Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

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squidvicious
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Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by squidvicious » February 21st, 2022, 1:28 pm

Between May 24 and September 5 travelers along the Historic Columbia River Highway, between Vista House and Ainsworth State Park, will be required to have a timed vehicle access permit between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/ticket ... river-hwy/

No. Just... no.

Aimless
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by Aimless » February 21st, 2022, 2:20 pm

Time to break out the bicycle.

gallione11
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by gallione11 » February 21st, 2022, 2:24 pm

At least the timing coincides when I stop Gorge hiking and switch to Mount Hood, but another terrible system

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adamschneider
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by adamschneider » February 21st, 2022, 3:04 pm

I wonder if it'll include Angel's Rest. You only need to drive a few feet on the HCRH to get to the trailhead from I-84.

I guess the good news is, it sounds like you're OK if you get there before 9am?

squidvicious
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by squidvicious » February 21st, 2022, 3:41 pm

adamschneider wrote:
February 21st, 2022, 3:04 pm
I guess the good news is, it sounds like you're OK if you get there before 9am?
I'm assuming the only place they would/could check people would be at either end, and once you're in you're good. But who knows.

It will have very little effect on me personally--I do use that area heavily throughout the summer, but I'm almost always either there and gone by 9:30-10, or I start from the top. I pretty much avoid the old highway like the plague now, because though it's fine when I arrive, it's completely insane trying to leave. But of all the ideas they could have come up with the address it, this seems nuts. I'm surprised it's even legal to close off a public street like that.

But hey, I can just pay $200 for a shuttle pass that doesn't include parking and doesn't run during the hours I'd need it, so no biggie.

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Chip Down
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by Chip Down » February 21st, 2022, 5:52 pm

I have some friends in Canada who know exactly what to do about this. :geek:

Relax, it was [mostly] a joke.

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Water
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by Water » February 21st, 2022, 9:17 pm

years ago i harped about the small permits.
it's just for this one place at this one time, doesn't really apply to most hikers. it's only $ a year, certainly you can afford that. it's helping the forest! I'm just doing my part!
And here we are today and let's see where we are tomorrow. By the time my son is the age I was when I first came out here, he's going to have to apply in a lottery two years in advance just to do a day hike in any national forest, and pay a fee for the liberty of doing so.

the worst part is the monetization. Using cost and arcane delineation/bureaucracy to keep people out in order to 'protect' areas. And then there will be more pushes from powered interests to 'return land to the states' (see Utah), less constituency organized to fight this, then you'll see state protections watered down and things get further monetized/siphon the money into private hands.

And as much as a broken record that I am on it, I'll continue to share understanding the history of monetization/revenue to manage lands: http://www.georgewright.org/222silver.pdf - this is an extremely worthwhile read.

And to expound upon the above, a huge proponent of FLREA when it was just a 'demo' was ARC. American Recreation Coalition. In 2018 they reformulated themselves as the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (and you can see the wonderful characters in the thumbnail are the people you absolutely know are all about having a free and easy time just getting dirty, backpacking, in the woods, kayaking small rivers, etc). https://recreationroundtable.org/americ ... oundtable/

ARC was made up of interests like Skidoo, and Coleman and RV manufacturers, you know, the places you really spend money with to go outdoors. There's a reason they call it the outdoor industry.


And today despite the fantastic green-washing or whatever you want to call it, take a look at their main points today: https://recreationroundtable.org/
  • Foster federal collaboration that enables the outdoor recreation economy to thrive. (Yes, the outdoor economy is most important part of the outdoors)
  • Remove barriers that hinder private investment to improve conservation and access for outdoor enthusiasts on public lands and waters. (Please, lets use public land as the vehicle to generate private investment returns)
  • Encourage federal agencies to prioritize recreational access and high-quality visitor experiences. (High Quality experiences, such as wifi, concessions, and expensive capital improvements!)

I'm sure I sound like an old crank going off on this. There's no conspiracy, but the molding of public land access has been set into motion for a while now, fees for entering HCRH dovetail right into it.
Feel Free to Feel Free

Limey
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by Limey » February 21st, 2022, 9:59 pm

I see they don't bother to tell us how much this pass will cost. A lot of info left out here. Guess you have to join the online meeting to find out.

squidvicious
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by squidvicious » February 22nd, 2022, 12:15 am

Limey wrote:
February 21st, 2022, 9:59 pm
I see they don't bother to tell us how much this pass will cost. A lot of info left out here.
I'm assuming it will be the same as the Multnomah falls ones, "free" but with a processing fee from recreation.gov. But that article was pretty terrible. Found this from odot https://www.oregon.gov/odot/waterfall-c ... fault.aspx

There's no way in hell I would personally ride a bike on that road unless they closed it to cars completely.

Uh... just took a better look at that odot page. Why on the map does it say "Exit 31 Parking Permit Required"?

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retired jerry
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Re: Ticketed access to HCRH waterfall corridor

Post by retired jerry » February 22nd, 2022, 7:07 am

good article water

"They’ve claimed that fees reduce vandalism, reduce littering, and encourage people to have greater respect for their public lands. There’s also the value added society argument that suggests the higher the fee, the greater the value perceived. All of these have, at one time or another, been put forth as the official explanation for why the Recreation Fee
Demonstration Program exists."

That's sort of like the justification for the Cascade wilderness permit. Vague reasons for damage to the wilderness.

Although the HCRH does get very busy in the summer and maybe some action is needed. I don't really have an opinion about this ticketed access because I don't go there then.

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