[Cdt-l] CDTA

[Brett]

The CDTA closing its doors is a big deal, and it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Hopefully those who are in a position to speculate knowledgeably about the future of the trail will do so, in order to give the trail community a better sense of where we're at and in which direction we might choose to head.

That said, here is my layperson opinion only. Although the trail experience for many, particularly those on this list, owes its appeal to the decentralized nature of the long-distance hiking experience, nevertheless the CDT without an organizational head would ultimately be the undoing of the trail. The sections of dedicated trail that are now on the ground form the necessary baseline that all trail users rely on to one extent or another. While it may be true that some of the oversight and maintenance is conducted by federal agencies and/or volunteers, without the CDTA in place these agencies may lack the sort of motivating advocacy that would be capable of spurring needed action in a timely fashion. Trail maintenance may suffer to the extent that some sections of trail become unfollowable and are abandoned. User conflicts may arise and related decisions made using criteria that may be less favorable to non-vehicle users. CDT-specific signage may
 languish, and the sense of there being a continuous trail corridor, in whatever sense we currently enjoy it, may become more abstract and driven by guidebook and map rather than in-the-field amenities. In short, the CDT would be at the mercy of a motley assortment of federal bureaucracy, with no shared point of reference regarding the value, purpose, or implementation of the trail, and the trail experience would reflect this, much to its detriment.

The CDTA was still overseeing and building new trail through 2011. Jonathan Ley's maps indicate numerous sections of proposed new trail, both long and short, that were in the queue for completion in the coming seasons. Presumably all of this work now comes to a screeching halt. How do we get it moving again? Will the Carson National Forest take over the work in northern New Mexico, for example? Do these agencies have enough of a mandate to at least keep the projects already in the pipeline flowing?

New trail matters. Existing trail matters. Some thru-hikers will use it and benefit from it, while others may go a different way. But we all find the CDT experience richer for the work invested to provide enhanced options for travel across the backbone of the continent. And at the end of the day, we may need an Alliance-type of coalition to keep the trail moving forward. I don't know if we can do it by exclusively supporting a thru-hiker centric aesthetic or agenda. I'm not sure, for example, if the trail can best be served using, as a semi-official record, only a guidebook that promotes, in some cases, a patently non-CDT route where official CDT has already been built. Perhaps the days of holding ourselves among one faction or another need to be phased out, and we all need to rally behind one overarching objective. Build the foundation first. 

- Brett


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Message: 2
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:44:38 GMT
From: "lynne whelden" <lwgear at juno.com>
Subject: [Cdt-l] CDTA
To: cdt-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID: <20120114.084438.20211.0 at webmail08.vgs.untd.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

The CDTA's closing its doors sent a shock wave through the hiking community. Just when it seemed like there was some momentum building, what with the new data books and the well-organized summer work trips and the ever-increasing volumes of hikers each summer. It personally affected me because I had just released my "Overexposed" CDT documentary and was hoping the CDTA would add it to their store. I was hoping the video would inspire and educate and mobilize.
So now what? Will government agencies keep building trail only to have it lie fallow from then on (as is already the case in places)? Will someone step forward with a new vision for how to organize and marshall the forces of long-distance/long-time hikers who by their very nature are fiercely independent and are suspicious from anything smacking of boards and rules, business-mindedness and corporate donations?
Will the CDT(_) always be a 3rd cousin to the grand ATC and the PCTA? Will the trail ultimately become a fuzzy corridor concept that never quite made it off the ground due to lack of funds and clubs? 
lynne whelden
lwgear.com

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