Want to travel to a NH destination? Not Yet.

[Mike P.]

I have to go to Cape Cod on business alot. Was just there for 3 days this week. Hard to find a place to do one's business. Find a off the beat quiet dirt road to stop? no way. Traffic in and out. Impossible to find a quiet place there. So I pollute the side parking lot's, streets and other fine spots inbetween my crew cab doors or behind empty or closed buildings. So much for keeping things clean in Mass. At least when they come up here it is so easy to find a spot to do it.

No easy social distancing there like here. Busy as heck every where.

Welcome to America.... In Europe, people are far less modest, side of the highway, no running into the woods no deserted dirt roads, If they have a four door, they get two side walls, if not, that's life, biology happens. (I'm not there yet either)

 

[CaptCaper]

Welcome to America.... In Europe, people are far less modest, side of the highway, no running into the woods no deserted dirt roads, If they have a four door, they get two side walls, if not, that's life, biology happens. (I'm not there yet either)

I don't care about doing it in public just getting arrested maybe. Of course I can't imagine they would now during this virus. I heard about Europe many years ago from a friend. No wonder they want to come to USA. I myself would never go there. Was in Mexico once and never never going back. Too many places I've been digging up and going to across the USA for many years. I'll never see them all either. Not enough time left.

 

[TEO]

That said, there's no reason why people can't travel across state boundaries to hike, paddle, etc., and remain safe and socially distant. Bring your own food and beverages, find appropriate alternatives to using public restrooms, pay at the pump if you need to gas up, avoid popular destinations, have a backup planned in the event that your destination is crowded, give people plenty of space when you encounter them, and wear a mask when appropriate. If you can't do those things, then yes, stay home.

I have now made three day trips to northern New Hampshire from the Greater Boston area, driving 2.5–3.5 hours, one-way, each time, and completing four hikes. Other than stopping at the trailheads, I've made three pitstops to empty my bladder, using Forest Service roads and empty trailheads along the way. Before each trip I make sure that my gas tank is full. I bring along an extra sandwich, extra GORP, and a thermos of tea with Vermont Maple Syrup, so that food pit stops are unnecessary. Fortunately, I am not working on popular lists, so my hikes have been to less frequently climbed mountains.

While I think that states are being hasty with their re-opening plans given the lack of testing and contact tracing, I continue to think that traveling across state borders to sensibly recreate in the outdoors is a healthy, low-risk activity, provided that it is done with some planning and the flexibility to change your itinerary if trailheads are relatively full.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I continue to think that traveling across state borders to sensibly recreate in the outdoors is a healthy, low-risk activity, provided that it is done with some planning and the flexibility to change your itinerary if trailheads are relatively full.

I've done one 3-day trip up from the North Shore. I did a bushwhack with a stay at a dispersed site on Gale River Loop Rd and then an overnight to the Stillwater area. The Gale River lot was empty when arriving Friday afternoon and the Signal Ridge lot had a couple cars in it upon arrival Saturday morning. When I came out from Stillwater Sunday afternoon, the Signal Ridge lot was overflowing with people parked on the road. I enjoyed a beverage after the hike and observed many groups come out of the woods having just met on trail and head their separate ways in cars with plates from different areas. The beverage shortly caught up to me and I attempted to make a pit stop at the Piper TH to relieve myself. That lot was full and the road leading to the lot was lined with cars blocking the road, forcing people to drive in someone's hedges. The property owner was not pleased. People don't seem to be making the trip up with alternate itineraries or they don't think a full lot means anything. I think the trailhead stewards are going to be missed this year.

 

[B the Hiker]

To all those who have stayed out of New Hampshire, like the governor asked, even though they easily could have rationalized some argument as to why they should go up, I say "Thank You!"

 

[bikehikeskifish]

... with Vermont Maple Syrup...

Dude,

Very lucky you didn't get stopped in NH with that.



Tim

 

[TEO]

Dude,

Very lucky you didn't get stopped in NH with that.



Tim

I know, the police would likely have confiscated it to use for themselves. (I had an employer who would visit France a couple of times a year and always bring back a healthy amount of fois gras, and also happened to be a member of an airlines million mile club. One time security at De Gaulle confiscated it, despite all the efforts of the airline he flew on. I suggested that the head of De Gaulle's police probably was hosting a dinner party in the near future.)

(For your own pride and that of your state's, don't challenge the supremacy of Vermont Maple Syrup. An Ontario resident in my business did, so we had a large-scale, blind, taste-test showdown at our most recent trade conference. Vermont soundly trounced Canada, eh? )

 

[Mike P.]

We took an inventory of license plates at Upper Works in the ADK when we came out at 7:30 PM. There was a couple of MA plates, a couple of plates from NJ, a VT and our CT plate, the rest were from NY. (disclaimer This is a relatively small lot, 50 or so cars & doesn't get the traffic Rt.73 gets for Giant or Cascade or the ADK Loj Road for the HPIC. The only "short" hike in this area to a peak is Mt. Adams which is basically closed as their is no view from the peak without climbing the tower and the tower is closed)

 

[ChrisB]

We took an inventory of license plates at Upper Works in the ADK when we came out at 7:30 PM.

Came through N Conway today (6/16) and traffic was heavy with plates from all over New England.

Lots of open businesses, including most motels with "Vacancy" signs ablaze!

Looked to be slowly getting back to "normal."

 

[JoshandBaron]

Lincoln Woods was about 75% full upon arrival Friday evening and cars were parked over a mile down the road upon leaving Sunday. I've never seen so many people camping before. The ranger I passed on the way out looked defeated.

 

[JustJoe]

Tell that to all the green license plates heading to Crane's.

Saw lots of them there Sunday. I'm not sure they are doing the right thing there. It was pretty cool and breezy Sunday and I thought there was way more people on the beach than I'd have thought. I was only there to hike the dunes which had, as far as I could tell, just locals hiking in there.

 

[hikerbrian]

In two to six weeks we will see a significant surge in cases and deaths. We haven't suddenly become immune, just because we've been socially distancing for several months.

Well, we'll see...I wouldn't make such a prediction at this point.

I think we can chalk this one up as yet another thing hikerbrian was wrong about. As of now, the available evidence suggests FL is in fact experiencing a real increase in cases, including hospitalizations (but not yet ICU admits or deaths - need to keep an eye on those lagging indicators). I'm not sure I agree with 'spike' or 'skyrocket' or the other subjective language I'm seeing in the news, but 'up' seems appropriate. What the state should do with that information is less clear.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I think we can chalk this one up as yet another thing hikerbrian was wrong about. As of now, the available evidence suggests FL is in fact experiencing a real increase in cases, including hospitalizations (but not yet ICU admits or deaths - need to keep an eye on those lagging indicators). I'm not sure I agree with 'spike' or 'skyrocket' or the other subjective language I'm seeing in the news, but 'up' seems appropriate. What the state should do with that information is less clear.

If you look at

https://www.google.com/search?q=covid+cases+by+state

And select AZ, CA, FL, TX, etc. you will see significant upticks in cases. Call it what you like, but it's happening in many places. Fortunately for the NE area, not so much.

 

[peakbagger]

IMHO Its coming down to pay me now or pay me later situation. The New England states were guinea pigs and went potentially overboard on shutting down the states. Mass was a beachhead state and it got ahead of them before they knew what hit them but even they eventually tamed things. Other states bet that it was just a coastal thing and some aligned themselves with the current administrations rhetoric and now its coming to roost.

 

[TCD]

I don't think the virus listens to rhetoric. But there are many factors that do matter, including population density, and the recent mass protests with almost zero precautions nor any attempt to ask people to take precautions.

 

[Mike P.]

It may not listen to rhetoric, it does seem to like places where people underestimated the ability to spread. While overall population density is an issue, it seems to be more on density in small places too. if in a crowded school in NYC area where kids and their parents take mass transit and worked in buildings with 100's of others & went to your house of worship weekly, shook hands and visited someone either in a nursing home or prison, you were exposed repeatedly everyday.

People who had the ability to dine, drink, ride mass transit and do things in tight quarters (meat packing plants even in rural places) and thought they were immune may not have gotten sick, however, they may be Co-vid Charlie's (Typhoid Mary was taken).

Today's rhetoric made it sound that by testing 25 million people we have great testing. That's less than 10% of the population and the only people likely tested are those who have complained about being ill, ballplayers, rich people, people in vital positions who work with the public such as healthcare, meat packers, healthcare. I don't know if that 25 million is tests of people, I'll guess its test. How often have the VIPs of sports, $$$, politics, healthcare been tested? I'm thinking some people are tested at least once a month based on who they know and who they see routinely.

Protesters did not socially distance. The protesters shown on TV had many but not all without masks, 60/40. 70/30 ? ???. The one held in our small town had 100's (okay 2 to 300 tops) who did not socially distance but almost all did wear masks. Given a choice of outdoors protesting or indoors listening to a concert or a speaker, I'll take outdoors any day of the week, we didn't touch any common door handles or funnel 100's through a 36" doorway. Of what I've seen on TV of the people generating most of the rhetoric, what % do you see wearing masks? It's neither ratio I mentioned & they are posing for kinds of photo ops still in groups.

I wasn't all that comfortable in a group of five on a small summit two weeks ago.

 

[TCD]

Testing is readily available. I just got tested (negative, happily) because I traveled to visit an ill elderly relative. It was easy and convenient, and the clinic told me that if I had not had insurance, it would have been free.

If more people have not been tested, it's because they've chosen not to. (I suppose we could force people to get tested...)

 

[TEO]

IMHO Its coming down to pay me now or pay me later situation. The New England states were guinea pigs and went potentially overboard on shutting down the states. Mass was a beachhead state and it got ahead of them before they knew what hit them but even they eventually tamed things. Other states bet that it was just a coastal thing and some aligned themselves with the current administrations rhetoric and now its coming to roost.

While Massachusetts's transmission rate is currently low, it is by no means out of the woods. Until 70-80% has been infected and/or has been vaccinated, those who have not been infected—still the vast majority—are at risk.

It would seem to me that up until the reopening began, New England as a whole has done a good job responding to what Dr. Fauci has called his worst nightmare. But we cannot let our eyes off the ball just because we're tired.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I don't think the virus listens to rhetoric. But there are many factors that do matter, including population density, and the recent mass protests with almost zero precautions nor any attempt to ask people to take precautions.

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27408.pdf

Apparently, the protests haven't had the effect one might expect.

 

[David Metsky]

Moderator Note
Let's end this line of commentary now. And for everyone, please consider your word choices carefully. Words have context and history.