Trail Reconstruction at BSP on Katahdin

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peakbagger

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https://www.pressherald.com/2019/09...with-a-new-twist-many-new-twists-on-katahdin/

Looks like the park is finally trying deal with the conditions on popular trails. Over the years I had heard from various staff that the park had cut way back on trail crew and it really started to show. I guess the Abol slide which forced the reroute maybe changed their minds. It is sad to here that the Abol reroute is starting to erode, it was claimed to be laid out by the "pros" and was supposed to be using the best practices to make it last.

Unfortunately when I talked to a ranger last year, the ongoing work on the Katahdin trails has pushed back the desperately needed reroute on North Brother and most likely doomed the new trails proposed to connect up the dead end trail to the North End of Katahdin Lake over the saddle between North and South Turner to the Wassataquoik Stream trail and the other connector trail from the Wassataquoik Lake trail to the Northwest Basin Trail between Mullen and Fort Mountains.

IMHO, budget should not be an issue with respect to trail reconstruction on Katahdin. I expect most hikers would accept a surcharge or raise in fees if they knew it was going to pay for professional trail crews to rebuild trails.
 
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/09...with-a-new-twist-many-new-twists-on-katahdin/

IMHO, budget should not be an issue with respect to trail reconstruction on Katahdin. I expect most hikers would accept a surcharge or raise in fees if they knew it was going to pay for professional trail crews to rebuild trails.

I certainly would. If Katahdin sees 35,000-70,000 hikers a year as the article states even a $5 per visit surcharge would amass $175,000-$350,000 for repairs annually, well above the $158,000 they indicated they spent this past year. That would go a long, long way with trail maintenance for a very nominal per hiker cost.
 
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