Wednesday, August 16, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tour group exceeds wilderness limits
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
WALK: Several Sisters
residents are living
with ALS
Correspondent
The Little Belknap Trail
is typically very lightly
populated, and I’ve usu-
ally encountered only a bare
handful of other hikers in the
area, who – as often as not –
are PCT hikers. However, this
recent trip was a rather hor-
rendous exception. Hearing
the noise of a raucous crowd,
I looked down the trail and
saw a long, long line of peo-
ple marching up the pathway.
In all, I counted nearly 60
in this “wilderness” group,
where party size is suppos-
edly limited to a maximum of
12. Unlike most hikers, who
stop and talk about where
they are from, this group
apparently had been coached
not to talk about who they
were or where they came
from. They were very close-
mouthed and resisted interac-
tion. My impression was that
their leaders were well aware
that they were committing an
egregious violation of wilder-
ness rules.
The party was spread
out over approximately
half a mile and its members
were wearing tour badges.
I learned from some of the
stragglers that about half the
group on the geological tour
was from Taiwan, others were
from all around the country.
When I returned to the trail-
head there were seven identi-
cal vans that had transported
the tour group into the area.
One of the vans was open and
tour members who had turned
back were handing out cold
drinks.
Acting Sisters District
Ranger Amy Tinderholt said
that the case is still under
investigation. She said that
the trip leader has been iden-
tified, and further action by
Forest Service law enforce-
ment officials is pending.
This case, I learned, is
not the only recent example
involving huge groups in
violation of existing wilder-
ness rules. These significant
Continued from page 3
PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
Tour group vans clog the parking area at the “wilderness” trailhead
leading to Little Belknap Crater.
violations come at a time
when the Forest Service is
considering severely limiting
public access to the wilder-
ness and requiring paid res-
ervations for all wilderness
visitors in our region.
If the Forest Service feels
that the wilderness is being
savaged by users, it is my
opinion that more could be
achieved by enforcing exist-
ing regulations and cracking
down on serious violations
such as this, rather than clos-
ing wilderness access to the
rest of us who use the areas
responsibly.
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