Oregon Hikers

Great, another one to add to the list alongside James Koch in Warrendale.

adamschneider wrote: ↑

March 23rd, 2019, 3:03 pm

(And I'll be armed with the attached GPX file, showing the exact boundaries of the state park.)

Where does this GPX boundary come from? Though close it is not a precise match to ORWA_BLM_Carto_Basemap.

Webfoot wrote: ↑

March 26th, 2019, 7:35 am

Where does this GPX boundary come from? Though close it is not a precise match to ORWA_BLM_Carto_Basemap.

I traced it from Klickitat County GIS data. I noticed that it doesn't line up perfectly with the BLM maps... but I'm gonna defer to the County. For one thing, they're the ones in charge of keeping track of property lines and such, and for another, I've spot-checked it with aerial photos in some places where the County and the BLM data don't line up, and the County data lines up better with fences and tree lines.

Webfoot wrote: ↑

March 26th, 2019, 7:20 am

Great, another one to add to the list alongside James Koch in Warrendale.

...and Oren Johnson and his Lyle lynch mob.

"It goes on day and night. You don’t want to go out in a yard at night because you don’t know what’s going on. You can see bikers taking their clothes off with those spandex shorts on, get on their bikes, and go up the trail. You don’t want it in your neighborhood."

SPANDEX?! The horror...

"Go to the trailhead and see that those license plates are from Oregon. They’re not Washingtonians, they’re not Lyle residents."

Foreigners! Interlopers! My god, if I ever see a Washington license plate on "our" side of the Gorge, there will be trouble.

Of the concerns brought up by Johnson at the meeting, impact on taxes was one of the most prominent. Johnson worried that if The Friends decided to sell their 550-acre parcel containing the Cherry Orchard Trail originally owned by the late Nancy Russell, founder of The Friends, Lyle could lose thousands of dollars in property taxes.

...Tkach said The Friends has no plans to sell the Cherry Orchard property and pointed out at the meeting that as a non-profit organization The Friends doesn’t have to pay property taxes...

Both in this article and Tom's one about Warrendale (thanks - I didn't know he had died on the Titanic! and they were going to mine Beacon Rock?! ), there is some inordinate concern about "drugs" and "crime," as if these people think their tiny towns are in the middle of the Bronx c. 1988 or something. Sheesh.

Thanks Adam!

Bosterson wrote: ↑

March 26th, 2019, 9:34 am

there is some inordinate concern about "drugs" and "crime," as if these people think their tiny towns are in the middle of the Bronx c. 1988 or something. Sheesh.

And everyone knows small towns never have their own drug problems.

adamschneider wrote: ↑

March 26th, 2019, 8:49 am

...and Oren Johnson and his Lyle lynch mob.

I got around to reading that. I had not been aware of this sentiment in Lyle. I believe in local control so my benefit of the doubt goes toward the residents and what they want their community to be, however this article does not articulate a well reasoned argument against GT2T.

I am very grateful that there are other Gorge property owners that have good relations with outdoor recreationists, e.g. Kreps Ranch, and I'd like to see those good relations grow, not shrink. If there is actually bad behavior souring relations with locals it would be best to deal with it I think.

I wish I could hear the full town hall meeting myself rather than cherry-picked statements. Perhaps I would see that they are just a bunch of selfish curmudgeons, but I wonder of there is more to the story. E.g. the quote "Trails aren’t a big deal, but everything else that goes with that we weren’t so thrilled with," is never finished and I would like to read what Lyle Community Action Council thinks "everything else" is, rather than some kooky comment about Spandex.