At the end of May, I camped two days at one of my favorite spots...Max Patch. Well, what a difference over a month makes as the US Forest Service (USFS) has instituted a two-year ban for camping on "the Patch!"
I can't say I am surprised as I have written about people abusing Max Patch twice in less than a year. I even said back in September that one solution would be closing the mountain to camping. Well, as of July 1st that is what the USFS did and this is through. This what Appalachian District Ranger Jen Barnhart. said: “We’ve been working with partners to achieve sustainable recreation at Max Patch because of the impacts due to a significant increase in visitors over the past decade, Unfortunately, the level of use is causing a public safety hazard as well as serious damage to wildlife."
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| Others photos: Angela Wihelm & Mile Wurman |
The closure order covers the summit and the entire area that makes a part of the longer Max Patch Loop, which includes the Appalachian Trail (AT) from the south junction with the Max Patch Loop Trail to the woods on the north end. That includes all three sites I camped at, but he AT the woods, from how I read it, (and thought about camping at, is) is still open.
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| 2019 (TL), 2020 (TR) & 2021 |
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| No Camping at the summit... |
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| Out on bald to the wood. |
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| It seems you can still camp here... |
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| ...& here |
Oh, that's not all, while I have included the order, there are no campfires, the parking area closes one hour after sunset and open an hour before sunrise, group sizes of 10, dogs have to be on a leash, no fireworks and a few others. The other big one (and one I wrote my last blog about) is that hikers have to stay on designated trails. That means those cut trails like the one straight from the parking lot are off-limits like they have been the whole time. This means besides not being able to use these trails to haul stuff the weekly Burning Man festivals are banned too.
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| Closure from USFS (PDF) |
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| My campfires...BANED! |
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| Parking closes hour after sunset & opens an hour before sunrise... |
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| ,,,so you can still head up for sunset (T) & sunrise (B) |
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| Clockwise: Dogs off leash, Horses, Groupes over-10, Drones & Fireworks...BANED! |
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| User made trails...Still BANED! |
The hard part will be enforced as violators will be subject to situations of up to $5,000 for an individual and $10K for organizations. That is the one thing I haven't seen any plan for how it will be policed. I have read that according to the USFS "The restrictions will be in effect for two years, during which time visitor use and impacts will continue to be monitored and addressed. Past efforts of visitor education and engineering controls such as barriers and fencing have not been sufficient to address the challenges. A visitor use monitoring group consisting of local partners, the USFS, and local community members have helped to develop solutions and will also help to educate visitors on the new restrictions." Which I translate to mean that if there isn't improvement these restrictions might go past 2023.
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| If things don't change this could be Max Patch's future |
I love camping here so I am sad that I can no longer camp here, but I have no probable and am not mad about this order. What makes me mad is people leave the crap behind, use cut trails there not suppose to, and spoil it for those who try to camp responsibly. If people won't take care of places like Max Patch this is the result. Like I said in September it mhtay take making wallets lighter might change attitudes.
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