Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest

Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Always
17
25%
Yes, if there's a form left in the box
40
59%
Only if it's a busy trailhead
0
No votes
Only if I'm backpacking
3
4%
Rarely, it's too much trouble
3
4%
Never, it's too intrusive
0
No votes
Never for protest or political reasons
5
7%
 
Total votes: 68

Limey
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Joined: December 19th, 2012, 2:34 pm

Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by Limey » August 6th, 2019, 3:49 pm

I have never filled one out and don't intend to. On the wilderness permit sign it says in italics that all groups must fill out a permit. Since it's commonly recognized that 1 is a single, 2 is a pair and 3 and above is a group, I feel that it is obvious that as a single hiker I don't need a permit. Yes, I'm sticking to that story.

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kepPNW
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Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by kepPNW » August 6th, 2019, 4:20 pm

Jeff71 wrote:
August 6th, 2019, 3:33 pm
So I have been out of the hiking scene for several years. Can you give me synopsis of what the USFS is doing with trails these days?
Well, it was after browsing this article that I started scanning for old threads here on permits and their misuse:

Final decision: Permits required for hiking Oregon's Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters beginning 2020
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/ ... 165219001/

squeakytree wrote:
August 6th, 2019, 3:40 pm
Unfortunately, while I understand your intention, your "protest" is not reaching the people who are responsible for the outcome. The permits are sorted and counted by volunteers, interns, and Forest Service rec technicians. The numbers get recorded and passed on in order to prove numbers for next years request for trail work funding. The permit you scribble on is just wasting money and resources since it will most likely end up in the trash. You need to go higher up the chain if you want to make an impact.
Alas, that could well be the case. But, by law, I am required to carry half that permit while traipsing about, and by conscience I cannot provide more data for them to selectively punish good people with. Best case, perhaps seeing those sorts of responses will cause those volunteers and interns (and even fellow hikers online?) to start reconsidering how they feel about the misuse of that data. Who knows? If so, it's worth the few pennies "wasted."

Limey wrote:
August 6th, 2019, 3:49 pm
I have never filled one out and don't intend to. On the wilderness permit sign it says in italics that all groups must fill out a permit. Since it's commonly recognized that 1 is a single, 2 is a pair and 3 and above is a group, I feel that it is obvious that as a single hiker I don't need a permit. Yes, I'm sticking to that story.
:lol:
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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Guy
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Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by Guy » August 6th, 2019, 4:26 pm

Filling these out is against my LNT principles ;)
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Chip Down
Posts: 3037
Joined: November 8th, 2014, 8:41 pm

Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by Chip Down » August 6th, 2019, 6:41 pm

I scrawl invectives on the kiosk before burning it down. Eff the U$F$. :twisted:

I've only been asked to show my permit once, at Moraine Lake (South Sister) maybe 20-25 years ago.

There are many good posts above, but my favorite was something like "I don't want Mt Hood to become The Enchantments". Indeed. Government regulation is inherently incompatible with the Wilderness Ethos. There should be prohibited activities (you can't ride your ATV in wilderness, can't build a cabin, can't dam a creek), but to require that visitors must carry a permit is obscene. Is there no place on earth where we can be free of bureaucracy? Must red tape wind its way into every aspect of our lives?

justpeachy
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Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by justpeachy » August 6th, 2019, 8:30 pm

Jeff71 wrote:
August 6th, 2019, 3:33 pm
So I have been out of the hiking scene for several years. Can you give me synopsis of what the USFS is doing with trails these days?

Having once worked on fire/trail crews in summers in the 70s it is hard to see the collapse of services and attitude of FS employees/agency in the last couple of decades. Afraid to find out the state of things now...

https://mountainjournal.org/morale-plum ... st-service

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retired jerry
Posts: 14398
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by retired jerry » August 6th, 2019, 9:42 pm

and, maybe the numbers are used to argue there are way more people using the Wilderness so they better restrict use, require a permit you get online ahead of time?

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RobFromRedland
Posts: 1094
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by RobFromRedland » August 7th, 2019, 6:11 am

Well, that was a depressing article to read!!! :D

It certainly gives a different perspective on all the issues we see in the forests. Thanks for posting it.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW! What a ride! - Hunter S. Thompson

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drm
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Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by drm » August 7th, 2019, 7:08 am

I saw a Forest Service presentation that showed that the number of visitors in those Central Oregon locations had increased by a factor of five over just five years, and that did contribute to the move to the new regulations. So those concerns are true. I do not know if those numbers are based solely on permits or not.

But I would add that surveys done by the FS showed very strong support for those regulations. My impression is that people who go backpacking once or twice a summer usually plan those trips far in advance and do not mind having to get a permit, and there are a lot of them. They really want that solitude on their one or two visits a year to the wilderness. Those folks who go frequently are often the ones who feel differently, and are probably more strongly represented on a site like this.

I see this a lot, it's the same wrt bathrooms at trailheads for example. People with different use patterns have very different priorities with what they want from the FS, but have a hard time accepting that other people feel differently. Your responses to surveys and public comments are not weighted by how often you go up there and extremely frequent visitors are a deep minority of wilderness users. The consolation, if you consider it that, is that frequent visitors have the time and resources to go somewhere else if crowds or regulations make a favored spot problematic. I love Mt Rainier but rarely go there any more because permits are just too damn hard to get. But there is no shortage of amazing wilderness with great solitude and virtually no regulation.

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Guy
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Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by Guy » August 7th, 2019, 7:30 am

drm wrote:
August 7th, 2019, 7:08 am

But I would add that surveys done by the FS showed very strong support for those regulations.
Hi Dean, I'm sure the surveys done by the forest service did show strong support, I bet that was a forgone conclusion and easily achieved by how and what you ask.

I meet folks all the time who still do not know anything about this! Perhaps I'm wrong but it's my prediction that the real wide spread opposition to this will not come until next year when people drive out to the trailhead and find that they can't go for a day hike anymore.
hiking log & photos.
Ad monte summa aut mors

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Born2BBrad
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Re: Do you register when entering a wilderness area?

Post by Born2BBrad » August 7th, 2019, 8:59 am

I used to always fill out a permit, with accurate information, when entering a wilderness. While the information may be used to know how to spread trail maintenance dollars, it may have been used in the past, and may be used in the future for other purposes. Like restricting access. Now I only fill out the part of the permit I hike with and leave the part that goes in the box blank. The ranger in the field will never know.
Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.
- Jean Luc Picard

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