A proposal on the table right now would make thru-hikers pay a backcountry permit fee while marching through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The AT runs through the park for 70 miles. For years the park has required thru-hikers to get overnight permits for staying at sites along the trail, but they’ve always been free. Right now there is an open discussion period for whether there should be a fee, if so how much ($5-30 being thrown around), and just how the park would collect the fees from the people walking on the trail. Logistically getting cash out of the hikers would be tough. I’m sure there’s some system in place right now since the park already requires permits, but I suspect that many of the hikers on the trial just register online for the permits and then don’t worry about the details unless they see a ranger. The worst idea up for discussion is whether a private company should be in charge of levying and collecting the money from hikers. I can just imagine it now, a rented security team driving up and down the trail on off-road Segways shaking down hikers for money.

This cat and his man companion have traveled over 9,000 miles together. It looks like the cat hardly walked at all, but that’s to be expected. The guy (or maybe the cat) built a website about their travels together, but the English-language version isn’t exactly firing.

via Wend

A dog too exhausted to finish a hike in California spent the night in the wilderness with his owners and was rescued by a helicopter the next day.

When I heard about this story I thought, “You know, this should make me upset, but I actually like a lot of dogs more than I like people.” The couple who owned the 80-pound dog sat with it overnight on the trail, and they attempted to carry it out but couldn’t make it. No word on who’s paying for this rescue.

thanks Adventure Journal

Photo by Paul Balegend

I use Gmail, FedEx, UPS. I rarely have need for the post office, so it was only with a twinge of sadness for a bygone era that I noticed many rural post offices would be closing. The U.S. Postal Service is seeking to close 1 in 10 of its retail stores to save cash. That’s 3,600 locals. And that’s bad news for people hiking the Appalachian Trail. Many of the 2,000 who thru-hike the trail in one season setup drops at the post offices near the trail so they can resupply without spending too much. The new system will mean those trying to make the trip on a shoestring could have to walk quite a bit farther off the trail to find their goods.

A 26-year-old California woman died after falling 600 feet when she slipped and fell off the cable route running up Half Dome. There were a couple fatalities last year, which prompted the NPS to institute a permit system that would keep down the number of hikers with access to the trail. This is the first fatality under the new system. It seems that rain had been falling steadily all morning, and most of the people on the cables turned around. Yosemite never officially closes the trail due to weather, and they allow hikers to make their own decisions.