Bushwacks?

Maby someone has asked this question before. I don't know, but with everyone constantly using the bushwacks in the White mountains, why don't the national park and forest service make these official trails?

am&pm said:

Maby someone has asked this question before. I don't know, but with everyone constantly using the bushwacks in the White mountains, why don't the national park and forest service make these official trails?

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Well for starters, maintaining an official trail takes time and money. Also, many herd paths are not proper trails, e.g. they go straight up a mountain side, or they are badly eroded, etc. Sanctioning a trail like that would send the wrong message.

Tom makes a great point, I know in CO, many routes on the 14ers where "use paths'' or "herd paths" and they where beating the heck out of the terrain, making it worse and worse to use them for both the mountains and the hikers. Now there is a group that is blazing and constructing established routes on all the 14ers, to eliminate these "use trails" as there known out west. A trail that is to straight or to steep, that isnt waterbarred or set to drain, or reinforced with rocks and such, will not last long as a appealing route.

People often bushwack to get away from people. Making an official trail would be counterproductive - the bushwackers would just make a new bushwack.

Part of the purpose of bushwacking is to get off the trail.

Herd paths (use paths or whatever they may be called) may have started as bushwacks but are no longer. They have become defacto unofficial trails and are often poorly planned and poorly maintained.

Doug

I am assuming by the inference used when you say "bushwhack" I assume you mean ones like Black Pond to Owl's Head or the more notable watercrossing avoiding "whack" on the North Twin trail. If so then basically Tom has it nailed. The USFS has trouble maintaining all the trails they currently have let alone planning, routing, building and maintaining new trails, more so when we get into the Wilderness areas.

Brian

All good points...but. There are a few, the Owl's Head Slide comes to mind, where the cost of maintainence would seem to be comparable to the cost of repeated oblitereation of trail markings. When comparing hiker damage to the granite surface of Owl's Head slide, is it any worse than the damage done by a large army of hikers crapping up the foliage and soil on the entire side of a mountain.

Paradox said:

All good points...but. There are a few, the Owl's Head Slide comes to mind, where the cost of maintainence would seem to be comparable to the cost of repeated oblitereation of trail markings. When comparing hiker damage to the granite surface of Owl's Head slide, is it any worse than the damage done by a large army of hikers crapping up the foliage and soil on the entire side of a mountain.

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Ahh but remember, we are dealing with a bureaucracy here. And as we know these things never make sense. While the USFS can't afford to spend money on maintaining what they have they somehow find it justifiable to enforce Wilderness regulations....yeah, it does not make sense to me either.

Brian

NewHampshire said:

I am assuming by the inference used when you say "bushwhack" I assume you mean ones like Black Pond to Owl's Head or the more notable watercrossing avoiding "whack" on the North Twin trail.

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I find it hard to classify those as genuine bushwacks anymore--I would call them herd paths.

Doug

DougPaul said:

I find it hard to classify those as genuine bushwacks anymore--I would call them herd paths.

Doug

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*cough* hence I put the word whack in " ".

Brian