it. And there's already been an accounting rules change passed so that the government doesn't need to assess the capital value of the land - all NPS, USFS and BLM land is carried on the books at a $0.00 basis.

Expect that if enough attention is brought to the issue, it will be solved by "letting the market handle it." In other words, the government will just give it away to some corporation to try to run for profit.

Datto wrote:

Here's why being soft with Bissell & Company will never work.

Bissell has been an AT Hiker-Hater for a decade. He's the Anti-AT Hiker. He is making the ATC Leadership, the nice guys, look like fools. That is his long-term plan in order to cement his glorious legacy -- he wants to be known as the guy who kicked the AT out of Baxter to preserve it only for the people from Maine (Outsiders Not Welcome Here). His predecessor was the same and I witnessed aggressive, severe anti-AT ranting behavior for no reason -- on more than one occasion from that previous maniac. Both have been / are determined to ruin the AT -- both are cut of the same cloth. The current rube up north is just a little more cagey than his predecessor but certainly of the same ilk. The ATC is just now, just recently, trying to come to terms all of this. Finally.

Q: Why does the ATC keep hitting itself in the leg?
A: It feels good when they stop.


Here's why being soft with the ATC Leadership won't likely work.

The people who compose the leadership of the ATC are very naive and easy manipulated. I don't mean the ATC Leadership is dumb. Rather they're just not worldly in dealing with podunk maniacs and Bohemian corporal wannabees. That's why the ATC is being spun around like a marionette by Bissell & Company. It's become so apparent during the last year+ since I first made the claim Bissell & Company is trying to ruin the AT. Even more so today -- at an accelerated rate. Bissell's probably coming up on his idea of retirement soon and he doesn't want to leave office until the AT is kicked out of Baxter. There is a hint -- just a hint -- the ATC may be realizing this is true and the ramifications of what that may mean. There is no time to lose -- Bissell has already shown he can easily fool the ATC Leadership so there can not be any let-up on getting the ATC Leadership in gear to take a stand and Protect The Appalachian Trail. The ATC Leadership must make handling the "Bissell Situation" (it's not really a Baxter situation) their Number One Priority for 2017 and move quickly to prevent Bissell from trying to destroy the Appalachian Trail in the north.

Here's why retaining Katahdin as the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail the only option for the ATC Leadership to consider.

The weak will always believe doing the right thing is too difficult.

1) There is huge (Yuge?) legal precedent and case to be made by the ATC / Justice Department proving a permanent specific easement has already been granted to the ATC, the Appalachian Trail and to AT hikers. This easement granting -- both tacitly as well as explicitly -- by Baxter State Park has been in place for more than seventy years. Only recently (the last 16+ years) has favoritism been given to Maine residents over AT hikers and implicit disgust been shown categorically toward AT hikers, for no other widespread reason than:

a) Bissell doesn't like AT hikers of any type and thus wishes to ruin the Appalachian Trail and prevent AT hikers from utilizing the permanent easement of the Appalachian Trail through Baxter.
b) Bissell has unnecessary control-freak personality issues with AT hikers for no good reason and consistently over-reacts to anything AT related in order to diminish the role of the Appalachian Trail within Baxter State Park.
c) Bissell is trying to make a name for himself with his cronies. He's wanting great fame and accolades from Maine Residents for having lived his meager life at a sacrifice and the destroying of the AT through Baxter is his chance to gain that fame and notoriety. All at the expense of AT hikers, the ATC Leadership and the Appalachian Trail.

This proves categorically the problem is not with Baxter State Park -- the problem is Bissell (and his cronies).

By the way, this entire situation really isn't about AT thru-hikers -- their actual true numbers are insignificant. Bissell is deliberately making numbers up about AT thru-hikers with no valid measurement. See (as I remember) the March 2016 Outside Magazine of Bissell shooting his mouth off quoting completely laughable quantities of AT thru-hikers in order to inflate what he believes to be the cause of all his woes. Of course, mosquitoes, black flies and rain are all caused by AT thru-hikers. Everyone knows that, right?

2) The Appalachian Trail is the greatest footpath in the world and a national treasure of the United States. Any organization -- Bissell or otherwise -- attempting to undermine that value will be looked upon with great disdain by the courts. Bissell won't have a case if the ATC Leadership will just grow a spine and stand up to the ignorant clod.

3) If the ATC Leadership abandons Katahdin -- The Greatest Mountain, the highest point in Maine dominating the horizon -- and trots out the lipsticked-box-of-rocks replacement, here's the blow-back directly onto the ATC Leadership:

a) AT hikers and activists will see abandoning Katahdin as an egregious act of negligence by the ATC Leadership. That act alone will translate into increased future conflict between hikers and the ATC and will significantly reduce long-term membership. While some vocal old-timers (here and elsewhere) may not care because they'll likely be passing on soon, people in their twenties and early thirties -- the recognized future for the ATC -- are going to see the ATC as a Blackberry. Directionless, leaderless, certainly spineless and conflict-ridden. It's dead Jim -- it'll be a way worse impact on the ATC and the Appalachian Trail than the future facing the golf course industry in America.

b) If the ATC Leadership abandons Katahdin, every single stinking tinhorn park ranger and land owner is going to see how weak and spineless the ATC has become and begin their own efforts to make themselves notable and famous. Hey, if that chump Bissell can get away with it, maybe my own park ranger status can be inflated all the way to fame too ! Then when it's time to negotiate / renegotiate leases and property costs and who knows, down to janitorial services maybe -- everyone is going to see an available piece of the pie from the ATC and begin pursuing it. It'll greatly weaken the ATC's bargaining position(s) in the future. All this because some dolt park ranger up north wants to become famous at the expense of the ATC and with the compromise of the Appalachian Trail. It'd be outright madness for the ATC Leadership to abandon Katahdin as the northern terminus. It'd just be so much easier to put Bissell into his place, make him gladly do what is expected and call it a day. Maybe have lunch catered in too.

c) Money is not the problem -- the ATC is rolling in money -- millions. If the ATC isn't going to use a little of that money for this cause, what the heck is all the wad of cash for? Gold plated donut dunkers at the staff meetings? Protect the Appalachian Trail -- that's one of the primary missions of the ATC Leadership. Use the money. Take the gloves off.

d) Moving the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail to some other undermined location would be expensive for the ATC to undertake (and a needless undertaking at that). It'd be considerably easier and less costly to just show Bissell & Company who's boss, keep the AT ending at Baxter Peak on Katahdin and spend the savings on efforts like trail maintenance or keeping the AT Databook up-to-date and accurate.

Who has the rye and pickles?

Datto

Datto wrote:

IMScotty wrote:

But really Datto, cannot we all just try to get along.

The ATC Leadership has enough information, opinion and remarks on their website, here and elsewhere to make the right decision. Not much else can be done -- it has become a question of will and leadership for the ATC. Thanks for the interesting debate.

Datto

AnotherKevin wrote:

With the AT being so very popular, the government will be looking to sell it off to private concerns who can try to make a buck off it.