Riley W.
Yelp
We did a day's hiking and camped over night in a primitive campsite in some of the worst wind I have ever experienced in 28 years of camping. The trails are a little rough in some areas, I'm not one to need a 12ft wide path the whole time, but there were some genuine moments of "which way are we supposed to go" while doing the two loops. Also, the constant river crossings on a damp day started to become both tiresome and dangerous as the stones got slippy. A little human intervention of build a safer option wouldn't go astray.
As for cooking, we were firmly told that we couldn't use anything that "made ash". So you'll be limited to gas only stoves, which while they work fine I do have something of a philosophical issue with. The camping areas were littered with ground debris which made setting up camp longer than it needed to be. People using hobo stoves, or the increasingly popular Solo Stove could be using this material to fuel fires for cooking and warmth, which would reduce plant and tree disease in the area, as well as keep the campsites readily usable for the next people rolling through. I'm not suggesting people get their machetes out and start hacking down plants and trees, but the attitude of "all fire is bad and goes against Leave No Trace" is misguided and wrong. We are all part of the ecosystem, to suggest we should not be allowed to interact with it beyond looking at it is simply unrealistic. Yes not everyone was a scout, yes not everyone has grown up camping and spending time living in the outdoors, however education - not limitation is the key here.
In a similar vein, I asked about making tent stakes from fallen branches, again I was given a firm "no". There is no logical reason for this. They will still degrade just as they would without a couple of notches carved into them, and I could have left them behind for the next campers who might need them. So, I was only able to stake out my rainfly in 2 of the 6 locations.
There was plenty of flowing water, though, few places to collect from that didn't involve getting face down in the dirt and sticking your arm out. However if you have a Sawyer water filter you'll never be thirsty at the Lost Maples!
In the end, it's a solid "eh it was ok" experience. National Parks are turning into a "strip club" experience. Look but don't touch, and you'll have to spend a lot of money to be there for more than a few hours - hiking pack, ultralight tent, light sleeping bags, sleeping pad, ultralight gas stove and cooking pots and utensils - it all adds up to about $500 per person. I'm not suggesting everyone should be able to live in the park with just a knife, fire steel and a tarp for shelter, but there is a balance that could, and needs to be achieved. I hope the National Parks move towards education soon, before the only people visiting them are doing it from a drone with a 360° camera that doesn't rustle the leaves too much.
