Читать книгу Backpacking Washington - Craig Romano - Страница 11

These 80 trips range from 14 to 50 miles, with most in the 18-to-25-mile range. This book is meant to be a guide for weekend and multiday getaways, not for long-distance trekking. You won’t find complete descriptions for Washington’s segment of the Pacific Crest Trail, the Pacific Northwest Trail, or Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail. However, exceptional shorter trips on those long-distance trails will allow you to experience part of their allure, grandeur, and beauty.

Neither will you find destinations shorter than 13 miles. Those hikes are thoroughly covered in the Day Hiking series, including volumes dedicated to the Columbia River Gorge, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams and the Goat Rocks, Mount Rainier, the Olympic Peninsula, Central Cascades, Snoqualmie region, North Cascades, and eastern Washington. You’ll never run out of places to explore!

WILDERNESS REGULATIONS

Areas officially designated as wilderness come with a set of rules. And even areas that aren’t officially designated as wilderness sometimes adopt these regulations to preserve flora, fauna, and your hiking experience. According to the US Forest Service:

•Party size is limited to twelve, including people and horses.

•Cutting switchbacks is prohibited.

•Campfires are restricted in certain areas, such as at lakeshores and higher elevations.

•Caching supplies is prohibited.

•All wheeled conveyances (except wheelchairs)—including motorized equipment, mechanized equipment, bicycles, wagons, carts, and wheelbarrows—are prohibited.

•Aircraft (except at designated airstrips), hang gliders, and drones are prohibited.

•Commercial activities are banned, except for outfitters and guides operating under a permit.

•Permanent structures are prohibited except for those of historical value.

•There are additional regulations for backcountry stock users.

While I present hundreds of miles of trails to explore, we are in real danger of losing many of our trails to mismanagement and lack of adequate funding. I encourage you to write and call your elected representatives (both state and federal) as well as to join a trail advocacy group or two (like the Washington Trails Association and The Mountaineers) to help maintain and sustain our trails and access roads.