SocraticGadfly: NO to more mountain biking in national parks

December 20, 2008

NO to more mountain biking in national parks

Boy, the Interior Department is just trying to piss me off. There’s plenty of national forests for mountain bikers to do their stuff; I do NOT want to cross trails with them in new spots in Canyonlands, Yosemite or wherever.

Amen to this comment:
“Seventy-five million Americans hike, and they want solitude and a slow-paced connection with nature,” said Gregory Miller, the president of the American Hiking Society, an umbrella group of 275 local organizations. “We see this as potentially undermining and diminishing that experience.”

And, contra mountain-bikers’ lobbying groups, you DO diminish that experience. Besides the abundant national forest and BLM sites you have, you are allowed some places in national parks.

As for the excuse that camping and hiking declines prove more people want mountain-bikiing type experiences in the national parks, it proves nothing of the kind.

Rather, it proves that too many people are stuck too often In front of TV shows, DVDs, and gaming sagas.

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