[Cdt-l] surveyor tape

[ks1007 at aol.com]

what's to say that the BLM and USFS considers tape "trash" and take it down all the time - the cows down here eat surveyor tape - have seen it happen


 
Keith and Mary
Deming, NM



-----Original Message-----
From: Moynihan <mary.moynihan at gmail.com>
To: Yeti <yeti1938 at fultek.com>
Cc: CDT_L <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 2:27 pm
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] surveyor tape


I'd agree with yeti in that the tape could yield mixed results. One particular section in New Mexico stands out in which I thought I made the correct left turn. There was a mini cairn, surveyor tape and everything seemed right. My gut grew heavy when the elevation began to descend rapidly. Although my maps confirmed that this was correct too, I soon found this route to be totally overgrown and ultimately following a steep drainage. I walked back out and continued along the road where I was greeted with the correct left turnoff a half mile later and marked by welcoming posts.


I'm mixed on the idea of thrus identifying the trail while thru-hiking as how many thru hikers are always on the correct route instead of say, three miles to the east? It would also need to be a system hikers can differentiate between other surveyor tape and isn't excessive..... perhaps a special color, pattern, knot... A bunch of flagging is welcoming at times, but distracting to the beauty of the trail. If the surveyor tape becomes the plan, then the second phase (the actual development of tread, signage,etc) needs to follow closely behind.
I can see having mixed feelings on identifying a route, after all I felt a masochistic glory when there was no trail and I was out there trying to navigate on my own. I also had comical moments when I found myself misplaced along the CDT only to find some evidence of a thru hiker having been there too; a cairn; footprint; a sharpie marker.
Yet, I think of the ease, the stress free nature of the PCT and that was nice too. There's alot of barriers making the CDT a difficult trail to pin down entirely. One is the lack of larger metropolises supporting the demand for all the sections to be connected. Another is the length along a trail that is battered down by weather for large portions of the year. There's also free ranging cattle that obliterate tread, amongst a plethora of others things like riparian environment. (I started eating beef on the CDT and embrace it now!)
It's a slow development, but I think it would be great to see it become a complete trail. I know many thrus want to keep it wild, but I remember so many sections where just my two feet alone made an impact on precious alpine flora. There's a reason the CDT is called a trail. If you want cross country there are plenty of other places to adventure.


Speedstick





On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 12:49 PM, Yeti <yeti1938 at fultek.com> wrote:

The problem with surveyor tape is it's already all over the place for
other purposes including logging areas so it could be extremely
misleading. There must be a better idea even though I don't have one
right now.
Yeti
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-- 
To read about Mary and her passion for long distance hiking visit http://www.marriedtothetrail.com/


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