Group Seeking Like Minded Members

[Aushiker]

G'day

 

There was some discussion awhile back about forming a category Waymarking the trailheads of a long-distance walking trails, e.g., trails taking two or more days to walk from one trailhead to the other.

 

A check of the waymarks suggest nothing has progressed on this, so I have created a group, Long Distance Hiking Trailheads. Interested waymarkers are invited to join the group at http://www.Waymarking.com/groups/details.a...20-b0b7c3bc5097. Once the group is established we can work towards creating the category.

 

I am aware of the Scenic Hikes category but see this as having a different purpose from the proposed group/category.

 

Your comments and support is welcome. Please do consider joining the group and getting this category off the ground.

 

Regards

Andrew

[+StagsRoar]

G'day

 

There was some discussion awhile back about forming a category Waymarking the trailheads of a long-distance walking trails, e.g., trails taking two or more days to walk from one trailhead to the other.

 

A check of the waymarks suggest nothing has progressed on this, so I have created a group, Long Distance Hiking Trailheads. Interested waymarkers are invited to join the group at http://www.Waymarking.com/groups/details.a...20-b0b7c3bc5097. Once the group is established we can work towards creating the category.

 

I am aware of the Scenic Hikes category but see this as having a different purpose from the proposed group/category.

 

Your comments and support is welcome. Please do consider joining the group and getting this category off the ground.

 

Regards

Andrew

 

I am not sure how Scenic Hikes differs from what you are proposing here really. The stipulation of scenic hikes is that it must be a minimim of 1 mile long - it has no restriction as to the maximum length - in fact once this category (Scenic Hikes) gets re-established and if I am leading it I did plan on actually adding some wording to it's description to encourage those hikes, tracks and trails that do take considerably longer and that have back-country huts as well - such as those trails that i have listed in the Back Country Huts category. But I do think the provision is already there for those types of tracks etc. Maybe I am missing the point of what your trying to establish (tell me if I am) but I kind of see this as reinventing the wheel a little - correct me if I am wrong.

Incidently, Aushiker - thank you for signing in to support the Scenic Hikes category, I only hope we get a few more to get this up and going.

Cheers

Gerard

[Aushiker]

I am not sure how Scenic Hikes differs from what you are proposing here really.

 

Thanks for your comments Gerard. I think the categories are different. The purpose of the proposed categroy is focusing on establishing a register of long-distance trails only, the entrance and exit points only. So for example if I was looking for a three-day hike in WA then I could quickly locate a list of same, relevant details etc.

 

The stipulation of scenic hikes is that it must be a minimim of 1 mile long - it has no restriction as to the maximum length - in fact once this category (Scenic Hikes) gets re-established and if I am leading it I did plan on actually adding some wording to it's description to encourage those hikes, tracks and trails that do take considerably longer and that have back-country huts as well - such as those trails that i have listed in the Back Country Huts category.

 

Sounds good, but your category is going to end up being a very large range of trails from very short ones to long ones. For someone interested in a particular type of trail, e.g., long-distance it becomes much harder to sort the chaff from the wheat so to speak. Also you state and I quote, "This waymark category is designed for those scenic or special places that you would like to share with the Geocaching community but can't leave a cache to do so" which suggests a differnet type of trail or rather a more restrictive listing of trails to what the category being proposed is about.

 

Also I see and have seen the comments before to this effect that Scenic hikes is about, scenic hikes. The proposed group, is about hiking long-distance trails, rather than focusing on scenic points as your category title suggests and your own comments in the category description indicate; "Our purpose here is to document those Scenic Areas that cachers would not normally visit due to caching restrictions but you want others to come see simply for the beauty of the area."

 

Also I refer to your own logging instructions. You are restricting this to people who actually walk the trail. Again suggesting a different focus.

 

But I do think the provision is already there for those types of tracks etc. Maybe I am missing the point of what your trying to establish (tell me if I am) but I kind of see this as reinventing the wheel a little - correct me if I am wrong.

 

There is no doubt these sort of tracks could fit into your category in some instances, but I see your category as being very broad in one sense (scenic hikes) yet very restrictive in the sense that the waymark creater must have actually walked trail, the trail is one that is an area where geocaching is restricted, and one that is "scenic or special places that you would like to share with the Geocaching community but can't leave a cache to do so."

 

So for example here in my backyard is the Coastal Plains Walk Trail, a three day walk. Geocaches can be placed on the trail, scenic, hard to say, no high points for example, but an interesting walk in quite different country to the norm in this state. Would it fit your category, probably not. Also anyone Waymarking the trail would have to walk it.

 

Would it fit the proposed categroy? Yes in that it is a long distance trail.. The proposed category would capture the key information, starting and finishing points, walk distance, facilities if any etc.

 

Incidently, Aushiker - thank you for signing in to support the Scenic Hikes category, I only hope we get a few more to get this up and going.

 

Pleasure. I support the category, just see it having a different role and focus from the one proposed. Personally I would probably waymark shorter walks that I do (day walks) in the Scenic Hikes category rather than long-distance, multiple day hikes.

 

Regards

Andrew

[+Mary&Dave]

I also think these should be two separate categories.

 

Someone looking for a scenic hike doesn't necessarily care about a trail that requires an extended backpacking trip to see the best views. On the other hand, a scenic hike may not allow camping or an overnight stay. There are also sections of long distance trails, that frankly, really aren't scenic, but they're part of the experience. The windfarms on the Pacific Crest Trail in the Tehachapi Hills come to mind...

 

I think the long distance trails category should include such information as -- how to get a permit (if required), overnight parking locations, campspots/shelters, water availability, resupply information (if applicable), etc. Maybe some of these can be optional, but they're useful bits of information for someone planning a backpacking trip. Perhaps there should be a minimum distance for a long distance trail to qualify as such. Maybe 30 miles (50 km) and up? Just long enough that while it's possible to do it in one day, most people will choose to take 2-3 days instead.

[Aushiker]

I also think these should be two separate categories.

 

Thanks for your support of the group Mary&Dave.

 

Someone looking for a scenic hike doesn't necessarily care about a trail that requires an extended backpacking trip to see the best views. On the other hand, a scenic hike may not allow camping or an overnight stay. There are also sections of long distance trails, that frankly, really aren't scenic, but they're part of the experience. The windfarms on the Pacific Crest Trail in the Tehachapi Hills come to mind...

 

This is my thinking as well and my experience. Also looking at the category, all the hikes listed appear to be short ones to or containing significant scenic points which suggests that the waymarkers are taking a very scenic point hike type of focus as the name of the category implies. Nothing wrong with that in my view.

 

I think the long distance trails category should include such information as -- how to get a permit (if required), overnight parking locations, campspots/shelters, water availability, resupply information (if applicable), etc. Maybe some of these can be optional, but they're useful bits of information for someone planning a backpacking trip.

 

They sound like good suggestions. Now that we have sufficent officers to progress to next step, I will write up a draft categroy description/requirements and circulate for your comment. We can then move to the next step.

 

Perhaps there should be a minimum distance for a long distance trail to qualify as such. Maybe 30 miles (50 km) and up? Just long enough that while it's possible to do it in one day, most people will choose to take 2-3 days instead.

 

I am inclined to avoid "distance" and rather require an overnight camp to get from one trailhead to the other as sometimes, at least out here, distance is not reflective of the difficulty of the trail. For example it could be relatively short but actually with extensive climb but really too much to handle in one day. Also my experience is that Americans appear to walk further than say Australians or New Zealanders in one day so we could be cutting out genuine overnight walks if we limited it by distances.

 

Then on the other side do we consider a two day walk, one overnight a "long distance"? If not, then your suggestion of distance may be valid.

 

Open to ideas.

 

Regards

Andrew

Edited June 19, 2006 by Aushiker

[Aushiker]

BTW Gerard do hope you will consider joining the group as an officer. Would appreciate your input as well.

 

Regards

Andrew

[+bobbyfrass]

The long distance trail category sounds like a great idea! I love to backpack, but sometimes it is hard to find good trails that are long enough to make a backpacking trip worthwhile. I typically go to trail guide books, state park books, or the like for this kind of info. Unfortunately these books are usually pricey, and they are by no means comprehensive--usually covering only a small geographical area. Anyway, there's my two cents. BTW, I definitely agree that there should be separate categories for short trails and longer trails.

[+Mary&Dave]

I am inclined to avoid "distance" and rather require an overnight camp to get from one trailhead to the other as sometimes, at least out here, distance is not reflective of the difficulty of the trail. For example it could be relatively short but actually with extensive climb but really too much to handle in one day. Also my experience is that Americans appear to walk further than say Australians or New Zealanders in one day so we could be cutting out genuine overnight walks if we limited it by distances.

 

That sounds good. Perhaps the distance qualification should be more along the lines of "an average hiker cannot (or would not want to) complete this trail in a single day."

 

Another suggestion is that it must be a single trail (with the same name the whole way -- not a network of trails), and it be either a point-to-point or a loop hike rather than an out and back.

 

I'll also throw out a few examples (just to complicate things):

 

- The Bay Area Ridge Trail is a 500 mile trail encircling the San Francisco Bay Area. There are very few spots to camp legally along this trail. Becuse of the camping regulations and since the trail is so close to home, most people will choose to do each segment as a day trip rather than attempting an overnight trek. I still think this should qualify as a long distance trail, even if it is not a common backpacking trail.

 

- The Whitney Portal Trail is an 11-mile trail (22 miles round trip) to the summit of Mt. Whitney. There is a 6100' elevation gain on this trail. Most people take 2-4 days to complete this hike, simply because of the elevation. I don't think this would really be a good candidate for the long distance trails category, though. It would probably fit better into another category. (This is actually a really bad example, as a trail continues for another 220 miles north down the other side of Whitney -- but let's ignore this for the sake of argument -- most people only hike to the summit and turn around anyway.)

 

Cheers,

Mary

[+Mary&Dave]

Then on the other side do we consider a two day walk, one overnight a "long distance"? If not, then your suggestion of distance may be valid.

 

I'll consider that a "long distance". After all, many of the really long (1000+ mile) trails have their own categories.

[Aushiker]

G'day

 

Thanks to the support and input of the officers this group has now been formed and the category has put up peer review. Well done group!

 

Those interested in the wider Waymarking community are encourged to review the category at http://www.Waymarking.com/groups/peer_revi...ae-809be76e6bc6 and of course plesae vote on it. Any additional comments you wish to make when voting would also be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Andrew