AlG said:
Be prepared to be fined, or even told to hike out if you ignore this new requirement. We'll be sure to see many more discussions like this through next year, when this new mandate is imposed on the hiking public.
I agree, much more will be made of this in the coming months.
Just a note, I don't bring my wallet or any form of id. Not that I expect to cause trouble, but rather... this past weekend I camped about 200-300 feet from the leanto, nowhere's near water on a level piece of land in the Lake Colden area. I completely forgot about the 'camp where designated' rules in certain spots when I setup camp (and will note this next time I'm in a high traffic zone)...
So I come back from hiking Saturday to a red ticket warning me about not camping in a designted spot. Now, I'm a VERY responsible camper, even thought enough to bring a bearcan for my own protection, and the benefit of the bear. I even take out trash I see along the trail. Granted, a ranger doesn't know this, but I would think they have more critical things to focus on in that area then me finding a perfect fine, non-impacting place to camp that just doesn't happen to have a yellow disc nearby
.
So, I didn't move and was told afterwards that they were even near my tent later that night while I was asleep, but I wasn't ticketed. Funny, if it was important enough to warn me why not ticket me? Is it suddenly NOT important?
Rules are meant to protect us from ourselves, but I think alot of enforcement is ego and not genuine concern. In the time the ranger took to write me the love note about my choice of camping spot that would have been legal in 95% of the rest of the park, they could have been doing anything else more useful.
Point of mentioning not carrying my wallet/id? I want to see them drag me miles through the woods to a patrol car and haul me away. If they bother you (like I felt I was in my above example), simply sit on the ground and tell them to carry you to jail. If they woke me from my slumber to tell me to move I would have had some choice words before zipping the door to my 2 man tent closed. Maybe I'm disrespectful or have issues with authority, but when you nit-pick you automatically lose some credibility in my eyes.
If the rangers/dec are going to enforce the cannister law in the same manner they are enforcing other things now, they're going to ruin the entire point. Check people heading in at all major trail heads. Once on the trail/at camp, there isn't anything anyone can really do (that won't create awkward situations where authority is challenged/diminished or people's enjoyment of the weekend ruined).
Raise people's awareness to how it helps us AND the bears. But for heaven's sake, don't use it as an excuse to harrass the people that ensure your job's security by using the park you're paid to maintain.
[I hope this sounds sincere. I don't want to cause a fuss, but I think we surrender too many rights to regulations and the last place I expect to be told that my 'salad fork is on the right' is in the middle of nowhere!]